Is Sean Marshall our second best pitcher?

[Mephistopheles]

It might actually be true. I don't know if that's good or bad.

[DiamondMind]

Actually...yea, he is.

[Vanilla Ice]

No

[Little Slide Rooter]

We have a very good starting staff. Marshalls good, but hes about 4th.

[SouthSideRyan]

Not at all. And I've come around on Sean.

[Guest]

The answer to the question is yes if we are only talking about left handed pitchers.

[Twiggy]

Umm no...

[Vanilla Ice]

He's had a good start without a doubt, but he is still behind Harden, Lilly, and Zambrano probably

[TruffleShuffle]

No.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

No.

[NotSoSober]

If he was moved to the pen, he'd be our 2nd best relief pitcher, but then there's the starters. i'm assuming Marmol is our best pitcher. Would you honestly trot him out there ahead of anyone in the current rotation in a must win game? He had a nice outing today, but don't get carried away. Nice job though, you reeled us in.

[SaorsaDaonnan]

hm...

 

it's going to depend on your criteria, obviously, but I don't think so. if you're ranking them

individually by greatest expected contribution to the team's run differential over the rest of

the season, I'd say it seems possible but not very probable. here's the argument:

 

1) I'm not convinced that Marshall will outpitch Lilly this year. despite the disturbing annual

creep in Lilly's HR/9, I still expect him to be a very solid pitcher this year. Marshall might

be able to match Lilly for several months to come, but has the reputation of tiring noticeably

down the stretch (although, IMO, Cubs brass has exaggerated on this topic more than once),

and if he continues to pitch well it's likely that he'll be the subject of much more careful

scouting than he has been in the past. I should note here, though, that Lilly has had a silly

BABIP so far, and that it wouldn't be fair to use his 2009 year-to-date WHIP or ERA as evidence

against Marshall.

 

2) despite the early start we've all gotten on worrying about Harden, it's way too early to tell

what kind of season this is going to be for him health-wise. if he gets in anything much over,

say, 125 innings or so, he'll be a very serious challenge to both Lilly and Marshall in these rankings.

 

3) Zambrano's shoulder and the (probably) related decline in K/9 over the last few years is extremely

troubling, although it's made to look worse than it should by the slight spike he had in '06, but he's

still going to be an effective pitcher as long as he can stay on the field. I don't see any reason to

worry about the leg issue being a long term problem, although it can't be much of a positive. if

Lou does a halfway decent job managing his innings once he comes back, there's a good chance

that he'll throw enough innings to outdo Lilly and Marshall as the rankings. even if healthy, though,

I don't think the difference between his contribution, L's, and M's would be that great, which itself

says volumes about how the last few years have gone for him. I'll give Z the benefit of the doubt,

though, because of his stuff and bat

 

so I'd say at least one of Harden and Zambrano will outpitch Marshall this year, and that Lilly will do so

as well. I wouldn't feel comfortable making a more specific guess, but if you put a gun to my head I'd

rank them in the following order: Lilly-Zambrano tie, Marshall, Harden. as has been implicit in all of this,

I do think that Marshall has a good shot at outpitching Dempster. I see them as pitchers of similar

quality right now, but Marshall still has upside, while D has reached and probably exceeded his

Edited May 6, 2009 by SaorsaDaonnan

[hardcorecubfan]

He has the best darn curve-ball on the team

[Little Slide Rooter]

But maybe this thread can convince Kevin Towers that he is.

[Mephistopheles]

That is the plan!