Illini Iceman

Unless the Cubs actually win it all it seems pretty unlikely that they come back next year with essentially the same team except Pie replacing Edmonds as the LH platoon with Johnson in CF. Pie is going to be hard pressed to match the production that Edmonds has given so far so it would mean they go into 2009 with a less potent offense than they have right now. I would think that Hendry will get more creative than this and mix it up to try to upgrade the team if they do wind up falling short. I think the ownership situation and the backloading that Hendry's done will force the status quo. There just isn't room for another big contract unless: a) they let Dempster and/or Wood walk (but those moves leave holes to fill); b) they move a contract or two (Marquis, Lee, Fukudome, or Lilly); or c) new ownership approves a big payroll increase. A trade with Pie, Theriot, and/or Hill as the centerpiece seems the most likely route to an upgrade. Ownership should be settled in plenty of time for a mid season acquisition or two. Take this with a great big Paul Sullivan sized grain of salt: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080817-cubs-center-field-edmonds-johnson-pie,1,5287607.story I am getting Gary Gaetti flashbacks.

I never even mentioned Marquis as an option. He isn't one. Jehrico said it in the post one above the one you replied to.

There's no maybe about it. Howry's spot is Gooz's to steal with a good September. That's who exactly I had in mind in terms of Guzman making into the playoff roster with Howry being left out. For some reason, Lou still believes in Howry. You don't need 5 starters in the playoffs, and Lou has never liked Marquis. I could see Gooz making the team at Marquis expense instead of Howry. I hate to say it, but I'd rather have Marquis than Howry on the playoff roster at this point. It might not be the competition betweenthem. The Cubs will likely use only 11 pitchers in the playoffs. The pitchers who seem to be locks: Zambrano, Harden, Dempster, Lilly as starters Wood, Marmol, Cotts, Samardzija, Gaudin That leaves 2 spots for Marshall, Howry, Marquis, Guzman, etc. So it's certainly possible that both Marquis and Howry will get left off the roster. I don't see that happening, but if Howry continues to go the way he's been going it could. If I could view things from the inside of Lou's mind, I would imagine he'd want another lefty to "balance" out the staff, and he's liked Marshall all year (well, "liked" relative to other lefty options), so I'd guess he's on the roster. Last spot would probably be Howry's to lose, and Lou is going to give him every chance to keep it unless Guzman comes up and is dynamite in September. As ineffective has Howry has been he would be more valuable on the playoff roster than Marquis. Marquis has no experience pitching in relief so he would pretty much be useless unless he was needed to mop up a very bad, short outing by one of the starters. Even then the Cubs will probably be pretty much on a 3 man rotation for most of the playoffs so they would have whoever the 4th starter is at that point (Lilly?) to fill that role.

Unless the Cubs actually win it all it seems pretty unlikely that they come back next year with essentially the same team except Pie replacing Edmonds as the LH platoon with Johnson in CF. Pie is going to be hard pressed to match the production that Edmonds has given so far so it would mean they go into 2009 with a less potent offense than they have right now. I would think that Hendry will get more creative than this and mix it up to try to upgrade the team if they do wind up falling short.

Lee is supposed to be getting tonight off with Ward playing 1B so I don't know if Lou would be want to put a lineup out there without Lee or Ramirez.

Despite Hoff's recent surge at AAA I still don't feel at all confident he could match Lee's production even if he just played against righties. With Lee's defense the overall offensive numbers he is putting up still make him the best available option the Cubs currently have in their system to play first base.

No, you should use your best pitcher in the highest leverage situation. That may not always be the 9th, but its not always NOT going to be the 9th. Borowski was a terrible choice in Cleveland because while he was about their fourth best arm there was a big difference between him and the better guys in their pen. You don't want to be throwing crap out there in the 9th in save situations because a lot of the time those are going to be high leverage (not always, but usually). If you have to name a closer, don't make it your best guy, but don't make it one of your worst. And thats what Borowski was in Cleveland. I don't disagree. The mistake Cleveland made last year was using him in almost every save situation. Yes, use your best pitcher in the highest leverage situations. One run lead in the 9th? I'd be using one of those better arms. But not all save situations are high leverage either. 3-run lead? I'd be comfortable with a guy like Boroswki. Look at Boroswki's stint with the Cubs. He was arguably the 2nd or 3rd best arm in the Cubs bullpen and plenty effective as a closer. If you have to name a closer at all, be smart about it. It should be de facto closer by committee. People don't give Borowski nearly enough credit about how good he was when he was the Cubs closer in 2003. 66 K's and only 19 walks in 68.1 innings, ERA of 2.63 and 33 saves in 37 chances. That is pretty darn good. And it really wasn't a fluke since in 2002 he had 97 K's and 29 walks in 95.2 innings, ERA of 2.73.

I thought the Cubs wanted to keep the Harden/Marshall combo though? I wonder if this was not just a roster issue but an issue with Eyre as well? Lieber will be back soon so he can be the combo with Harden. Marshall may even go back down at that point for a couple weeks until rosters expand. Don't see much harm in this. Lou had lost all faith so he was only going to pitch in the biggest blowout games making it a waste of a roster spot to have him on the team. Not sure how much market there is for Eyre. Hendry was probably trying to just about give him away at the trading deadline and obviously didn't find any takers.

Shark hasn't looked comfortable out there????? If Lou doesn't trust Eyre with a 10 run lead, then he shouldn't be on the roster. The move didn't have much significance in last night's game, but if Shark can't pitch in game 3 it most certainly could be significant in that game. Look, you start Eyre or Cotts in the 9th. If they give up 2 or 3 runs THEN you bring in Shark to close it out. And I don't think Lou is going to lose any sleep over me questioning his bullpen move on the Internet. Lou will have Gaudin and Marmol available tonight for sure and Dempster is usually good for at least 6 innings. Why would it be so vital the he have Shark on another day's rest as well? I think so far his results have been encouraging, but this is a guy that has given up a run in 2 of his 3 appearances so it is not like he is some kind of lock down set up man that Lou needs to keep rested in case the Cubs are in a tight game.

The scary part is that he actually sounds coherent compared to the Pirates announcers after their walkoff homerun tonight.

untrue. Yes it is. He has horrible range, a horrible arm, and has made numerous poor decisions in the field. His offense has been great, but if one tried to make the case that Ryan is anything better than a mediocre defender at SS, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I feel your pain, but think rationally about this one for a second.

If Marshall pitches a scoreless 10th Cubs win in the bottom half. ARam will put an end to this foolishness once and for all.

They were winning by 7 runs with 3 innings left. And? Game should have been in hand and a lefty was in the game for SF so probably wanted to get Johnson some AB's. Really no reason at that point to think that he would need Edmonds to win the game.

They were winning by 7 runs with 3 innings left.

Good thing we didn't go with Lieber here.

I saw this game already on Wednesday night.

Every reliever should be available tomorrow anyway. Howry will be the only one who pitched 2 consecutive days. I'd rather not kill Marmols arm though. Last year he pitched in 59 games and 69.1 innings. This year he has already pitched in 48 games and 51.1 innings. He started the season at AAA so overall he had more innings than that last year. EDIT - sorry late to the party on that one

How would you know? I documented it the other day that Wuertz and Lieber hadn't pitched with a lead in over a month. He definitely should go to Lieber or Marshall for the ninth. That being said, keeping in Howry or bringing in Marmol wouldn't surprise me.

Do you remember how he pitched at the end of last year? 11 innings pitched and only 1 run allowed so I think he earned his playoff roster spot. Not sure why he can't get it together this year.

7 pitches, 6 strikes for Hart that inning. I guess he got the message from Lou about throwing strikes.

Wow - that is pretty amazing.

Blanco is catching Sunday, per Lou on the pre-game radio show. Seems like an odd day to choose to give him off since other than a few innings on Tuesday he won't play again for 4 days. Unless Lou figures no one is going to hit Lincecum anyway so he may as well play Blanco.

His offensive numbers this year are shockingly low. There are probably a lot of pitchers hitting better than that. Maybe they can trade him to the Cardinals so TLR can bat him ninth and it will actually make sense.

Id guess he goes 6 and thats it He's set to lead off next inning. I'd just call it a day. I agree. Have Marshall or Hart start getting loose now.

OMG...somebody ---SOAPDROPPING--- pinch me! against rookies... Nonsense. Rich Hill is a major league pitcher if he does not walk people. The only thing holding him back was mechanical or between the ears. Looks like he worked it out. The other nice thing is that if he can get it together he should have a pretty fresh arm for the stretch run and (hopefully) playoffs.