"And today it was announced that Sean Marshall has been sent back down to AAA".... "Sean Marshall will now be working out of the bullpen" would be worse. At least in AAA, Marshall would still be getting starts. I like this move. Marshall has already pitched a career high amount of innings. The season is lost, no sense in ruining the kids arm. Now Marmol, Guzman, and Hill can all get a chance to show what they can do, plenty of arms that can pick up the slack. I would also send Novoa down and bring back Wuertz to give Eyre and Howry a break. Marshall needs to get as many starts in the majors this year as possible. The guy can flat out pitch and is still very raw. One of the few positives regarding this season is that Marshall and Marmol are getting ample time to develop without worrying about mistakes or one bad inning (like last night). The games from here on out are meaningless from a standings standpoint, but not from a development standpoint. I would much rather let them taking their lumps against major league hitters than dominate AAA pitching. So you want Marshall to go from a career high of like 130 innings pitched to see if he can top 200 innings this year? I just don't think that will help his development at all, I think that is just begging for trouble. Marshall has gained plenty of experience and I like the fact he will remain on the big league club so he can still soak up as much as he can from Maddux. Finally a little forsight by management. Yes, I want him to prove tht he can pitch a full major league season, just the same that is expected of every major league pitcher. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that Marshall has some of the same problems as Wood, Prior, etc. I've never heard anybody complain about his mechanics and if I remember right, his injury last year had to do with his finger. As someone pointed out earlier, its not as if he is pitching 100+ pitches per game on a consistent basis. Marshall is currently on pace for 176 IP this year, not over 200+. He is only averaging 89 pitches per start this year and has only topped the 100 pitch mark three times with a max of 102 pitches. This is hardly considered to be overworking a pitcher.