Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cubs Name Closer

True to his word Lou Pinella named Kevin Gregg the closer for the Chicago Cubs. Gregg beat out Carlos Marmol for the slot by having a great spring. Gregg has put up a 0.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts and only two walks in 8.3 IP. Meanwhile Marmol has struggled a bit with a 4.50 ERA in 8 IP. Marmol also had some issues in the WBC which may or may not have factored into Lou's decision.

I've said I wanted Gregg to close the whole spring, mostly because of Marmol's ability to get out of jams in the seventh and eighth innings. Gregg will do a fine job as closer and if he does have issues, Marmol will be ready to take over. I'm not claiming that Gregg will be as good as Kerry Wood was a year ago, but he should provide more reliable health and will still be able to get the saves.

A separate issue for me has been the recent struggles of Marmol. I'm a big believer in spring training numbers not meaning anything, however Marmol is an emotional guy. He feeds off his confidence in order to dominate hitters in big situations, and his emotions can also hurt him (see Zambrano, Carlos for another example). His blown save in the WBC cost his country, and in the Dominican Republic they actually care about that sort of thing. I think Marmol has had that blown save in the back of his head the rest of spring, and hopefully this second setback to his confidence doesn't hurt him further. Once the season starts one of the things I'll be watching very closely is Marmol's demeanor on the mound, and also how often he throws his fastball. 

The rest of the bullpen is also a concern for me. Aside from Aaron Heilman who has been awesome this spring, I have concerns with all the members of the bullpen. Luis Vizcaino  has had somewhat decent numbers in the spring, but I don't trust him at all. Unfortunately his salary promises him a spot in the bullpen unless Jim Hendry can find somebody to take him on. Neal Cotts is the only lefty in the bullpen and he did a decent enough job last season. I don't trust him especially as the only lefty in the pen. Then we come to the Chad Gaudin issue. The man was pretty impressive when he first came over, then he got drunk and fell into a dumpster. Every since he has been awful. He is another player who has a salary that demands him a roster spot and again hopefully Jim Hendry finds somebody who needs a garbage starter or swingman. 

I think the final bullpen spot should go to rule 5 pickup David Patton. He has been awfully impressive this spring with a 0.93 ERA and Jeff Samardzija should be sent to AAA to work on being a starter. Samardzija will serve his purpose in the big leagues, and if we have luck in the injury department he can come up and help in the bullpen in August and September. 

As strong a starting pitching staff and potentially strong end of the game pitching the Cubs have, middle relief is going to be a struggle all season unless a couple guys step up and get lots of guys out.

No comments:

Post a Comment