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Jason Marquis
Gameday Open Thread / A's @ Cubs; Cubs @ Giants
In the first half of Wednesday's day/night Cubs exhibitiongameathon, Ryan Dempster gets the start at HoHoKam (2:05 Central Time), while in the second game, starting at 9:05 Central Time, Jon Lieber throws against the Giants.
If Lou Piniella sticks to his vow to name the five-man starting staff by the end of the week, this would be the last chance for Dempster and Lieber to make their respective cases. Jason Marquis, who allowed just one run in five innings against the Royals Tuesday, has made a pretty good case for himself already.
Miniscule sample sizes and spring training weirdness aside, here's how Dempster, Lieber, and Marquis stack up so far:
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Spring Training Battles: Starting Pitching
The Cubs are a little over two weeks into spring training with about three weeks before Opening Day. It's time to check in on the yearly ritual of spring training battles. What's the fun of spring training without a little competition? The Cubs have a few spots up for grabs and today I'll look at the starting rotation battle between Jon Lieber, Ryan Dempster, Jason Marquis and Sean Marshall. I won't pretend that Sean Gallagher has a legitimate chance, although I guess I am pretending that Sean Marshall does.
Unable or unwilling to trade for some of the top notch talent that was moved over the offseason, such as Johan Santana, Erik Bedard or Dan Haren; the Cubs head into 2008 with much of the same talent that was good for the second best ERA among NL starting staffs last year. Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill will anchor the staff, and if Marquis and Marshall win the jobs, you'll have the same starting five that took the mound for the bulk of last season.
That though, appears to be the least likely scenario, as Ryan Dempster is getting his wish to compete for a starting spot and the Cubs signed Lieber on a one year deal. It appears to be a bit of a logjam at the moment, but the bullpen or the trade market can alleviate that "problem" at the end of spring training.
Let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate after the jump...
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Coco Crisp Soon To Be a Cub?
One of our readers, chifan, says he heard on the radio that the Cubs and Red Sox are close to a deal that would send Sam Fuld and Jason Marquis to the Red Sox for Coco Crisp. I've also seen the same radio rumor mentioned on a few other message boards as well, so keep your eyes and ears open.
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Jason Marquis Has A Family To Think About
Reader Crunch beat me to this by a couple minutes in the Comments, but Paul Sullivan of the Tribune writes that after making his Spring Training debut Saturday in a 6-2 Cubs loss to the Angels (2 runs, 3 hits allowed in 2 IP), Jason Marquis let it be known that he wants to be traded if the Cubs aren't going to let him start:
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The Ryan Dempster Question
Today, Carrie Muskat asks herself, "Can Dempster make a successful conversion from closer to starter?"
Her answer:
After three seasons as the closer, Dempster is switching back to the rotation for the first time, full-time, since 2002. The right-hander has trained hard this offseason, but it won't be easy to go from one-inning outings to seven or eight. He'll be challenged with the addition of Lieber.I think Dempster will mostly be challenged by the fact that he is not a very good starting pitcher. Dempster's career numbers as a starting pitcher only, along with those of another guy who we often kick around:
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Recent comments
Childersb3 (view)
If PCA and Mervis both go down I guess Mastro would have to be the 13th bat.
I really think PCA (if he keeps hitting) can help more than Mastro. I understand the development piece. He wasn't hitting well in Iowa before Belli's injury. But, if he keeps hitting, they can get him ABs. But, he probably goes to Iowa. So, I guess it's really Mervis vs Mastro for the 13th spot. Mervis doesn't have anything more to prove/learn at AAA unless they change his swing or something like that.
I don't think Almonte can go to Iowa unless we DFA him and no team picks him up.
I don't necessarily agree with the notion that the Cubs cannot be as good as the NYY, LAD or ATL so just don't try. The young guys are playing well. The arms are producing. Veterans are good or at least okay. We're winning the division on April 30th.
I think getting a better DH or CP is worth the effort. I'm not saying give up ONKC, PCA or Jaguar for a rental. Horton might the arm we add this summer anyway!! ONKC might be the DH we add this summer. But I wouldn't mind adding an arm like Kopech in June to help earlier than usual.
Don't sell the farm (we can't right now anyways with all the injuries) but it's something to think about.
Childersb3 (view)
Horton to Iowa !! He's getting closer folks !!
Bill (view)
It is easy to quibble about details, but the major thing I see is that I believe that PCA will return to Iowa when Bellinger comes back, regardless of how well he does until then.
Mervis will be going down. He needs consistent playing time, whether to get him ready for the Cubs to bring up, or to improve his trade value.
Madrigal and Mastrobuone are pretty interchangeable as far as value is concerned. I doubt that the season will be substantially changed no matter which one is chosen. Madrigal may win one game with a timely single, while Mastrobuone may win one with a timely home run, but I would expect a wash for the season.
The pitching staff will be all of the above. Wesneski, Keagan, Alomonte, et al will remain on the Iowa shuttle whenever someone is temporarily overworked and a new rested arm is needed. I doubt that will change.
Right now it looks as if the Cubs are performing at the upper end of their team potential. But their talent level is nowhere near elite level, and adding one or two players, whether closer or hitter, is not going to bring them up to an elite level, equal to the Dodgers, Braves, or Yankees. We are going to have to wait another year or two for that, when the PCA, Cassie, Horton, Brown, Alcontara group not only come up, but have a year or two experience behind them. And of that group, Horton and Brown are the only ones that can really make an immense difference.
One elite pitcher is much more valuable than one elite hitter.
Childersb3 (view)
18-11 and gave a way a "few". Leading the division on April 30th
So, I'm going to pose a question based on the idea of the injured players coming back and the roster appearing stable.
=> Steele-Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown-Wesneski-Keegan-Leiter-Alzolay-Neris are locks. That leaves Almonte-Brewer-Palencia-Little-Smyly-Lovelady for the last three pen spots. Hendricks is out for me.
=> Amaya-Gomes-Busch-Nico-Dansby-Morel-Happ-Belli-Seiya-Tauch-Wisdom-Madrigal are locks. That means it's PCA-Mervis-Mastro for the last spot. If PCA out performs Mervis and gets routine ABs, I think Jed will keep him up. I still wonder if Mastro is a better option than Madrigal but's probably a waste of time to consider.
The Question: what are the spots we need to "add" ? 8th/9th Inning Bullpen spot, right?
If PCA can hit, I think our best lineup is Belli at 1B, PCA in CF and Busch at DH. Tauch seems to hit better when he's a fielder and not a DH. Maybe Tauch in CF. But Belli is certainly our best 1B defender !!
So, who can we add for late Bullpen help?
The dream is Clase from Clev, but they're winning so he isn't going anywhere.
Mason Miller from A's, but he'd cost a fortune.
How about Kopech from the Southsiders? He hits FAgency in 1.5 yrs. He turned 28 today.
Thoughts?
Charlie (view)
Well, game 29 on the year was a hell of a game. That felt like a throwback, too. I had a feeling Morel had a shot at catching up to that fastball.
Childersb3 (view)
Phil,
Any thoughts/details on Carico and/or JP Wheat?
crunch (view)
MIL loses!
cubs finally get to sole control of 1st place in the central.
crunch (view)
MIL out here stealing 3rd with 1 out and down by 1 in the bottom 9th.
it worked. this MIL team is annoyingly fun to watch so far this year...
crunch (view)
it took him 24 pitches, 2 walks, 2 Ks...but he got it done. woo.
azbobbop (view)
Full pack!