_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm shocked after the initial blowup that Marquis won the 5th spot outright. His first bad outing combined with Lieber mopping up 4-6 innings in relief effectively will bring the debate out again.

If Marquis pitches in the Spring like he does historically, the debate will die down again till the All Star break. Im pretty sure by season's end Wood wont be the closer though.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'd like to see Wood be effective pitching 3 days in a row...or 10 days out of 12.

_________________

Well, now it will be a spring full of "is this the time he gets hurt". I dont like it, I feel for Wood and all his injuries, but to put this guy in as closer is just not giving me a good feeling. With that said, I drafted him on Fantasty last night.

You think he'll be middle relief?
Honestly, is there a reason Wood can't start at this point? Or get ready to start?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

No I think he will be injured. Possibly middle relief. He doesnt strike me as a good closer. I could easily be wrong, I dont watch alot of baseball, especially NL baseball.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm hoping they're planning on trading Marquis soon. The only reason they made him the #5 starter is to put him out there as trade bait.

I was in favor of Marmol (who I still think will be a great closer) but this is the best option. Wood has more experience and is best suited to only do 1 inning.

I was against it mainly because of his injury situation. But, if he's on the team and healthy, he is the best option right now.

_________________
My Maserati does 186.

If we learned anything at all from last year, its that our manager will not just sit on his hands and run the same shit up the flag pole everyday. If something is not working....he WILL make changes.

With that, I do not put a lot of stock in anything that is announced now. It is a long season...trades, injuries, good & bad performances. It is nice having Lou in the dugout.

_________________
Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

he may get hurt, he may not. the guy has pitched well this spring. he has been accurate with his pitches. he has done nothing wrong this spring to say he does not deserve this chance. if he gets hurt, he gets hurt, and someone else moves in to that spot. for now, he looked good, and i feel good about him getting a chance.

marquis has been fine, too. he has been a pleasant surprise. may as well ride him now while he is going good. all three, dempster, marquis and leiber have pitched quite well this spring. im not a fan of dempster starting, but hey, he has been pretty good too.

at this point i dont have too many complaints about the roster. lets play some games that matter.

Out of curiosity, what are your criteria? He's got a killer fastball, a great slider, good curve. He's got a great WHIP when he's healthy, which he appears to be. He's got plenty experience (IMHO the only "real" advantage over Marmol) What's he missing at this point?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Seems like the type of guy that would strike someone out or give up a HR. An All or Nothing type Pitcher. Plus hes never healthy, and hes never been a closer. Seems like you want some level of consistency with your bullpen, Im not sure you get that with him as your closer. I doubt he stays off the Injured List tll July. Like I said before, ive probably watched him pitch like 5 times over the past 5 years, so my opinion isnt the most educated here.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

What I think is that Lou has named Wood closer, but will use whatever reliever (Wood, Marmol, or Howry) that is either "hottest" or best for the situation. He just named Wood, so the media doesn't create a stink that, "THE CUBS HAVE NO CLOSER! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

You can pretty much say that about any closer (or pitcher) for that matter.

I wouldnt say that about Lilly or Garland or a number of them actually.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

"prior" to his injury, i dont think wood was abnormally susceptable to the HR ball. he didnt give up any in relief last season.

the cubs bullpen isnt really any different than it was last year. the only difference i see is replacing dempster with wood. if they didnt do bullpen by committee with dempster, i dont see why one would assume they will with woody. if he starts as closer and totally sucks, and he is costing them games, they will replace him, just like any team would do with any closer that sucks. if he is good, and he is healthy, he is the closer. i dont see how this is seen as a possible bullpen-by-comittee situation.

this bullpen is the least of this teams worries.

Wood being named closer is a good move. It is easier physically to be a closer than a set up man. As a closer you know you are only pitching the ninth inning. Most of the time you have ample time to warm up, you come in at the beginning of the inning.

As a set up guy, you might have to get warmed up in a hurry, come on with men on base and maybe pitch more than one inning.

And if Wood struggles, you can still move Marmol to closer. If Wood starts off great then has to miss some time due to injury, you can use Marmol or Howry until Wood comes back. Dempster missed a month last year and came back and was still the closer. It did not derail the Cubs.

I think the starting staff is a bigger question mark/problem. Dempster seems like he was given a starting spot before the spring started and I can't figure out why. Dempster's resume as a starter is pretty weak (an alarming high ERA), and I see him being a weak link. Hill has struggled this spring and Lieber hasn't been an ironman these past few years. I wouldn't trade Marquis quite yet.

i agree completely with you on wood, the bullpen, and the starting pitching, except i would still package up marquis in any trade involving brian roberts. his value may not get any higher than it is right now. he has a long history of getting lit up in the summer months. if they can unload him in a move that substantially improves this team, go for it.

No way he can get up to 98 anymore. He's a 92-93 guy now, and he'll need his breaking stuff. I still think he can be effective, but I wouldn't expect 1998-type stuff.

You think the radar guns are lying?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I should be more specific; he won't be hitting those speeds in May. I don't think he can keep it up. He has a fresh arm right now, but he's not a kid anymore, and I think the speeds he was hitting last season are what you'll see in 80% of the games this year. Hey, but if he does, great.

Well at least we agree hes an all or nothing guy. I dont necessarily think he is going to be worse than Howry or Marmol, though I think Marmol is the best pitcher of the 3.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

i dont know how anyone can possibly assume how he will be doing in may. the guy is a unknown at this point. he is throwing hard, and pretty effectively. the reports i have read and heard have been he is routinely over 95, and as high as 98. as a closer, it isnt like the guy is going to be throwing 200 or even 100 innings. actually, as a closer, he probably will be the freshest of all the arms in the bullpen because he is only going to pitch 1 inning, in save situations. they will NEVER extend him more than that. i dont even think they will waste him on cheap 3-run lead save opportunities, if they dont need him. it is possible you will have a week where you could get more than 3 save opportunities, occassionally back-to-back, but you likely will average maybe 2-3 appearances a week from the guy over the course of a season. i think closer is the perfect spot for him. for the most part, controlled, 1 inning save situations. as long as he is truly healthy, i dont see him being gassed by may, topping off at 92.

PLAY BALL! and lets find out.

What I don't understand is all this talk that they are doomed if Wood gets hurt if he's the closer.

If he gets hurt they would go to who according to Mariotti and B and B is the greatest closer of all time Carlos Marmol. Marmol aint going anywhere.

_________________
Where are the Cubs going
And Why Are They in a Handbasket?

Also Steve Stone has been caught again BSing.

A couple of years ago he went on and on how Wood would make a great closer and it could save his career.

Now that it's happened all of the sudden he'd make the worst of all time and Pinella and Hendry should be taken out and shot for doing this.

_________________
Where are the Cubs going
And Why Are They in a Handbasket?

great point...i agree completely. because the guy has a history of injuries, he shouldnt be allowed to close games? if he gets hurt or sucks, replace him, how are you worse off? if he does well, your bullpen would be stacked, with marmol and howry leading in. i think this is worth a try for sure. i feel a lot better with woody coming in then i ever did with dempster, that is for sure.

they'd have an argument if the Cubs traded Marmol because they had Wood. But I think Marmol is as untouchable as they come.

_________________
Where are the Cubs going
And Why Are They in a Handbasket?

I think this is a reallly I mean really bad idea .
I like the guy seems like an okay joe but this has me scared bad real bad

Over /under on how many bottles of Tums Lou will consume this year:

+/- 47 cases





on a serious note; has anyone considered that who finishes the games might be overrated? I mean half the teams don't have even have legitimate closers, and many of the stud closers are on teams that are going nowhere...

I seem to remember Bobby Thigpen saving 57 games on a team that went nowhere, and Lee Smith, he saved plenty of games for teams that finished in the cellar.

As long as they can lock down the games from the 7th on, does it really matter who gets the last out?


Oh wait, i know why people want a closer... it's easier to know WHO TO BLAME !$%@!