It is late August, after eight scoreless innings from Jason Marquis against the Philadelphia Phillies in what many consider to be playoff preview. Manager Lou Piniella makes the call to the bullpen and out comes Kerry Wood in a one run game. After twelve electric pitches with the Wrigley Field faithfull roaring, Kid K pumps his fist in celebration after securing the win.
Now, this is the best case scenario for Marquis, Piniella, Wood and for every Cub fan. Is this a likely scenario that features a brittle Kerry Wood and an erratic Jason Marquis amongst other question marks.
No, but this is the path that Piniella has taken this team in naming Kerry Wood the closer and Jason Marquis as the fifth starter.
The former starter, whose career has been marred by injury after injury, will be asked to close two and sometimes three days in a row. The former star will try and restart his once promising career this time from the bullpen without any talk of entering the rotation. There are huge question marks surrounding Wood and his ability to pitch five times a week. Despite what has gone on in spring training, Kid K will still have to prove his durability along one hundred sixty-two games and possibly into October.
Along with Wood as the closer, Bob Howry will remain in the eight inning role and Carlos Marmol in the seventh. If, and this a big if, this bullpen can stay to together in this format the Cubs will undoubtedly be playing baseball in October.
While Lou Piniella flirted with moving Ryan Dempster back to the bullpen in the closer role, he will remain between Ted Lilly and Rich Hill in the rotation.
Jason Marquis was awarded the fifth spot in the rotation after pitched boasting a 2.95 ERA this spring. Even though, Jon Lieber had a 1.95 ERA while coming off of an injury.
"Like I told (Lieber) a few days ago, when this is all said and done, were going to need more than five starters-believe me," Piniella said. "That's always been the case with every club"
As far as the lineup in concerned. Ryan Theriot will lead off, followed by Alfonso Soriano in the two hole. And Felix Pie, after an impressive spring, officially won the centerfield spot and will start in the eighth spot.
The odds that Kerry Wood will make it through the entire 2008 season without seeing the disabled list is highly unlikely. Due to this seemingly inevitable crossroads that Lou Piniella will have to go down because of that, the obvious question is why take Kerry out of the sixth and seventh inning role. A role that he pitched so well last season while the club has Bob Howry who has closed games in the past as well as taken Ryan Dempster out of the closer role and inserted him into the rotation and then there is Carlos Marmol who has been shown to have beyond electric stuff. This is a gamble in the truest sense and if it does not pay off, the Chicago Cubs will be working on one hundred and one years of futility next year.
