Lee's back, but Cubs still swept by Twins
The Cubs are simply a pathetic excuse for a baseball team right now, as they've won just two games in their last twelve. There was some good news today, of course, and that's Derrek Lee coming off the DL. The bad news is they are now 19-41 since he broke his wrist and the season is all but over. In honor of Derrek Lee's return, I'm going to do some bullet points on various Cub-related topics. (Don't be fooled. I do bullet points because I'm a lazy writer that doesn't want to (can't) string his thoughts together into a cohesive article. Nevertheless, away we go!)
- As much as the Cubs have missed him, I think Derrek Lee's coming back too soon. I hear he's going to be wearing a brace on his wrist when running the bases and that his wrist is still rather tender. So what's the point of coming back? Are the Cubs making a run right now? There aren't exactly a whole lot of Kirk Gibson moments on this team's agenda for this year so just take it easy and come back when you're 100%. If you're not 100% this year...so be it. Come back strong next year. Give me something to look forward to.
- Looks like Marmol pitched his way out of the rotation and Guzman pitched his way in. Marmol got rocked the other day in his third career start, but he was great in his first start while mediocre in his second. Guzman, on the other hand, was awful in all four of his starts this year. (though he did have one nice relief appearance.) I suppose it doesn't matter really, but it leads me to my next point.
- It's time to pull Sean Marshall from the rotation for a while. Not that he's pitching bad...well, he IS pitching bad, but it's not that he's pitching AWFUL is what I should have said. No, the reason I want to pull him from the rotation is to save his arm. This 23-year old southpaw has never pitched more than 94 innings in a single season (due to injury), and he's now on a pace for 180 or so. Put Marmol (or Hill or Williams or career minor-leaguer Les Walrond) in the rotation and let Marshall get some time in long relief. On this shitty club, he'll still throw 3-4 innings per week, but at least he'll cut down on that potentially career-threatening workload.
- I'm kind of torn on the idea of trading Jacque Jones. Part of me wants to dump that bad (but not terrible) contract while his value is at it's highest, and that he might actually fetch a decent prospect or two. The other part of me is looking at the roster and thinking that we might need three new outfielders next year and Jones isn't really that bad, especially if platooned with Murton. The Cubs can win with him hitting in the seven-hole. I suppose we'll find out soon enough what Hendry's going to do.
That's all I have to say about the Cubs for now. I'll be back later this week with thoughts on the Bears, the Bulls draft, and more. See ya then...