Add Carmen to that group and that is a pretty strong bullpen.

i am dissapointed that leiber did not make the rotation since he has had the best spring out of all of our staters besides zambrano...but it does make since because marquis does have extremely well first halves and that would be good to get his value up, and as for dempster, he had an ok spring and i woould rather see him in the rotation then in the bullpen because when he does suck it up we will still have a chance to win
still feel really upset that leiber did not make the rotation but obviously, lou and his coaching staff know a hell of alot more htan i do

i am dissapointed that leiber did not make the rotation since he has had the best spring out of all of our staters besides zambrano...but it does make since because marquis does have extremely well first halves and that would be good to get his value up, and as for dempster, he had an ok spring and i woould rather see him in the rotation then in the bullpen because when he does suck it up we will still have a chance to win
still feel really upset that leiber did not make the rotation but obviously, lou and his coaching staff know a hell of alot more htan i do

i am dissapointed that leiber did not make the rotation since he has had the best spring out of all of our staters besides zambrano...but it does make since because marquis does have extremely well first halves and that would be good to get his value up, and as for dempster, he had an ok spring and i woould rather see him in the rotation then in the bullpen because when he does suck it up we will still have a chance to win
still feel really upset that leiber did not make the rotation but obviously, lou and his coaching staff know a hell of alot more htan i do

Apparently Preston is REALLY dissapointed. Haha.

All jokes aside. Im dissapointed as well that Lieber is not in the rotation. But who wants to bet that he ends up in it before June?

I agree with nick. I'm pretty sure I remember Lou saying they will start the season with 12 pitchers. Pignatiello has to be in there since he has had a great spring and figures to be the only lefty in the mix. That should be a pretty strong bullpen.

I can only think of three reasons why Lou would talk about the starting pitching and say "It's too bad we can't have a 6 man rotation" (with these guys). One is that he knew going into the spring training that he and JH were permitted only to get Musha, a stopgap veteran pitcher and Roberts (if a fair deal is possible). Plus maybe whatever the Cubs could/can get for the (then) unwelcome Marquis. Lou has known all along that what he has is pretty much what he gets--so there is no use complaining or saying anything other than positive things about a starting group that he knows is mediocre.

The second reason is Lou is right, and most of us just can't judge talent. Nor can others, including some professonals, who also don't think we have enough quality arms to be an elite team in 2008. The third reason is that Lou is slipping into dementia.

Sadly, I think reason # 1 is the real reason. I would sing in Lou's choir if Hill, Dempster and Marquis were close to being really good this spring.

I will carry a LOU WAS RIGHT!!! pennant if this threesome has won 12 of their 33 projected starts in April and May. If Z and Lilly win 12 of their projected 22 and the pen picks up 4 we're 28 and 27 after 55 games. That's not good enough to win the Central.

I couldn't be more dissapointed in the decision. Especially seeing Lieber giving up two runs in three innings of relief work. Wonderful. I know it's ST, but numbers have to mean SOMETHING.

NATION REPRESENT!

CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!

I want pics of you carrying those signs JimK... because I simply cannot see those three only winning two games a month on average between them over that span. Also, I think the pen will account for more than 4 wins over that span because it's a team strength and with our offensive firepower, I can see more than a few games where we enter the sixth either tied or behind, and the offense punches over a few runs while the pen shuts down the opposition.

Add to that the fact that starters don't go overly deep into games generally during the first month, and the pen stands to pick up a couple more wins than you're budgeting.

However I'd think that 10 wins between Lilly and Z would be more realistic because of the not going deep into games early on thing.

Still - I'm betting we're at least 5 games over .500 by the end of May... which would translate to 15-20 over by the end of the season... and that puts us in the discussion for playoff home field.

Plus that's assuming we don't pull in a certain leadoff hitter... or pull in a trade deadline front line starter like Burnett or Sabathia.

Faith my friend - faith :-)

Great to see an excellent performance by Pie again....3-for-3 with a double and triple. If he can carry over his spring training numbers into the season, he would be an excellent lead off guy...

I don't think it is as bad a decision as many think. Marquis is a good first half pitcher and Lou can limit Lieber's innings (coming off an injury) until Marquis blows up in July.

Now, Dempster is another story. I assume some promises were made; like, "we'll give you at least 5 starts.." Just a guess.

Does anyone wish to recall our starting rotation of last year? Lieber will get his chance when someone blows up or gets hurt. What happens to Sean Marshall, does he become the bullpen lefty with Eyre down? Pie has a good day, but who is our backup CF? Anybody else, Roberts, Bueller, Bueller...DeRo with an Earl Weaver 3 run dinger today. If you're not psyched for Monday, then you're dead.

Gary J...Thanks for giving me a morale booster. But our math isn't all that different. You say Z and Lilly will win 5 games each in two months and I say our bottom 3 will win 4 games each in two months. They should all have about 11 starts in that time frame.

Dempster's performance today isn't helping Lou's or my confidence much. Hopefully, Hill does well tomorrow and sets the tone for a personal good year. I felt going into ST that Riot, Hill, Pie and Soto would be solid contributors in '08.

Chad...You are probably right about Dempster (and Marquis) getting "5" starts to see what they can do. Lieber will likely win more games than either D or M. D based upon his spring and M based upon the undertow of ill that seems to exist.

If Marquis were not to be named a starter, teams interested would probably ask themselves why would we want a starter that is not trusted even with the 5th spot of the Cubs rotation? We all can bet Lieber will be inserted very soon. I think the move was correct and to me it is just a matter of keeping the possible trade to Baltimore or Boston open. Further more...I think Marquis won a spot fair and square.

Good Luck Cubies!!!

I thought that all three guys performed pretty well this spring. I like the decision. You can use Marquis in the 1st half when he is most effective then trade him in June or July. At that point move Lieber back into the rotation. I agree with the point that Preston made in regards to Dempster. If he struggle out of the pen, we'd probably end up losing. If he's having a rough start you can still pull him and have a chance to win the ballgame. I really think that Dempster will be fine though. He won't be tossing any complete game shutouts, but he should be able to provide 6-7 decent innings every 5th day.

Kid Kloser is a great decision. He's looked great all spring. The only issue is durability and if that become's a problem, then you've got Marmol or Howry. Howry usually starts out slow and Marmol could use a little more experience. So if Woody starts to have some health issue's, then the other two guys will be more prepared to handle the duties.

Oh, and the Pig man should be in the pen as well.