My guess is Roquet who has experience at the big league level. With the Phillie win tonight the Cubs wildcard lead is 7 1/2. it is not at all difficult to visualize the team not making the playoffs if they continue playing as they have. The Phillies and Houston are playing very good ball and the Cubs will be forced to play at least 500 ball or a bit better. Right now it is hard to visualize them winning either of these next two road series and they seem purposeless. Perhaps it will take a big scare to bring the team together with a common purpose but the playoffs are anything but certain with the competition they face and their lack of focus.However, there is really nothing to lose. If they tank, it will not devastate any long time Cub fan who has endured 69 and 03.

PS: It is looking more and more like the Brewers will not be the wild card representative either

JW....hey man, don't be so quick. The Cubs play much better at the new Busch Stadium than they did at the old won....they have won 10 of the last 15 there.

I will give you the fact the Phillies and Astros are playing good ball right now....and the Astros schedule is just about as easy on paper as they come.

Come in off the ledge.

Also, Roquet does not have major league experience. I really like him and have for a long time.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/R/Rocky-Roquet.shtml

Roquet has just a little experience above AA, and not much above Daytona. Very raw, he would be an interesting choice.

Randy Wells is probably the safe choice; he'll be added to the 40-man anyway in the offseason (same as Atkins), but unlike Atkins, he has pitched in the bullpen this year. If the Cubs need innings only, then they call up Wells.

Atkins should not be called up. He has no bullpen experience. He's young and pitched alot of innings this year, take a break and see you in Iowa next year.

Keith....good points. I was basing solely on performance.

Atkins was 4-1 in 6 games with a 4.45 ERA in August while Wells was 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA in 6 games, 5 starts. Wells also pitched in two playoff games.....and I agree, both will likely be on the Cubs 40-man next season.

Roquet on the other hand, fits Piniella desire to have hard throwers in his pen. He was on the fast track before the Cubs decided to back off.

He did not allow a run in 2 games (4 innings) in the PCL playoffs with 5 strikeouts and a walk.

As far as a performanced based call-up, those were the only three that stuck out.

Another possibilty could be J.R. Mathes...similar numbers to Wells and with experience in the pen.

Neil;

Thanks for catching that, I got my "Rocky's" mixed up as to experience (with the one traded to the O's).

I definitely was thinking of Roquet though as I had just got through looking at some of his stats before your post and his seem very good. That being clarified I agree with you and Keith that without the experience it does not seem like the prudent move.

However, with Lou's current state of mind, his love of hard throwers and propensity to roll the dice, it would not shock me. Roquet may not have been around long enough to be overcome by the weight of all of this and hopefully he or someone like him may get on a end of the season/playoffs adrenaline roll. A bizarre twist that goes the Cubs way may be just what this franchise needs to overcome its tortured past and its increasingly formidable competitors.

Hard to believe that we got help again from another Brewers opponent. Pressure is on in Milwaukee as they now only hold a 3 game wild card lead over the Phils. If we had just played .500 ball the last week this whole division chase would have been OVER.

Let's hope for some renewed execution, energy and purpose starting tonight in St. Louis.

I watched a baseball game last night. Reds-Brewers. Can you believe that the Reds scored 3 in the 9th off the Brewers closer to win 5-4. That was a painful reminder, but I didn't feel the pain.

With the recall of guys like Hart, Wuertz and Guzman, we don't have a guy with strong creds left at AAA. Ceda has been so-so at AA too. One of David F's favorites at AA is a long shot--but he impresses me. That would be Esmailan Caridad who has been at AA Tennessee the 2nd half. He is a 23 year old RSP whose line at Daytona and TN is 13-7, 131 H in 152 IP, 38 W and 88 SO's. He's the closest pitcher we have to a lights out guy at the upper levels. I think I heard David F say, "E.C. does it".

Good news,

I found my hat. I got it on today. I am sure that this was all the Cubs needed to turn around.

Relax Cubs fans, the WS championship is just around the corner.

I'm sure everyone here now is relaxed based on the hat being found. C'mon.

Perhaps it should be expedited to Howry to bring him some personal luck.

Maybe getting Pie back up here will give the team a little shot of energy. I am not saying insert him in the linuep right away, but don't we have a pretty good record with him on the team?

Randy Wells is the call-up, that makes the most sense. Atkins and Roquet are probably better long-term prospects, but Wells is more polished. Wells is also to the point in his career that we need to give him a ML-shot, or he'll move on. This is his 6th minor league season I think, so he needs the shot.

Wells isn't a great prospect, but he is more of a prospect than Mathes. Mathes looks like a journeyman.

Wells is auditioning for a rubber-armed, 12th man type in the bullpen. He's durable and has pretty good control, just not lights out stuff.

We are starting to get some close to ML-Ready depth in the farm system. Next year, Iowa could include Atkins, Veal, Ceda, Roquet, Ascanio, Berg...a bunch of ML possibilities.

Just trying to throw some humor into the mix, Mike.

Everybody's so stressed out. Just like the Cubs. Thats what their problem is. They got to remember their a good team.

Losted my hat after the phillies series and didn't find it till last night.
1-5 record in that period.

Watch it turn around