Cubs: Sean Marshall Is Not the Answer for a Decent Left-Handed Reliever

Neal Cotts has not been doing good. About half the time he comes in, he walks the first batter he faces. That is not good any time. It is even worse when you are brought in just to face one or two left-handed batters. With the good job Randy Wells did while subbing for Carlos Zambrano in Milwaukee, Lou has been quoted as saying that, when Carlos gets back, maybe he would leave Wells in the rotation and put Sean Marshall in the bullpen.

That is a terrible idea. Marshall is doing a really good job as a starter. He has the second lowest ERA of any starter on the staff. (Only Ted Lilly’s is lower.) If we leave Marshall in the rotation (which we should have done before this), there is a good chance we will have a dependable starter for a long while. If we mess with him by moving him back and forth between starting and relieving, who knows.

Also, a starter is more valuable than a reliever. Just because Randy Wells had one decent start is no reason to pull Marshall out of the rotation. We have no idea what is going to happen with Carlos when he comes back, and nobody thinks Rich Harden will pitch every five days all season long. We may need to keep Randy Wells as a spot starter, but Sean Marshall needs to stay in the rotation

If we need a left-handed reliever to replace Cotts, how about J.R. Mathes at Iowa? Through yesterday’s games, he had only given up one walk in 26 innings. What’s wrong with that? If he isn’t good enough, Jim Hendry can go out and buy somebody. But leave Sean Marshall where he can help us the most – in the rotation.