Looking to close the deal for Cubs
MESA, Ariz. -- All things aligned just perfectly Thursday for the No. 1 topic in an otherwise tranquil spring training: the Cubs' closer situation.
All three candidates for the job threw "live" batting practice to Cubs hitters:
• Kerry Wood faced a lineup of Derrek Lee, Sam Fuld, Koyie Hill, Kosuke Fukudome and Matt Murton. Wood's fastball looked crisp, with Fuld hitting a "single" up the middle and sending another ball to the warning track.
• Bob Howry managed to break the bat of Felix Pie early in his session, but Pie later lined a "double" to the gap in left-center, going the other way. Otherwise, the session was uneventful.
• Carlos Marmol brought a sharp slider to the mound against prospect Tyler Colvin and other youngsters. After Marmol fired one good fastball, Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams chimed in with: "That sounded like a strike to me."
Of course, media members seized on the topic, and all three pitchers were kind enough to be at their lockers when informed they were the subject du jour.
Leave it to the laconic Howry to pop a hole in this trial balloon.
"Did they tell you something?" he asked reporters. "They didn't tell us anything, either. Gee whiz."
Wood jumped into the fray around Howry.
"I was watching you," Howry told Wood. "I thought I had a little bit more on the fastball, but you might have had a better slider."
So is this a media-driven "controversy," Bob?
"One hundred percent," Howry replied.
But seriously, manager Lou Piniella has indicated for much of the spring that Howry and his experience probably give him the inside track to earn the job that became vacant when Ryan Dempster moved into the starting rotation.
"I still have to go out and live up to it, if that's the case," Howry said. "It doesn't mean he said, 'The job's yours.' Does that come from because I've been around longer than Marmol for experience? I may have more durability right now than Kerry does. The first time I did it, shoot, I was two months into the big leagues."
Piniella said a variety of factors would play into his decision. Those factors include whom the Cubs choose for middle relief.
"Look, whether, it's Kerry, whether it's Howry, whether it's Marmol, these guys are all capable of doing it," Piniella said. "We're going to try to do what's best for the team, what's best for the individual. I know Bob's had trouble early (in regular seasons), so let's see how he comes out of spring training throwing the ball.
"Let's see how durable Kerry is once we get him into games and pitch him back to back. With Marmol, it's just experience -- nothing more, nothing less. But we'll find the right guy … I can't go wrong with either three, OK? I can't go wrong with either three."
While all three pitchers would like to close, none seems to view this as a competition, per se.
"We're all going to get our innings in spring training and get ready for the season," Wood said. "Nothing's changed between three days ago and today. Competition's good. We've got plenty of guys down there who can do it."
Marmol recorded his first and only career save June 27 against the Colorado Rockies after lobbying Piniella to let him finish a game. One factor tempting Piniella is Marmol's "electric stuff" bearing down on hitters in the cold weather.
"Sure, why not?" Marmol said when asked about the closer's job. "That's what we're looking for. I don't feel like (it's) a competition. I feel like we're trying to help the team. That's what we're looking at."
Howry summed things up by terming the tempest a "competition from the outside."
He then stated the ultimate goal.
"The whole thing with having a good bullpen is you want to be able to turn it into a six-inning game," he said. "I realize our starters want to go 7, they want to go 8, they want to go 9.
"But the way it works, and especially in the National League, if you can give us 6 quality innings, we've got a bullpen -- and not just us three guys, but the bullpen as a whole -- we feel the game is over.
"If you give us a lead after six innings, there's no doubt that we should win it."
The candidates for Cubs closer
Bob Howry
• Age: 34
• Career saves: 65
• Closing the deal: If his velocity is up this spring, manager Lou Piniella may lead toward this veteran and his experience.
Kerry Wood
• Age: 30
• Career saves: 0
• Closing the deal: He will be the sentimental favorite among many Cubs fans. The fastball has been there early this spring, and Wood has never been short on guts.
Carlos Marmol
• Age: 25
• Career saves: 1
• Closing the deal: Piniella has described Marmol's stuff as "electric." If he dominates this spring, it'll be hard not to give the ball to him in the ninth inning.
-- Bruce Miles