Piniella goes with the hot hand, picking Gregg over Marmol for closer
MESA, Ariz. - Lou Piniella made his decision Sunday. Now the real work begins.
Piniella officially named veteran right-hander Kevin Gregg the Cubs' closer to start the season. Based on the spring Gregg had, with an 0.00 ERA, that was a no-brainer.
Piniella began work on one of his other projects, by telling disappointed runner-up Carlos Marmol that the Cubs value him as their eighth-inning setup man. On top of that, Piniella is still looking to fill out the rest of the bullpen with a cast of characters that hasn't exactly been showstopping this spring.
"We said we'd let both pitchers compete here in the spring; they've both pitched well," Piniella said. "I'm fortunate that I have two pitchers here that I have confidence in that can do that job.
"Gregg's come in here and hasn't given up a run all spring. I think leaving spring training, we're a better team the way we've put this thing together. What we have to do with Marmol in that setup role is find a couple pitchers that can help him so we don't have to use him nearly as much as last year. At the same time, we hope to win with enough consistency where both guys will get a lot of closing opportunities."
Gregg has not given up a run in 81/3 Innings this spring. He came to the Cubs in a November trade with the Florida Marlins, for whom he saved 29 games last year and 32 in 2007.
"I threw the ball well this spring," Gregg said. "I came in wanting to show Lou and Larry (pitching coach Rothschild) and Jim (GM Hendry) what I can do on a firsthand basis. I was able to do that.
"It's where I'm comfortable. It's what I've done for the last couple of years. I'm excited about getting out there (in a) new year, especially being on a healthy leg."
Gregg had off-season surgery on his left leg and says he's been 100 percent all spring.
Marmol has been the Cubs' chief setup man the last couple years, but he did save seven games last year. He seemed clearly disappointed by Piniella's decision and seemed to think it was preordained. Marmol has hit five batters this spring, and he admitted that he was having trouble gripping the ball in the dry Arizona air.
"Disappointed, yeah, of course it is," said Marmol, who acknowledged that the move was good for the team. "I can't control this."
Marmol pitched for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic but said he didn't feel that didn't make any difference.
"They knew what (they were going) to do before I got here," he said. "That's what I said when I said it was not 'competition.'"
Piniella saw it as win-win.
"I couldn't go wrong either way," the manager said. "I talked to him. Basically, I talked to him about the same things that I'm telling you. I said, 'Look, just bide your time.' I told him the better he does his job, the better we are going to be as a team. At the same time, I told him not to be disappointed. I said there's going to be plenty of opportunities for him down the road to close. Just continue to improve and maintain, and a lot of good things are going to happen to him in his career."
Marmol promised not to mope about the decision, saying he'd be the game guy. The rest of the bullpen becomes important because Piniella doesn't want to overuse Marmol, who led the Cubs with 82 appearances last year.
Aaron Heilman will pitch the seventh inning, and Neal Cotts is the lefty. The rest of the jobs are up for grabs among Chad Gaudin, Luis Vizcaino, Angel Guzman and Rule 5 draft pick David Patton.
"One thing that we're going to try to do with Carlos is try to stay as short as we can with him," Piniella said. "We're going to try that. It means, basically, that we need a few other pitchers, and we've got the people here, in Heilman. We've got Vizcaino that's got experience. We've got Cotts, who's been throwing the ball very, very well, and possibly one more young pitcher that can come in or one other pitcher that can come in.
"The reason I'm hedging a little bit is because I don't know exactly what the last spot or two in the bullpen is going to be yet."