Cubs roster takes shape; starters, relievers named

MESA, Ariz. - A lot of things fell into place Friday for the Cubs, at least for the beginning of the regular season.

The Cubs made seven roster cuts, and manager Lou Piniella named his five starting pitchers and the makeup of his bullpen 10 days before Opening Day in Atlanta.

Here is how it shakes out:

• Right-hander Carlos Silva and lefty Tom Gorzelanny have made the starting rotation behind Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells.

• Righty Jeff Samardzija and lefty Sean Marshall, who had been competing for rotation spots, will head to the bullpen.

• Barring a last minute trade in spring training, the Cubs will open with a young bullpen that includes Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad and lefty James Russell. If a trade happens before the end of spring training, Russell would be the likely candidate to go back to the minor leagues.

• The roster cuts were outfielder Jim Adduci, infielders Darwin Barney and Bobby Scales, catcher Robinson Chirinos and pitchers Jeff Gray, John Gaub and Marcos Mateo.

Piniella noted that Samardzija was disappointed, but that the Cubs needed help in the bullpen. With lefty Ted Lilly coming back from shoulder surgery, perhaps by mid-April, the rotation picture will be in flux anyway.

"I had a talk with him yesterday," Piniella said of Samardzija. "Look, the decisions that we made with our rotation, all four pitched well. We had four candidates for two jobs and we let them all compete. Really, they all pitched well, which is good.

"The thing that I'm happiest about, we sent nobody to the minor leagues. They went from the rotation to the bullpen. Samardzija's had experience in the bullpen."

Samardzija, whom the Cubs eventually see as a starter, has 46 games of big-league experience, 44 in relief. Marshall has 134 games in the big leagues, 59 starts. Last season, he had a 5.24 ERA as a starter and a 3.23 ERA as a reliever.

"Marshall has pitched in the bullpen and done a nice job," Piniella said. "He's thrown the ball very well here in camp. He's stretched out where he can be a middle or long guy in the bullpen."

Piniella added that sending Samardzija to Class AAA Iowa to open the season as a staring pitcher was not considered.

Although disappointed, Samardzija seemed to understand the decisions.

"It's fine," he said. "Obviously, we had goals we wanted to do and set for spring. I guess a change of plans. I'm actually excited. It'll be good to go out there and get in the game today and really start working toward making this team how we want it.

"I don't think I'm a disrespectful person in any way. I like Lou a lot. I think we get along very well. We talked about it. Like any conversation goes, there's one side. There's another side. You've got to have one point where you come back to, and the rest of it was pretty easy what he asked me to do for this team."

The Cubs still have decisions to make about the bench as their roster stands at 33 (in effect, it's 31 with Lilly and reliever Angel Guzman set to open on the disabled list). The decisions on the bench likely will come by next Wednesday, Piniella said.

As far as the bullpen goes, Piniella knows it's a young one. Carlos Marmol is the closer, with veteran lefty John Grabow the eighth-inning guy.

"Very young bullpen," he said. "This will be the second year now where the only constant is Marmol. The whole bullpen, basically, is new from when we left here last year. It's a young bullpen, and we've got some really, really good arms in there. It's a bullpen that's got a heck of a good chance to get better and better as the season goes on."