Former Cubs reliever Sean Marshall has no quibbles about his Reds role
It should come as no surprise to longtime Cubs fans that Sean Marshall continues to be the good soldier.
Nowadays, Marshall does his thing from the left side of the Cincinnati Reds bullpen after last winter’s trade that sent him away in exchange for pitcher Travis Wood, outfielder Dave Sappelt and infielder Ronald Torreyes.
Sappelt and Torreyes have spent all year in the minor leagues, while Wood was recalled up from Class AAA Iowa on Tuesday and made his second start for the Cubs, against the Astros in Houston.
Marshall has worked both as a setup man and closer for manager Dusty Baker’s Reds. On Monday, he earned his eighth save in 9 chances. But over the weekend, it appeared Baker was leaning toward making the hard-throwing Aroldis Chapman his closer and putting Marshall back into the setup role in which he excelled for so long with the Cubs.
“I’m a do-what’s-best-for-the-team kind of guy,” Marshall told mlb.com. “I know what I do best, and I don’t plan on changing how I pitch in any different role. I’ll keep doing that, whether it’s as the closer, a setup guy or a one-out guy. Whatever it takes to win the game.”
Marshall entered Tuesday 1-2 with a 4.80 ERA, a WHIP of 1.67 and a 13.20 K/9 ratio.
Chapman, by the way, was arrested early Monday and charged with driving 93 mph and driving on a suspended license.
The Colorado connection:
Would Cubs fans be happier with Tyler Colvin in right field and DJ LeMahieu at third base instead of the current setup, with David DeJesus in right and Ian Stewart at third?
The new Cubs regime in December traded Colvin and LeMahieu to the Colorado Rockies for third baseman Ian Stewart and minor-league pitcher Casey Weathers.
Stewart has been a disappointment, with a hitting line of .197/.286/.336 entering Tuesday. He had 4 homers and 13 RBI.
There had been talk recently the Rockies would make Colvin their regular center fielder, or at least consider it.
“Tyler’s done a wonderful job in whatever capacity we have called upon him,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said in a Denver Post story. “He’s pushing the envelope for more time. When a player does that, you have to be mindful of it and create additional opportunities for him to play.”
Colvin’s line entering Tuesday had a familiar look to it: .291/.305/.506 for a nice OPS of .811. He had 3 homers and 11 RBI in part-time action, but getting on base remains an issue. In 79 at-bats, Colvin had 2 walks and 24 strikeouts.
LeMahieu is at Colorado Springs, where he had a hitting line of .322/.361/.407 with 1 homer and 25 RBI.
Could Cubs have used ’em?
If you hadn’t tuned out Monday’s 8-4 loss by the Cubs in Houston, you missed a late pinch-hit appearance by Marwin Gonzalez, who stayed in the game to play shortstop. Gonzalez is one of two infielders lost by the Cubs in December’s Rule 5 draft. The other is Ryan Flaherty of Baltimore.
Gonzalez has a line of .218/.232/.327 with 1 homer. Flaherty is at .152/.167/.217 in limited action with the Orioles. Both players must remain on their respective major-league rosters or else risk being lost on waivers or returned to the Cubs organization.
The losses of Gonzalez, Flaherty and DJ LeMahieu this winter had the Cubs scrambling for infielders. Hence, the acquisitions of Adrian Cardenas and Luis Valbuena and the back-and-forth action with Blake DeWitt between Chicago and Iowa.
Flaherty recently became part of major-league history in an Orioles game against the Rangers. Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the first inning in the first game of a doubleheader. According to Elias, Baltimore became the fourth team in major-league history to begin a game with 3 consecutive home runs. The others were the 1987 Padres, 2003 Braves and 2007 Brewers.
So we’ll end with a question: Would you rather have Colvin, LeMahieu, Gonzalez and Flaherty in the mix for the rebuilding job than what the Cubs have now?
bmiles@dailyherald.com