Chicago Cubs Relief Pitchers 2009
The Chicago Cubs Relief Pitchers in the bullpen at Wrigley Field
The Chicago Cubs Relief Pitchers 2009
# 63 Kevin Gregg – Right Handed Relief Pitcher (Closer)
# 49 Carlos Marmol - Right Handed Relief Pitcher (Most feared setup man in MLB)
# 47 Aaron Heilman – Right Handed Relief Pitcher
# 37 Angel Guzman – Right Handed Relief Pitcher
# 54 David Patton - Right Handed Relief Pitcher
# 58 Jose Ascanio - Right Handed Relief Pitcher
# 43 Jason Waddell – Left Handed Relief Pitcher
# 44 Chad Fox – Right Handed Relief Pitcher * Disabled List
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Other Cubs Relief Pitchers No Longer on Major League Roster
# 29 Jeff Samardzija - Optioned to AAA Iowa
# 51 Luis Vizcaino – Released
# 48 Neal Cotts – Optioned to AAA Iowa
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You may also be interested in the Chicago Cubs Starting Pitchers 2009 and the Chicago Cubs 2009 Roster or the 2009 Chicago Cubs Regular Season Schedule
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About the Cubs Relief Pitchers
The opening day relief pitchers began as Carlos Marmol, Kevin Gregg, Aaron Heilman, Neil Cotts, Luis Vizcaino and David Patton. The only two returning members from the 2008 bullpen were Carlos Marmol and Neil Cotts. Angel Guzman is also a returning player although he only played for the Cubs in 2008 after the September roster expansion. Aaron Heilman, Kevin Greg and Vizcaino were acquired in offseason trades and David Patton was a Rule 5 Draft pick from the Colorado Rockies.
Kevin Gregg was a bit of a surprise to many people when he was chosen to be the Cubs closer over the dominant Carlos Marmol. I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t believe that Marmol can handle the closing job. In 2008 he achieved the extremely rare honor to join the NL All Star team as a middle reliever, which almost never happens.
The thing is though, if you watched a lot of games in 2008, you saw how incredibly valuable Carlos Marmol was in the 7th and 8th innings. Many games are won or lost in those two innings and he would almost be wasted coming into games in the 9th inning with noone on base.
Marmol almost always comes into every single game with men on base and the game on the line. He has shown himself to be the ultimate “rally killer” when the opposition tries to comeback in the late innings. Noone shuts down the other team like Marmol did in 2007-2008. Marmol had the highest strikeout ratio of any reliever in MLB in 2008 and the lowest ratio of inherited runners scoring. He’s The MAN.
The rest of the relief pitching staff around him can be inconsistent and we’ll be seeing some changes with the relief pitching staff throughout the season until everyone nails down their jobs. Kevin Gregg will likely remain the closer, Marmol is the setup man, but at this point the rest of the staff is pretty much up for grabs.
But here’s hoping everybody settles into their roles and meets their full potential. No one can win it all with out a good bullpen so I’ll be rooting for all of them and I hope they can keep us all happy.
Go Cubs!!!
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Let me say once again…. Marmol is THE MAN! I tonight’s game (5/7/09) Marmol came to the game in the 8th against the Astros, facing the heart of the order. Miguel Tejada hit a leadoff double. That meant the tying run came to the plate with no outs. Marmol had to face Lance Berkman (All Star), Carlos Lee (All Star) and Hunter Pence (Cubs killer and future All Star). He struck out ALL THREE OF THEM and made look BAD doing it.
Carlos Marmol might be the only middle reliever ever who is worth of an MVP award. He is the MAN.
I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get the best six or seven relief pitchers on the staff but we’re likely to see more changes. At this point, I think only Gregg, Marmol and Heilman can feel secure with their jobs. Everybody else needs to be on their best behavior or they’ll get replaced the moment they can find somebody better. It’s early May and the bullpen has the highest attrition rate of any part of the team. One released, one sent back to the minors… so far….