Chicago Cub baseball fans got their first peek at the much-anticipated and heavily hinted at shake-up of the club’s pitching staff today.
Left-hander reliever Neal Cotts, who was one of Jim Hendry’s off-season acquisitions, was optioned to Triple A Iowa after a week’s worth of ineffective work out of the bullpen. Cotts saw his ERA balloon from a respectable 1.76 on May 14th to 4.85 at last reading.
In his place, the Cubs recalled Sean Marshall.  The lefty was bothered by shoulder stiffness this spring and has been toiling at Class A Daytona and Iowa. Marshall started 24 games for the Cubs in 2006, finishing 6-9 with a 5.59 ERA. He’s expected to move into the five-man rotation as Angel Guzman moves back to the bullpen.
Chicago manager Lou Piniella has hinted for the past few days that a shake-up was coming to the Cubs staff as he tries to plug holes in one of the leakiest bullpens in baseball.
Cubs closer Ryan Dempster had also been mentioned - well he mentioned himself - as a potential starter. That rumor died a quick death as Dempster recanted 20 minutes later after meeting with Piniella, Hendry and pitching coach Larry Rothschild.
I’m thinking that unless the bullpen straightens itself out quickly - as in real soon - more changes are on the way.
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