Chicago Cubs Player Previews [Part 3 of 3]

July 12th, 2007

The 6 relievers, Rocky Cherry, and Billy Petrick is on today's menu. Petrick and Gallagher have sort of been switching back and forth with each other, so I'm doing both previews, and Cherry is on the DL, but was currently with the club when injured, so I'll do his preview, too. Also, I'm going to do Dempster's preview, as he's also injured, and most likely will be back with the Cubs in about 1 week.


Bobby Howry: After 2004, when he had a 2.74 ERA, and 2005, when he had a 2.47 ERA, and even 2006, when he had a 3.17 ERA, you had to think that Bobby would be an asset to any bullpen. Well, sort of. His ERA is 4.68 at the break. I couldn't have guessed that it'd be this high. Relievers don't log a lot of innings, Howry's longest appearance of the year is 2 innings, which he did 3 times. If you look at it, most of his ERA comes from 4 appearances in which he went 3.1 innings, surrendering 13 earned runs. Take away those innings and his ERA is 2.07. Look for his ERA to go down, and for those shaky, ERA raising innings to decrease.

Scott Eyre: Scott Eyre was never a lights out reliever. He only had 1 season at a Bob Howry-Esq ERA, which was 2005, and he had a 2.63 ERA. Then last year, Scotty had a 3.38 ERA, which came from 2 appearances at the end of the year after he had an injury. In the 2 appearances his ERA was upped from 2.85 to 3.23, and then finally 3.38. This year his ERA is 6.60. Neal Cotts was sent down when he had an ERA in the 4s, and Lou wants to add another pitcher, and with Dempster, Cherry, Gallagher and Petrick in the mix, don't look for Eyre to be.

Will Ohman: His ERA this year is 4.15 which shouldn't surprise anyone for 2 reasons. His career ERA is also 4.15. Reason #2 is that last year's ERA of his was 4.13, so almost identical. He isn't a perfect reliever, but he gets the job done. He notched his 1st career save this year against the braves, and has pitched so phenomenally During the Cubs' hot stretch of baseball, a 3.86 ERA during his last 10 games. Look for his innings to go up, as he's been a solid reliever this year, and look for his ERA to go down as he gets more comfortable being a frequently used reliever.

Michael Wuertz: As late as June 14th, Mike was a saint. His ERA was 3.03. Then it went up a lot, and by June 29th, he was at stellar status again with a 2.95 ERA. In his 3 innings since then, his ERA has gone up to 3.40. He's a little inconsistent, but with his fastball and slider the way they are, expect to see 2006's Mike Wuertz, who led the team in ERA with a 2.66 in that stat. Look for more consistency, and less runs from Michael.

Carlos Marmol: This is Marmol's 2nd year, and his 2007 ERA is 0.96. Then how is his career ERA all the way at 4.71? Last year Carlos' ERA was 6.08. When he got his chance this year he was a changed man. He hasn't thrown mistake pitches, and he has 40 strikeouts in his 28 innings. His fastball is reaching 98 mph, and walks haven't even been an issue this year for him. Look for hitters to figure him out a little bit, thus the ERA will go up, but look for him to still be the best reliever in the Cubs bullpen to years end.

Sean Gallagher: 4 games. 7 innings. 6 earned runs. 7.71 ERA. He has been very inconsistent this year to date. His game log tells me he gave up 2 in his first appearance. Then 0, then 4 runs, and then 0 in his last appearance. This is a little troubling, and I know it is going to be a problem come the playoffs, so look for Sean to go back to Iowa whether it be now or closer to the playoffs.

Rocky Cherry: 9 games. 11.1 innings. 3 earned runs. 2.38 ERA. He is the kind of reliever that the Cubs need to be in contention to win the Wild Card, or even the NL Central. He has been very consistent to this point, giving up the 3 runs in 2 appearances, 7 shutout appearances. Look for his innings to slowly inflate as he returns from an injury if he is in the mix at all.

Ryan Dempster: 16 of 18 in save opportunities is the main stat that I am looking at. Those saves are key to his confidence as last year he blew 9 games and had a 4.80 ERA. He lost the Cubs 9 games last year. This year is different. In his 2 blown saves, he came out in his next appearance and notched a save, something he failed to do last season. Look for him to get back to the closers role after the injury and look for him to be a little shaky at first, as his most recent appearance was June 22.

Billy Petrick: In 5.2 innings this year, Billy's ERA is 3.18. This is virtually just a sample, as it is the amount of innings it takes Zambrano to get to 100 pitches, which is less than 1 start. So far I've liked what I've seen so far from the kid. He hasn't allowed a run since his major league debut, and well, that is to me at least, understandable. Look for him to finish the year in AAA, due to the overload of pitchers coming back from injuries in the second half.

The Cubs have 5 starters, and want to have 7 relievers. I did the 5 starters, and 9 relievers. 2 of them will not fit in this puzzle. My choices to go would be Sean Gallagher and Scott Eyre. To me they seem inconsistent and just when they get on the right track, especially for Eyre this year, the wheels fall off. That's just my previews. I have no idea how things will turn out, I just hope I didn't jinx anybody.

Thanks,

Ryan