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Sean Marshall Secures 5th spot

I have been quite busy over the past 24-48 hours with work and some cricket, a great game that should be more popular in the US if you ask me. However i did hear that Sean Marshall will be the Cubs 5th starter this season. I am absolutely delighted about this, Sean has done a great job over the past couple years doing whatever he was asked, leftie relief, some spot starts and he did a commendable job every time.

This means that Aaron Helman will move into the bullpen and Jeff Samardzija will either move with Heilman to the bullpen or move down to AAA as a starter to stay stretched out.

The Cubs will carry 12 pitchers this season, this includes the five starters, Zambrano/Dempster/Harden/Lilly and Marshall. Lou commented that 5 spots in the bullpen have already been secured, likely Marmol/Gregg/Cotts/Heilman and Vizcaino, which means there are two spots still up for grabs, Samardzija/Gaudin and David Patton who has done well this spring with a 1.17 ERA as well as Randy Wells.

David Patton has never pitched above A ball, so to think that he will start the season with the Cubs is a long shot, however the way that he is pitching has led Lou Piniella to say that he is in the mix, and if he continues to impress then why not give him a go.

Players line up before the Brewers game

Any time we beat a NL Central opponent i get a good feeling, yes i know its spring training before you all start mentioning that it is pointless. We saw our first glance of Milton Bradley, even if it was a fleeting one, Milton worked a walk in his first and only AB and then was lifted as a precautionary measure after feeling some tightness in his quad.

Jake Fox who is trying to find a position with the Cubs helped his cause by belting a 3 run shot in the third inning, Joey Gathright had 3 singles, a RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Sean Marshall who is battling for the 5th starters role gave up 1 run on 4 hits over 2 innings of work. Chad Gaudin hit a double while pitching one inning. Carlos Marmol gave up one run in one inning of work, and Angel Guzman picked up the save.

The Cubs move to 2-0 this spring. We now head to face the Texas Rangers with Ted Lilly getting the start.