Today the Cubs finally figured out who will be on their pitching staff, and I have to say I'm not all that impressed with the choices:

With a large round of cuts this morning, the Cubs set their 12-man pitching staff, with left-handed prospect James Russell earning the final bullpen spot.

Russell, who hasn't allowed a run in seven spring outings (9 IP), won the final spot over lefty John Gaub and right-hander Marcos Mateo -- both of whom were optioned to AAA Iowa.

He joins a seven-man bullpen that also includes closer Carlos Marmol, along with lefty John Grabow, right-handers Esmailin Caridad and Justin Berg and two pitchers from the battle for the rotation -- likely left-hander Sean Marshall and right-hander Jeff Samardzija.

Manager Lou Piniella is expected to officially announce the winners of that four-man battle for two starting jobs, one of whom is Carlos Silva (already scheduled to start next on Saturday). Tom Gorzelanny, who pitched a team-high six innings on Thursday, is expected to get the other job.

Link(Chicago Sun-Times)

Really, it was going to be difficult to be happy with the choices regardless, especially after setup man Angel Guzman was lost for the season. It was expected that the Cubs would acquire a veteran arm for the bullpen before the season starts(and that could still happen I suppose), but it appears they will instead have four guys that spent at least most of their 2009 seasons in the minor leagues.

So, here's your apparent Cubs' Opening Day rotation and bullpen(with 2009 stats):

1. Carlos Zambrano(RHP): 9-7, 3.77 ERA, 169.1 IP, 155 H, 78 BB, 152 K, 1.376 WHIP.
2. Ryan Dempster(RHP): 11-9, 3.64 ERA, 200 IP, 196 H, 65 BB, 172 K, 1.305 WHIP.
3. Randy Wells(RHP): 12-10, 3.05 ERA, 165.1 IP, 165 H, 46 BB, 104 K, 1.276 WHIP.
4. Carlos Silva(RHP): 1-3, 8.60 ERA, 30.1 IP, 41 H, 11 B, 10 K, 1.714 WHIP.
5. Tom Gorzelanny(LHP): 4-2, 5.63 ERA, 38.1 IP, 13 BB, 40 K, 1.357 WHIP.

Sean Marshall(LHP) As reliever: 3.23 ERA, 39 IP, 38 H, 18 BB, 34 K, 1.436 WHIP.
Jeff Samardzija(RHP) As reliever: 6.49 ERA, 26.1 IP, 33 H, 14 BB, 14 K, 1.785 WHIP.
James Russell(LHP) AA/AAA stats: 4.03 ERA, 102.2 IP, 116 H, 28 BB, 72 K, 1.403 WHIP.
Justin Berg(RHP): 0.75 ERA, 12 IP, 10 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 0.917 WHIP.
Esmailin Caridad(RHP): 1.40 ERA, 19.1 IP, 15 H, 3 BB, 17 K, 0.931 WHIP.
John Grabow(LHP): 3.36 ERA, 72.1 IP, 62 H, 40 BB, 57 K, 1.410 WHIP.
Carlos Marmol(RHP): 3.41 ERA, 74 IP, 43 H, 65 BB, 93 K, 1.459 WHIP.

Remember of course that Ted Lilly will be back, likely around the end of April. So the rotation still could be very good, especially if Wells proves that his terrific '09 rookie season wasn't a complete fluke. Either Silva or Gorzelanny will be bumped from the rotation then, and whoever that is could be headed to the bullpen.

In the bullpen, really the only "knowns" are Marmol, Grabow, and Marshall. We know they're going to at least be solid in their roles, with Marmol capable of being absolutely spectacular if he can find the strike zone. However, that doesn't matter if the pitchers before him blow the game before he gets the chance to come in for a save opportunity.

Samardzija making the bullpen has many groaning, and Russell has yet to pitch a game in the majors. Caridad and Berg were extremely impressive in their short time with the Cubs last year, and many believe Caridad could immediately dominate. He's the best bet to replace Angel Guzman's seventh/eighth inning role, and if he could perform anything like we expected Guzman to, that would be a major boost to the bullpen.

Still, there's just so many question marks with this pitching staff that make it tough to get excited at all just yet. All of these young arms are talented, but the majors are an entirely different animal, and we have no idea how well they will perform until they are called upon. I guess we'll see for ourselves very soon.


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