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Cubs Rotation questions and answers

August 16th, 2007

After the Cubs were defeated by their city rivals, closer Ryan Dempster told reporters that he was moving to the rotation. Thus, he confirmed the rumors that had been blowing around the Windy City. The player then excused himself and went to a meeting with pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Piniella, and general manager Jim Hendry. 20 minutes later, Ryan changed his tune. He said that they just kind of talked about things, and that he was going to go back down there and close. The move is still imminent, but no one appears to know when it might happen. Piniella has confirmed only that Rich Hill will start the game on Tuesday against the Padres. Lilly will follow him on Wednesday, but further changes are coming to the rotation as Piniella wants to kick-start his underachieving team. After Hendry spent 300 million dollars on new signings this winter, the Cubs are still 2 games under .500. However, moving Ryan Dempster to the rotation seems to be a strange move. Ryan has converted 9 of 10 save opportunities
this season. He looks settled in the role again after struggles during the previous season. Piniella seemed to be really upset with Dempster last Thursday, when he allowed five ninth-inning runs to give the Mets a 6-5 win over his team. However, overall Ryan has delivered something that the coach himself acknowledges. If the Cubs closer really is to become a starter, Marshall would become a short-term move. But we know that trying to
second-guess Piniella is an impossible task.

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