Lefty Sean Marshall is making the leap from Double A West Tennessee where he had a 2.52 ERA, 24 K’s, & five walks in 25 innings of work over four starts for the Diamond Jaxx. Sean spent the lion’s share of last season pitching in Class A for the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League. There Marshall was a solid performer putting up a 4-4 mark, over 12 starts, striking out 61 & walking 26 batters, with a 2.74 ERA, working 69 innings there. The 6-6 lefty out of Virginia Commonwealth has allowed no runs on three hits over 10 1/3 innings this spring earning him the number four spot in the Cubs rotation. The door was left open for Marshall when both Kerry Wood & Mark Prior ended up on the DL to start the season, no real surprise there, but it was a surprise this portsider was ready to seize this opportunity. Sean has a twin brother Brian who is in the Boston Red Sox organization, you can checkout their website.
the cub fans i talk to are excited about this kid.
i was talking to a co worker/cub fan this morning. His feeling was that if the Cubs could stay .500 with the rotation of Zam, Maddux, Rusch, and Marshall, who knows what what could happen when Wood, Prior and Miller get back..
Eternal Cub fan optimism? maybe..
It’s a shame that this ballclub is run so poorly! They haven’t won since 1908, a large market team, with the largest fan base in America, and they’re as far away from winning as they’ve ever been.
hmm.. i heard a lot of people say that last year about a certain other chicago team.
The White Sox have never been one of the largest revenue generators. Again it was the “experts” who predicted doom for the Southsiders last year. I was the guy who put my money where my mouth was and picked the Sox to win it all. I will remind you it was the first time I’d ever bet on the Sox to win it all.
This Cub team is hurting! Three members of their starting are on the DL to start the season, they still have one of the worst fielding secondbasemen in baseball in Todd Walker (maybe the worst now that Soriano is in LF), and a manager who is clueless. I was at game #6 when Baker lost it, not Bartman. Dusty didn’t even have anybody warming up with a tiring 22 year old trying to hold on and he didn’t even come out to talk with him till the game was lost, when he removed Prior from the game.
Don’t get me wrong there is some hope. They picked up a leadoff man who can play centerfield, Matt Murton will hit .320+, 20 homers, & 80 walks, and Ronny Cedeno looks to have alot of talent at SS. So if the starters can hang in there till Wood, Prior, & Miller come back they have a chance.