Jackson has a better arsenal for starting pitching than Cashner does. He has four pitches (fastball, slider, changup and curve) that would suit much better for starting pitching.

Cashner has good stuff, but mainly a fastball/slider combo. NTM he was a closer during his TCU career. I think he’s a better fit in the bullpen as a dominant reliever.

is there any sort of plan going on here?

This is as angry as you’ll ever see me about things. I am big on Jay Jackson, but geesh.

Jay has been stretched out. We know he can start for a season. Andrew hasn’t handled a full workload (was on a pitch count last year). Cashner has a higher ceiling and added a 3rd pitch this year that he needs work on. Jay, while he needs to improve consistency on his breaking pitches, has been working with the pitches for a few years. Jay has a slightly better understanding of how to pitch, something that Cashner was rapidly developing.

This just annoys the heck out of me. One more thing to note – Jay has a high ceiling as a pen option as well. Not as high as Cashner’s, but Jay has flashed mid-upper 90’s heat before, something he might be able to do out of the pen, and he would be able to focus on the slider. Why not give Jay a try in the pen?

Ugh, anyhow, Cashner’s going to be up soon. I’d guess early June now. So disappointing in the timing of these moves and whatever the thought process is.

However, I think its necessary to consider who is in the bullpen now.

Carlos Marmol…closer…AWESOME…’Nuff said.
Sean Marshall = Beast!
Bob Howry = Cover your eyes
John Grabow = try not to have a heart attack
James Russell = fine so far
Jeff Stevens = not enough information
Tom Gorzellany = should be good if he pitches similar to his starts

Ok, so what I’m basically saying is that the major issues in the bullpen are Bob Howry and John Grabow. However, Jim Hendry brilliantly signed Grabow too a 7.5 million dollar deal, and I do not see him being released or traded. That leads us to Bob Howry. Howry was a good pitcher but has been awful lately.

If Jim Hendry planned to have Cashner or Jackson in the pen as right handed set up men soon, who would go? Not Grabow. If he had this in mind, then why would he have signed Bob Howry in the first place. If the plan is to send down James Russell, or Jeff Stevens (as it probably is) that should help in the long run. However, these pitchers have not exactly caused much harm to the team.

Adding say, Cashner to the bullpen, would give the cubs a decent setup man from the right side. You would then have marmol closing and marshall as the left handed set up man. Gorzo would be in there maybe has a long reliever and I guess Grabow could be a LOOGY. Howry would essentially pitch in blowouts or extra inning games and the same for Russell/Stevens/whoever.

Basically, I would love to see Cashner dominating as closer, though I really do not think that our bullpen is a major problem (except for when Lou calls on Grabow in a close game). Sorry if none of this made any sense…I just feel they should focus on the position players and HITTING THE BALL….ON another note, Byrd, Soto, Fukudome, and Theriot have all seen their batting averages drop A LOT recently.