In the first three games of the Chicago Cubs' 2010 season, both Sean Marshall and John Grabow have appeared in each game. Each man is a left-handed pitcher in manager Lou Piniella's bullpen. That is where all similarities end.
Marshall has logged 4 1/3 innings, striking out seven batters and allowing no base-runners.
Grabow, meanwhile, has thrown 1 1/3 innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
One of the hits was a two-run home run by Chipper Jones in the eighth inning of Wednesday's game, a shot that cost Chicago the game. The walk came against the only batter Grabow faced on Thursday, Atlanta catcher Brian McCann, forcing Piniella to bring in closer Carlos Marmol for a four-out save with the tying run on first base.
Obviously, such early-season stats mean relatively little, but it is worth noting that after Chicago acquired Grabow from the Pittsburgh Pirates last July, Grabow struck out just 16 batters in 25 innings, walking 12, while Marshall fanned 23 and allowed just seven walks in 19 1/3 frames.
More notably, Grabow continues to get the work that belongs to a team's primary set-up man.
Marshall has pitched no later than the seventh inning each game, and even entered for clean-up duty in the second inning of Chicago's Opening Day loss against the Atlanta Braves.
Grabow, meanwhile, has been called upon in the eighth inning of each contest.
This, of course, reflects the continued and ill-advised rigidity with which teams still make decisions about bullpen use. But what should be more perturbing to Cubs fans is the apparent secondary reality, which is that the Cubs have decided to make Grabow earn the two-year, $7.5 million contract he signed this winter by using him in high-leverage situations.
The concept isn't new—many managers feel pressured to validate the acquisitions of their bosses by slotting high-profile signings into well-defined roles.
But Grabow, whom the Cubs were foolish to have so compensated to begin with, should be an exception. With right-handed hurlers Esmailin Caridad and Marmol, and Marshall available from the left side, there is no reason that Grabow should throw high-leverage innings for the Cubs this season.
If he continues to do so, it will be a long season on Chicago's North Side.
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