Carlos Marmol

Manager Lou Pinella is starting to get sick of Ryan Dempster and almost made a change to the back of his bullpen this weekend. According to the Associated Press in a report Sunday evening, Dempster was told he would be moving back to the rotation but before long he was told that he would remain the Cubs' closer.

Dempster's actually been doing a decent job this year with nine saves and only one blown save to his record. His K/9 and K/BB ratios are fine and his BB/9 is decent. His ERA is inflated due to a poor strand rate but his job is based on being able to strand runners if he comes into a situation with runners on base. If he continues to have problems here there is a good chance that Pinella will scapegoat Dempster and consider making a closing switch.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Sunday morning that Carlos Marmol was the likely candidate to take over closing duties for Dempster had a change been made. Marmol has good stuff as evidenced by his 48/12 K/BB ratio as a starter at Triple-A this season. He's going to get a chance to establish himself as a setup man for now it would seem and that makes him worth stashing away in NL only leagues. Dempster has proven to be faulty as a closer in the past and has indicated that he would prefer to start despite the history of stats that proves he's no good in that role. If a change happens Marmol could be the beneficiary.