FanHouse LuisVizcaino

The biggest question surrounding the Cubs this spring was answered by Lou Piniella on Sunday when he made it official and announced that Kevin Gregg, not Carlos Marmol, will be the Cubs closer this season.

Gregg was brought in this winter after a trade on a one-year $4.2 million deal after saving 61 games with the Florida Marlins the last two seasons to help replace Kerry Wood, who signed with Cleveland, at the back end of the bullpen. Many of the team's fans were in favor of Marmol, but Gregg out-pitched him this spring and gives Piniella more flexibility with his bullpen as closer.

Though it isn't likely to be announced until next week, the Cubs and Rockies have agreed in principle to a trade that will send starting pitcher Jason Marquis to Colorado in exchange for reliever Luis Vizcaino.

In a vacuum, Marquis is probably the more valuable player, if for no other reason than he's a starter, but of course moves like these don't happen in a vacuum. The Cubs aren't losing much in Marquis other than mediocrity, and while that has very real value in the major leagues, they have the depth to easily replace him. It's been a rocky couple of years for Vizcaino, who Chicago is receiving in return, but he still misses bats, and he's sliding into one of the deepest bullpens in the league, meaning he won't have to shoulder too much responsibility.

Perhaps more importantly, the Cubs are shedding $10 million in salary by dealing Marquis. Lightening the payroll is the first domino that needed to fall for GM Jim Hendry to round out the rest of the roster. Hendry now has the flexibility to add an outfielder like Milton Bradley or Bobby Abreu and maybe even revisit the Jake Peavy trade talks.

As for the Rockies, Marquis gives them another low-ceiling groundball pitcher to go alongside Aaron Cook in their rotation. He's probably not going to win them the division, but he won't keep them from doing so either.

Colorado Rockies reliever Luis Vizcaino doesn't play for the Tampa Bay Rays -- if he did I'd have introduced him as Tampa Bay Rays reliever Luis Vizcaino -- but he does spend his offseason living in the Tampa area. So it's quite possible that he's rooting for the Rays right now just to fit in with his neighbors. It's also possible that he couldn't care less. I don't know, I can't speak for the man.

Regardless of Luis' rooting interests, I'm sure there were a lot of Rays fans who were hitting the bottle last night after watching their team get blasted 10-2 on Sunday night to take them to the brink of elimination.

I don't know if that's why Luis Vizcaino was drinking last night, but whatever his reasons for it are, he probably shouldn't have driven himself home.

Apparently the rough translation to American baseball for Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa hasn't soured the New York Yankees on Japanese pitchers. The agent for Kazuo Fukumori says that the Yankees have inquired about the 33-year old reliever, late of the Rakuten Golden Eagles, to help fill out their bullpen for the 2008 season. According to Newsday, the Yankees got into the bidding late, after teams like the Padres and Rays, and are now taking a look at Fukumori's medical records and DVDs of his mound work before proffering an offer.

The medical records are important, since Fukumori had elbow surgery which prematurely ended his season. The Rockies aren't pursuing Fukumori because of that but according to Alan Nero, the agent, he's been examined by several doctors and is throwing off the mound. Fukumori saved 21 games and was an All-Star in 2006 and has struck out a batter an inning over the past two seasons. He's also struggled with walks, though, and that's too reminiscent of past Yankee bullpen flops to make them feel too comfortable handing over late leads.

The Yankees balked at the contract demands of Luis Vizcaino, who declined arbitration, and are finding the other available bullpen options to be equally unpalatable. They need to acquire a reliable workhorse to set-up Mariano Rivera but Fukumori doesn't appear to be the answer.