Marmol out 4-5 days with knee sprain..aram out too

[ryno4ever]

An MRI on the left knee of Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol revealed no tear, and only a Grade 1 sprain.
That's good news for the Cubs, who were looking at a possible season-altering injury if a tear was discovered and Marmol had to undergo knee surgery. Marmol is expected to throw a bullpen session in Phoenix on Monday, and could be back in 4-5 days if he recovers quickly.

At this point, there are no plans to put Marmol on the disabled list. But the Cubs could use another reliever. Kevin Gregg is coming off of knee surgery, and Neal Cotts was walking around this morning with a wrap around his leg.

Of course, the starters could start going longer to help aid the bullpen, starting with Sean Marshall on Saturday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Aramis Ramirez is out of the lineup with a calf strain, and is listed as day to day. Ramirez received treatment but no MRI. Aaron Miles will be in the lineup, batting eighth and playing second, while Derrek Lee moves up to the No. 4 hole and Mike Fontenot plays third and bats fifth.

Piniella's new-look lineup is otherwise the same, led by Ryan Theriot, Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano, who will be an emergency backup infielder with Ramirez out of the lineup. The Cubs have no plans to call anyone up from Triple-A Iowa, at least as of noon.

It's a warm day and the wind is blowing out at a brisk pace. Not a good day for pitchers, especially those having to face Albert Pujols


Hmmm...Sori is the backup infielder.... this could get really really interesting. Bradley really needs to go on the DL and bring a healthy body up from Iowa (Jake Fox perhaps...)

[Bockstock]

The cubs should have DL'ed Bradley last week instead of keeping him for PH duty. Now it seems ARam will probably go to the DL, and both MArmol and Cotts are out for the weekend.

Some bad roster management so far by Lou and Hendry and bad luck has put the cubs in a precarious situation for the next week. AT least they didn't break the bank to bring in Peavy.

Jake Fox time????

[ryno4ever]

And Gordon Whittenmeyer of the Sun Times just posted on his Twitter that Big Z and Koyie Hill are taking grounders at third base right now in BP???????? Are you kidding me?

[ryno4ever]

What did I miss with Cotts? Is he hurt, too?

[Bockstock]

Apparently hes unavailable for today/tommorrow

yea I know big loss lol

[ryno4ever]

Apparently hes unavailable for today/tommorrow

yea I know big loss lol

I consider this probably the best news I've heard about this team in close to a week! LOL

[ryno4ever]

And it looks as if they plan on riding out the injuries....WHY???? WHY?????WHY????? THE DL LIST IS THERE FOR A REASON!!!!

The Cubs were the only team in the majors to open the season without a player on the disabled list, and because they still don't have one on the DL today, their left fielder is their backup second baseman and a catcher is their backup third baseman.

"We're going to try to get by this without having to DL anybody,'' manager Lou Piniella said. "So we're going to have to improvise a little bit.'' The good news for the Cubs on Saturday was also the reason for the short-term problem: Neither of the injuries suffered Friday night by third baseman Aramis Ramirez (left calf) and relief ace Carlos Marmol (left knee) is expected sideline either player for more than a few days.

Marmol was diagnosed with a Grade 1 (least severe) sprain of his knee after an MRI and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Monday in Phoenix. If all goes well, he will be ready to pitch Tuesday. Ramirez, whose sore calf was no worse Saturday morning, could return in the same time frame.

And because the team remains hopeful that right fielder Milton Bradley (groin) also will return before the end of the road trip Thursday, they're willing to play with almost no margin for infield trouble.

"You're just a phone call away if something else happened or if somebody had to go on the DL or if somebody else got hurt and was going to miss four or five days and you have a make a move,'' general manager Jim Hendry said. "We always look at it like, at worst, you have to get through that game only that day with kind of a strange scenario. You wouldn't let that linger.''

So for now, backup catcher Koyie Hill, who played third in college, is also the backup third baseman behind Saturday's starter, Mike Fontenot. Left fielder Alfonso Soriano, who played second until three seasons ago, is Aaron Miles' backup at second. And Piniella was informed by media that outfielder Kosuke Fukudome was a high school shortstop.

"How 'bout that?'' Piniella said. "We got more infielders than we thought.''

He also said he has an extra pinch-hitter, if necessary, in pitcher Carlos Zambrano -- who also took grounders at third on his own during batting practice Saturday.

"If by the time we get to Phoenix, we don't see improvements, then we might have to rethink this thing,'' Piniella said. "But I would hope that we could get both [Ramirez and Bradley] in the lineup sometime in the Phoenix series. If not, we'll see.''