After the injury plagued rotation issue, the Cubs appear to have set their bullpen.
Carlos Marmol retains his role as the closer. Even though the off season plan was to move Marmol, the Cubs are stuck with him.
Kyuji Fujikawa, the Japanese closer, was supposed to be the two-year bridge to get the Cubs pitching staff to a competitive level in 2015. Whether Fuji will be able to adapt to major league hitters is still a question. The Cubs only other Japanese import, Kosuke, did not pan out well.
Dale Sveum's 2012 MVP Shawn Camp is back in middle relief. He made an outrageous number of appearances last season. There is a question of whether he can handle another season of such a workload at his age.
James Russell has become a dependable relief pitcher after his disasterous forays into the spot-starter role. As a left hander, he projects to be the next Sean Marshall of the staff.
Hector Rondon, a Rule 5 pick up who must make the roster in order to be retained, wins a slot like Lendy Castillo did last season, because he has to or the Cubs lose his rights. The Cubs say they are impressed with Rondon's spring, but they also said the same thing about Castillo last year. It is hard to promote a AA pitcher to the majors. It is hard to "hide" a Rule 5 pitcher in the bullpen on a bad team, because the bullpen will be taxed on a bad team with a suspect rotation.
Michael Bowden makes the team as a reliever because he is out of options. He can't be sent to the minors without clearing waivers. So he makes the squad by default.
The remaining bullpen spot will go to Hisanori Takahashi, another veteran left hander. He has had the best ERA among those other candidates for the last pitching spot. And he is the only left hander left in camp after Russell.
