Why designate Vizcaino?

The Cubs designated reliever Luis Vizcaino today and I don’t get it. Maybe someone can explain it to me. He was a solid bullpen guy with 11 years of experience. In his career he was 34-27 with a 4.31 ERA. That isn’t great, but he is solid and consistent. We haven’t got much of that from the rest of the bullpen, so you think it would be good to have someone dependable. Were going to have to pay his salary anyways and I don’t think the Cubs have anyone better than him. He was not the weakest player in that bullpen, so why just cut him?

He had a decent spring and was off to a good start. He only pitched 3.2 innings so far this year because Lou didn’t trust him, but I don’t know why. I am not saying that he is great or one of your key guys, but for what he is and what you need he was a fine fit. Were not asking him to be a set up guy like he was earlier in his career. We have Marmol and Heilaman to set up Gregg already. All we need is him to help in the 7th innings or with big leads and he was fine. This season Vizcaino was one of the few guys in the bullpen who wasn’t wild and didn’t walk many batters. He had no walks this season and had three strike outs. In his 3.2 innings he only allowed 2 hits. He had no walks! He is a good strikeout pitcher. In his career he averages 1.11 strikeout per inning and was on the same pace this season.

I am not saying I was a big Luis Vizcaino fan or would want to re-sign him when he was a free agent, but he is too good to cut when he is under contract. I wish the Cubs would have called up Jeff Samardzija to take Neal Cotts spot instead of Vizcaino. Cotts has been bad and I would rather have better pitchers and no left handed relievers than a bad one.