While Angel Pagan cemented his spot on the big league roster with the retiring of Marquis Grissom, Grissom's retirement may have also cleared the way for utility infielder Ryan Theriot. There are now 15 position players on the active roster and the Cubs are taking 14 north. That means it's down to Theriot and Michael Restovich.

Restovich is a corner outfielder with a career OPS 4% below park-adjusted league average in 255 plate appearances. Which isn't bad for someone who, if he made the team, would serve as little more than a righthanded pinch-hitting option. But Restovich has hit just .200/.250/.367 this spring. (Al Yellon was not impressed with his performance today.) One other strike against Restovich: The Cubs would have to drop someone from the 40-man roster to keep him. While Theriot has only hit .217, he leads the team with 9 walks, giving him a .424 OBA. Plus Theriot runs well (something Baker likes) and plays good defense. Theriot is Jose Macias with better patience at the plate. So Theriot's in. Except that his stay may be short-lived if the Cubs decide to keep 7 relievers once they insert their 5th starter into the rotation on April 15.

Speaking of the starting rotation, two days ago I wrote that Sean Marshall should get consideration as the 4th starter in place of Jerome Williams. The one-man bandwagon has now added some folks. First, it was Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald in Tuesday morning's paper. Now, it's the important folks. MLB.com's Carrie Muskat reports:

Recently, Baker was asked if Marshall could make the jump to the fourth spot in the rotation, and the manager's response was that Marshall had to get to the fifth spot first. Now?

"It's a possibility," Baker said. "There are guys around the league who are his age and younger.
. . . .
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry also said he wouldn't rule out the possibility that Marshall, who pitched primarily at Class A Daytona last year, could be in the four-man rotation. . . .

"We're going to pitch the best people in the spots where we think make the most sense," Hendry said. "When you have guys who go down like we have and know that [Kerry Wood] and Wade Miller will be late, we're here to put the best people available at the time out there and win as many games as we can and not worry about who's coming back when."

Marshall is slated to start against the Padres on Friday.

Other notes from a busy day:

• Williams may be the long reliever if he's not the 4th starter. The fact that Jae-kuk Ryu was optioned today makes that much more likely. The Chicago papers had discussed Ryu possibly making the team as the long reliever.

• Michael Wuertz survived today. He threw 1 perfect inning, getting a strikeout. As bad as he's pitched, another bad outing may have ended his chances to make the team.

• Mike Fontenot pinch-ran in today's game. He does not have a plate appearance yet and has otherwise apparently spent his whole time this spring in minor league camp. What am I missing that he wasn't given the same opportunity as Theriot to make the club?

• Roberto Novoa returned from valley fever today, pitching 2/3 of an inning, allowing a hit and 1 unearned run. The fact that he got into a game means he still has time to make the team. The fact that David Aardsma was optioned today helps Novoa's chances. So much for what I had seen as Aardsma's push to make the team.

• The other notable cut today was Angel Guzman. It's still possible he could be the 5th starter on April 15.