Enter Jon Leicester into the starting rotation. Leicester will start Monday night, reports MLB.com, after the Cubs moved Ryan Dempster into the the closer's role (and promptly didn't use him in a save situation today, allowing Carlos Zambrano to close it out with 136 pitches).

Leicester started 12 games last year for Iowa before being called up in a reliever's role. He had a 3.64 ERA in 66.2 innings for Iowa. He made the big league club out of spring training this year as a reliever before being sent down with control problems. He's now thrown 5 innings for Iowa in 2 games (1 start), allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4.

The MLB.com article, written by Carrie Muskat, speculates that Dempster's stint as closer may not last long with Joe Borowski's pending return. On the other hand, this could mean that Borowski's velocity is still not where the Cubs would like it, and that he won't automatically be given the closer's job when he returns.

Dempster was never going to be the best starter. His 5.35 ERA in 6 starts thus far was certainly something that could have been expected. But the fact is, in 4 of the 6 games Dempster has started, he has given his team a chance to win (allowing 3 or fewer runs in at least 6 innings of work) (see current game log). That is 67% of his starts. Is there a 67% chance that Leicester will keep the Cubs in the game tomorrow night? Given his control problems this year, I would say the chance is less than that. And we can expect that the bullpen will have to throw at least 4 innings tomorrow night, and likely more. Zambrano rested the bullpen today, so fatigue is not an issue. Unfortunately, the Cubs' bullpen is not something you want throwing at least 4 innings in a game.