Neil Cotts is going down, Sean Marshall is coming up, and Wade Miller is encouraged to have thrown an 88-mph fastball.

That's today's news on the Cub pitching front, though Lou Piniella seemed to be promising much more in the wake of last Thursday's horrific bullpen failure against the Mets.

Marshall, filling the roster spot of Cotts, who was shipped down to Iowa, will make his 2007 Cub debut Wednesday night against San Diego and David Wells.

As for Miller, I must be missing something because I can't find any reports on where he will fit on the Cubs staff. What is apparent is that Miller was quite unimpressive in his rehab starts down in the minors. Proof? The best that cubs.com can say about him is that, in his final minor league effort against the Astros' AAA Round Rock team, Miller hurled an 88-mph fastball "in his final inning of work, a positive indication of both his increased stamina and his finding his comfort zone on the mound."

?!?!?!?!?!

Looks to me like the Cubs are trying to show 29 other teams that they have seven or eight legitimate Major League starters so they can trade the excess for something worthwhile.