INside joke sort of, read the last few pages of the Bears Game thread and you'll understand.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Marmol makes me itchy, but if he has confidence, he's got the best stuff on the entire staff. Goodbye to Wood, who won the Cubs zero championships...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

use lube

Maybe Michael Strahan knows.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I stand corrected.

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

Good.

But sorry, I can't give you the 10 minutes you wasted reading that shit back

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okay, make that shakey...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Use 'ludes.

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I think you will notice teams besides the Yankee's around Baseball, also declined to offer their players arbitration. Why? In almost every case, the player will make MORE money than they made before and the contract is Guaranteed. However, I disagree with Hendry's decision here. Sure the Cubs have Marmol to close-he takes Wood's spot as closer. They have Gregg-he takes Marmol's spot as principal set-up man. But who takes Howr'y spot? Samardjia? Perhaps... But I would have loved to have had Wood coming back to close, with everyone in their spots from last season, except for Howry, who would be replaced by Gregg. That said, I suspect Hendry has a couple guys in mind to replace the open spots and I applaude his decision not to offer arbitration to Howry. The SOB surely would have accepted it and we would have been stuck with him for another year. I see a lot less free spending going on this winter. Dempster was lucky to get the big money he got. I think a lot of players are going to be disappointed with the offers they will be getting.

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Go Cubs!!!!

midseason 2010 hell make it look ok for one year

Get a room!

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Bullshit. Marmol had a stretch just before the All-Star break that was awful. Whether it was a tired arm due to so many multiple inning appearances or not-he was awful. But then he snapped back to form and was brilliant as usual. You can take a small sample size of many pitchers/players and use the stats from those appearances to make an argument against that player. Figues lie and liars figure. Marmol is a top notch relief pitcher. I'm not saying he will go without a blown save in 2009. But I'm not at all worried that he will not do well in the closers role. When Marmol was on (most of the season), there was nobody else a Cubs fan would rather see on the mound. Thats why there was so much talk last season about whether or not Marmol should have been the closer.

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Go Cubs!!!!

This is true, for the most part. This does not mean, however, that top notch relief pitchers become great closers. LaTroy Hawkins anybody? Scott Linebrink also did medicore at best in his few games as closer last year for the Sox.

And Steve, that wasn't a small sample size for Marmol. Those bad numbers I posted was over the course of 1/3 of the season.

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mariano rivera from July 1 to July 5 had an ERA of 9. i know he is pretty good, but for my money, i just cant trust a guy who is that inconsistent to be my everyday closer. i wouldnt be surprised to see the yankees make a move to sign Wood to stabilize the back of that aging bullpen.

i, for one, like marmol as a setup man, and i have concerns about him being the closer. i just like his flexibility to pitch multiple innings and put out fires in the 6th and 7th if needed. i am more worried about who will fill that role than i am about marmol closing. i dont like my best, most durable, most versatile and dependable reliever rotting in the bullpen while all hell is breaking loose in the 6th, 7th and 8th. i see that possibly happening a lot this next season.

Exactly. Which is why letting Wood go was a very stupid move.

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and what exactly have they won with Wood?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

As much as they have won with Marmol.

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if you're going to take that tact, they've had Wood for far longer. So I'd say Marmol deserves far more benefit of the doubt. Seriously Frank, I'd think a emotionally removed Sox fan would logic it out that Wood won't stay healthy next year...

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

How do you know? He's proven himself to be pretty reliable out of the pen. Also, the Cubs have invested millions of $ and injury plauged seasons with the guy, who made it no secret that he wanted to stay in Chicago, and would do so at a lower price, so the Cubs let him walk for nothing. Not offereing him an incentive laden 1 or 2 year deal is almost as stupid as the ridiculous amount of backloaded money on that Soriano deal.

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I too, liked Marmol in that role and would have brought back Wood and have had Gregg in Howry's role. But I think Marmol will do fine as a closer. I agree that whether or not guys like Gregg and Samardzija can do the job in the 6th, 7th and 8th, is going to be a huge determining factor in how next season unfolds.

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Go Cubs!!!!

John Mcdonaugh is in talks with Wood right now on a Ambassodorship

the Cubs have a much better sense of his injury status than you Frank. And there is very strong rumor that the "blister" injury was a cover up for another arm problem.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

its a stupid move until he gets hurt. hey, i like wood a lot, and i thought he made a pretty good closer last year, but i am going to hold judgment until i see what else the club does this off-season. i dont think marmol and gregg are a horrible back end, samardzija was fairly effective, and if for what they may have had to pay wood for one year they can put a little more cash into maybe getting a couple of quality arms leading into gregg and marmol, it might be worth it. its too early in the off-season to say anything was a big mistake, but if they go into spring training with what they have now, i will admit it seems a bit strange.

If the closer spot is suck an issue, why don't the Cubs pick up Peavy and Put Harden in as closer. That would be the most dominant closer the Cubs have seen in a long time. He may not be able to pitch more than six innings a week, but doesn't that sound like an appropriate amount of work for Harden. Think about it...

The real issue with the Cubs isn't pitching, lets get the Big left handed bat. Enter, Bobby Abreu.

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Go Cubbies

Someone I read described Hendry's decision not to offer Wood arbitration as 'a bad baseball decision made for financial reasons'. It's really as simple as that.

first point, I really think the Cubs will try that. At least try putting him in the bullpen. As far as Abreu, I still want a contact hitting left hander.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

The Cubs are not going to move Harden to their closer spot.....You heard it here first.

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I agree. The guy needs extra days off for his arm to recover as it is. I think the stress of having to pitch 3-4 days in a row would be a problem. It sucks that he only goes 5-6 innings in most of his starts. But they tend to be 5-6 very solid innings.

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Go Cubs!!!!