I'll give him a chance, but I got a feeling the 'pen is going to kill us in the playoffs.

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Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

i like it. no time to play "stroke the ego" with marmol, if he even has a problem with it at all. they NEED him to do what he does every year, and give gregg the none on none out duty in the 9th.

what the hell difference does it make at this point?

None.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It does to my fantasy team, mister.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

it makes a big difference. now marmol wont be wasting away in the bullpen watching samardzija, cotts, gregg and vizcaino blow leads in the 7th and 8th.

I hate to say it, but I think Marmol is great for setup. I only wish they had a better choice to close.

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gregg is not a great closer, but his arm is good, he has had some success closing, and i dont think the situation is any different than last year with wood. everyone was worried, and it worked out pretty well. i cant understand why any cubs fan would want marmol out of his setup position. he has been solid as nails for 2 years, and he is ALWAYS the guy coming in to put out fires time and time again. if he puts up another year this year like he has the past 2, i wouldnt ever move him out of that position. if he chose to leave because of it when he is a free agent, good for him, but the guy is dynamite right where he is. when his payday comes in, the cubs should reward him with good money and do their best to keep him, but his remarks sounded kind of surly about gregg being closer and i doubt he will want to set up more than one more year. thats too bad, because he is excellent at it and is seen by everyone as the cubs best reliever.

Marmol needs to be the closer. His arm has been abused enough. Id rather he pitch 60 ip as the closer than 90 as a middle reliever. (Coming in in the 6th with a 5 run lead???)

October is not a given.

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To some the regular season is a formality. I am not one of them.

This decision doesn't surprise me at all. Marmol is Lou's security blanket and designated cooler. He wants the option to bring him in at any time, not just in the ninth.
That being said, I don't trust Gregg to get the job done.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

Do you have this on permanent cut and paste to save yourself time? It's not the first time I've seen you write this profound thought.

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

As long as people in either baseball forum here continue to make posts presuming thier team will be playing meaningful baseball in September and October, I will continue to copy paste as such.


Marmol was perhaps the best setup man in the game last year. If its not broke, Lou shouldn't fix it.

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just like last year with wood, if gregg fails, just do what you have to do and move marmol if you feel you need to. to this point, gregg has done all he can to earn the spot by getting out after out. it doesnt hurt to start the year this way and see what happens.

I wanted Marmol to be the closer before spring training started because I tend to think Gregg might be another version of Latroy Hawkins, a fine set up man who is not quite a closer.

If Gregg struggles in save situations, then it does not matter how good Marmol is in the set up role.

Gregg was not good last year, but his knee gave him problems last year, not quite sure if thats a convenient excuse or a legitimate reason.

With all that said, I don't have a big problem with Lou naming Gregg the closer, he has pitched well in spring training (even though basing regular season expectations of spring training usually doesn't work). Lets see how the Marmol/Gregg works, its a long season, Lou can always change his mind.

All kinds of things can happen...like injuries. If an injury were to happen with Aramis Ramirez, that would certainly be a problem. If an injury happened to Lee, that might actually help. Then the great Micah Hoffpauir would get the chance to take claim to the position he should have already been awarded.

As far as Gregg is concerned, most of his blown saves last year, came after he had an injury that affected his pitching significantly. He tried to pitch on a bad leg and got knocked around a bit. He never should have been pitching on it. Now, the leg is fine and I expect he will do well. Not perfect, but well. Wood had some bad days, but was an all star and overall, did a good job. I expect Gregg will do a similar job. I like Marmol in the set-up role, as he did so well there last season and saved the Cubs so many times from precarious situations. He may not have been credited with the saves, but he was the guy who really did save the lead from being blown. I just hope his arm holds out.

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Go Cubs!!!!

The numbers last year suggest that Marmol is closer to a LaTroy Hawkins than Gregg is.

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How is that? Marmol wasn't a full time closer last year, Gregg was.

Gregg was like 29 for 37 or something like that last year as a closer. Dempster was villified and he put up better numbers as a closer.

When Marmol was closing in Wood's absence, he was terrible. And as Steve correctly pointed out, a lot of Gregg's blown saves happened after he sustained an injury.

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actually, 6 of his 9 blown saves were while he was healthy, prior to the all-star break. his era and other stats all went to hell after the injury. august was a disaster for him, but through july and pror to the knee, he was having a pretty solid year.

Fair enough.

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

How is that? Marmol wasn't a full time closer last year, Gregg was.

Gregg was like 29 for 37 or something like that last year as a closer. Dempster was villified and he put up better numbers as a closer.[/quote]



As I said in another thread: That's NIIIIINE blown saves Mr's Buehler! NIIIIIINE!!!!! (For more information, and Darryl Ward)

I believe your memory is faulty. Marmol was terrible before the all star break when he was the set up man and Wood was still healthy and the closer.

There was that Saturday game against SF when the blister problem first appeared and Wood couldn't close and Marmol imploded but if you look after the allstar break when Wood missed a few weeks, Marmol pitched very well, in fact he gave up only one run from the all star break to September.

I don't see this as a big deal. If Gregg pitches well, he'll keep the closing job, and Marmol will continue to give the Cubs flexibility in the 7th and 8th innings. If Gregg struggles, the Cubs can give Marmol the closing job.

That's correct. The fear was that putting him in the closer spot would cause the implosion. It never happened. There was also the AS game implosion fear, the overworking fear, the "teams will figure him out" fear, etc. Those all pretty much disappeared by late July.

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Fire Phil Emery