Marmol loses closer's job for time being

[Shawon0Meter]

CHICAGO -- For the second straight game, Carlos Marmol was unable to convert a save situation and protect a two-run lead. Cubs manager Mike Quade said the right-hander will take some time to work on his mechanics and has lost his job as the closer for now.

"Hopefully when I get back, I'll be the old Marmol," he said.

Quade met with Marmol, pitching coach Mark Riggins and others, including pitchers Kerry Wood and Sean Marshall, prior to Friday's game against the Marlins, which the Cubs won, 2-1. Quade wanted to make sure Wood and Marshall were prepared to close Friday, if needed. The switch was prompted by Thursday's outing, during which Marmol didn't retire a batter in the ninth, walking four and giving up a hit. All five baserunners scored in Florida's 6-3 comeback win.





It's not automatic that Marmol will be the closer when he does return, Quade said.

"Marshall has obviously been our most reliable guy," Quade said. "I have no problem closing with [Wood]. Circumstances will dictate some of that, but those two guys will be prominent late."

FULL ARTICLE: Marmol loses closer's job for time being | cubs.com: News

 

[CODE_BLUE56]

thank.you.god

we are marshall

 

[DewsSox79]

destroying trade value, one player at a time.

 

[X]

destroying trade value, one player at a time.

lmmfao, seriously? Dude...that's dumb. Marmol's destroyed his own trade value over the last several weeks. Trading him now would be dumb. He's under contract for 2 more seasons. How 'bout we get him right, and if we're going to trade him do it when he's pitching better. Would you trade Dunn now? Nope, b/c he's worthless, and you expect him to do better in the future. Same w/ Marms.

 

[Jntg4]

destroying trade value, one player at a time.

:yep:

 

[Rice Cube]

lmmfao, seriously? Dude...that's dumb. Marmol's destroyed his own trade value over the last several weeks. Trading him now would be dumb. He's under contract for 2 more seasons. How 'bout we get him right, and if we're going to trade him do it when he's pitching better. Would you trade Dunn now? Nope, b/c he's worthless, and you expect him to do better in the future. Same w/ Marms.

The trade value took a slight hit when he was signed for an extension, which prevented any team that would've received him from setting their own price for him in the future. It's probably negligible. But Marmol was fine before July, then suddenly forgot how to strike people out or throw strikes, period. It's good that they're giving him time to work this out, but relievers are so volatile during a season that he's likely to come back in a couple weeks and strike out everyone he sees. You just never know within the context of a single inning.

 

[R_Mac_1]

He lost a spot on my fantasy team as well. The dude has been garbage lately. Even when he does manage to get through an inning, it's usually with no Ks and a few hits and walks.

Besides stupid fantasy, what does he have? 19 saves and 7-8 blown saves? Not doing much for the team, either. It's like his slider has just lost something, and he still throws it 212342343 times in a row. I know it's his go-to pitch, but it seems like he still refuses to throw his fastball as much as he should when his slider isn't working.

 

[Rice Cube]

He lost a spot on my fantasy team as well. The dude has been garbage lately. Even when he does manage to get through an inning, it's usually with no Ks and a few hits and walks.

Besides stupid fantasy, what does he have? 19 saves and 7-8 blown saves? Not doing much for the team, either. It's like his slider has just lost something, and he still throws it 212342343 times in a row. I know it's his go-to pitch, but it seems like he still refuses to throw his fastball as much as he should when his slider isn't working.

He has a few games where he's been in during non-save situations, so the saves don't tell the whole story. The problem with his fastball is that it's so flat that he might as well be throwing batting practice. He needs to figure out how to locate the slider better though.

 

[DewsSox79]

lmmfao, seriously? Dude...that's dumb. Marmol's destroyed his own trade value over the last several weeks. Trading him now would be dumb. He's under contract for 2 more seasons. How 'bout we get him right, and if we're going to trade him do it when he's pitching better. Would you trade Dunn now? Nope, b/c he's worthless, and you expect him to do better in the future. Same w/ Marms.

So before he took his little bad turn, his stock was high, and yes you could have moved him. I highly doubt marmol is closing a WS game for the cubs anytime soon. As I have stated before and I will say it again, the cubs will not be getting fielder or any other big time free agent. They will not be winning for a while, so if you are going to be rebuilding, you move marmol. a closer on a shit team is worthless, and his stock could eventually fall to nothing with injuries, being over used, age ETC.

The difference between the sox and cubs is the fact that JR wants to keep spending money and trying to compete without a financial risk, as he does not care. ricketts on the other hand is in a different boat.

but if you guys want to continue to believe that the cubs are going go spending happy, by all means, believe it....when next year starts and you are fielding young kids and fillers i wont say anything, that alone will hurt you guys enough.

 

[dabynsky]

I didn't watch the past two games, but what I've heard reported is that his average velocity yesterday was around 85 and today wasn't much better but in the high 80s. Early in the season it seemed like his velocity was normal, but checking out fangraphs his fastball velocity has taken a noticeable dip from 94 to 91 mph. As Rice Cube pointed out, and really what anyone who has watched Marmol knows, is that his fastball is pretty flat. If you can't locate a flat mid 80s fastball you are going to have problems. Is it possible that this is just a period of dead arm because he was pretty dominant to start the season. There were some blown saves, but he only gave up 3 runs prior to May 31st.

 

[dabynsky]

So before he took his little bad turn, his stock was high, and yes you could have moved him. I highly doubt marmol is closing a WS game for the cubs anytime soon. As I have stated before and I will say it again, the cubs will not be getting fielder or any other big time free agent. They will not be winning for a while, so if you are going to be rebuilding, you move marmol. a closer on a shit team is worthless, and his stock could eventually fall to nothing with injuries, being over used, age ETC.

The difference between the sox and cubs is the fact that JR wants to keep spending money and trying to compete without a financial risk, as he does not care. ricketts on the other hand is in a different boat.

but if you guys want to continue to believe that the cubs are going go spending happy, by all means, believe it....when next year starts and you are fielding young kids and fillers i wont say anything, that alone will hurt you guys enough.

I agree that the Cubs should consider trading Carlos Marmol, but right now would seem to be the worst possible time to do it. What team is going to give up anything of value for a guy with poor results and down velocity? At this point the Cubs best bet (you can put Garza and Soto in this category as well)is to hold onto these guys and hope they return to previous levels of performance which would make their trade value go up. That isn't a hopeless proposition since each is on the right side of 30.

And we've been over the issue of spending next year. You may very well be right, and there are certainly a lot of people that have been making the claim that payroll is going to dip even further. We will have to wait and see what next year brings.

 

[X]

So before he took his little bad turn, his stock was high, and yes you could have moved him. I highly doubt marmol is closing a WS game for the cubs anytime soon. As I have stated before and I will say it again, the cubs will not be getting fielder or any other big time free agent. They will not be winning for a while, so if you are going to be rebuilding, you move marmol. a closer on a shit team is worthless, and his stock could eventually fall to nothing with injuries, being over used, age ETC.

The difference between the sox and cubs is the fact that JR wants to keep spending money and trying to compete without a financial risk, as he does not care. ricketts on the other hand is in a different boat.

but if you guys want to continue to believe that the cubs are going go spending happy, by all means, believe it....when next year starts and you are fielding young kids and fillers i wont say anything, that alone will hurt you guys enough.

I agree that the Cubs should consider trading Carlos Marmol, but right now would seem to be the worst possible time to do it. What team is going to give up anything of value for a guy with poor results and down velocity? At this point the Cubs best bet (you can put Garza and Soto in this category as well)is to hold onto these guys and hope they return to previous levels of performance which would make their trade value go up. That isn't a hopeless proposition since each is on the right side of 30.

And we've been over the issue of spending next year. You may very well be right, and there are certainly a lot of people that have been making the claim that payroll is going to dip even further. We will have to wait and see what next year brings.

Pretty much this.

But, again...you not saying anything is a pipe-dream in itself.

 

[Rice Cube]

but if you guys want to continue to believe that the cubs are going go spending happy, by all means, believe it....when next year starts and you are fielding young kids and fillers i wont say anything, that alone will hurt you guys enough.

Even if they had the money, they probably shouldn't spend it. This team has all kinds of issues.

 

[DewsSox79]

I agree that the Cubs should consider trading Carlos Marmol, but right now would seem to be the worst possible time to do it. What team is going to give up anything of value for a guy with poor results and down velocity? At this point the Cubs best bet (you can put Garza and Soto in this category as well)is to hold onto these guys and hope they return to previous levels of performance which would make their trade value go up. That isn't a hopeless proposition since each is on the right side of 30.

And we've been over the issue of spending next year. You may very well be right, and there are certainly a lot of people that have been making the claim that payroll is going to dip even further. We will have to wait and see what next year brings.

i agree.

i believe the approach at the plate for opponents has changed. Ive been saying kinda as a joke, when marmol is pitching, the batter should leave the bat in the dugout. patience will get you the walks and it will force marmol to throw over the plate.

 

[DewsSox79]

Even if they had the money, they probably shouldn't spend it. This team has all kinds of issues.

For all parties involved, including the fans, they should want to rebuild at this point.

 

[X]

i agree.

i believe the approach at the plate for opponents has changed. Ive been saying kinda as a joke, when marmol is pitching, the batter should leave the bat in the dugout. patience will get you the walks and it will force marmol to throw over the plate.

This, I agree w/ 100%. I know it's significantly harder to do the act as opposed to saying it (not swinging), but Marmol's always relied on batters chasing balls out of the zone. Now that other offenses have adapted, he, too, has to adapt.

 

[DewsSox79]

IMHO I know 3-5 years seems like a lot, but I think there will be a lot of competitive cubs teams after 3 more seasons.

 

[DewsSox79]

This, I agree w/ 100%. I know it's significantly harder to do the act as opposed to saying it (not swinging), but Marmol's always relied on batters chasing balls out of the zone. Now that other offenses have adapted, he, too, has to adapt.

options could be another pitch. his slider bites so hard, it is amusing watching batters look foolish up there.