How good has Cubs closer Carlos Marmol been this season? Historically good. As ESPN.com’s Bruce Levine reports, Marmol “is averaging 15.94 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. The Major League single-season record for a reliever is 14.98 for nine innings pitched by the Dodgers' Eric Gagne in 2003.” Considering that Gagne was a ‘roided up phony of a pitcher when he set that record, it makes Marmol’s accomplishment even more impressive. That slider employed by the Cubs closer is the best slider this side of White Castle. The only question coming into Marmol’s first full season as a closer was whether his lack ...
Cubs television analyst Bob Brenly officially withdrew his name from the list of candidates for the Cubs skipper job that opened when Lou Piniella retired last month. While he did not disclose his reasons, one sentence seems to say a lot about why he would not want to manage the team in 2011.
Carrie Muskat of MLB.com had this nugget from Brenly: "I'm not overly pessimistic about this team for next year," Brenly said, "but I'm not overly optimistic either. You get the players on the field, you start playing the game and you never know what's going to happen."
Look, he ...
What will it take to force Major League Baseball to finally outlaw maple bats? A player losing an eye…a brain injury…or even worse?
In Sunday’s Cubs game against the Marlins, Cubs rookie outfielder Tyler Colvin was punctured in the chest by a piece of a broken maple bat that just narrowly missed puncturing his lung.
He did, however, have to be hospitalized, where they treated Colvin with a chest tube to prevent a collapsed lung and the incident will end his season.
It has long been obvious that the harder maple bats are a lot more dangerous than softer ash wood bats as ash ...
One minute, Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez is quoted as considering the possibility of not picking up his option for 2011. The next thing you know he’s telling the Sun-Times, ''I'm staying here, put it that way.'' This sounds to me like a guy who is working with the Cubs front office to restructure his contract. Instead of paying Ramirez $14.6 million next year and then buying out his 2010 season for $2 million, perhaps the Cubs are going to extend the deal with more team-friendly, year-to-year salaries while giving Ramirez the longer-term extension he desires. It had been suggested ...
The 2010 Cubs season certainly will go down as one of the most disappointing and, in fact, utterly disgusting seasons in recent memory. That’s saying a lot, too, since this is a franchise that has had more than its fair share of bad seasons. This season has featured sloppy play and poor fundamentals, and a captain who was asleep at the wheel before he resigned, twice, from the team last month. To rub salt in the wound, next season does not look promising either, with bloated, unmovable contracts and an owner possibly looking to pare some payroll. Yet, despite the ...
First of all, no one is anointing Mike Quade the next manager of your Chicago Cubs. He is an interim manager and there will be plenty of available candidates and many interviews for Cubs GM Jim Hendry to sort through this offseason.
Still, it is reasonable to assume that Quade's assignment is an indication that he is, indeed, one of the candidates for the permanent job going forward.
As Quade himself stated, "It's absolutely an audition."
And, as the Associated Press announced, "Being a fixture on Piniella's staff since 2007 and the manager of the Cubs' triple-A affiliate for the four previous seasons ...
Assuming that everything that owner Tom Ricketts has told us is true, and Jim Hendry really will be leading the search for the next Cubs manager to replace the retiring (retired?) Lou Piniella, do not believe that former Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg is a lock to be the man.
In fact, if you read into the tea leaves, Hendry doesn't feel that Ryne is ready to be a major league manager and instead would prefer one with previous major league experience.
Many feel that Sandberg is a great bet to be named the next Cubs skipper, given his legacy and the fact ...
Unless Cubs GM Jim Hendry makes some significant moves this off season, the Cubs rotation for next year could be really bad.
In fact, the Cubs top starter looks to be Ryan Dempster, who would be a fourth or fifth starter on any other "contending" club.
Of course, that is assuming the Cubs will be contenders next season, an assumption that is not likely to be realized.
Even in an average rotation, one would have to look long and hard to find a worse number one than Dempster.
Dempster isn't bad, mind you, but he just isn't an ace despite being paid like one.
Meanwhile, ...
The Chicago Cubs are close to completing a trade that will send first baseman Derrek Lee to the Atlanta Braves in what is being described as a "salary dump," according to David Kaplan of CSNChicago. That would imply that the Cubs would receive only salary relief, and not players, in return for Lee, who would have to approve the trade. Sources close to Kaplan say that unlike the proposed trade to the Angels which Lee declined, he would be open to going to Atlanta. It would give Lee a chance to participate in a pennant race and get away from ...
Here is a potential opportunity for Cubs GM Jim Hendry to take advantage of a first-place team by tempting them with an injury-prone and overpaid third baseman who may interest a team like the Braves, who are trying to win a World Series in manager Bobby Cox' last season.
We all know that Hendry needs payroll flexibility and while Ramirez has had an awful season, his track record, assuming he's healthy, could actually interest another team.
Chipper Jones is out for the season with a torn ACL, and if the Cubs place Ramirez on waivers, the Braves could have him if they ...
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