Need Closer

[Little Slide Rooter]

Clearly nobody on the roster is it.

 

All I can really think of at this point is K Rod. If were going to throw [expletive] at the wall, may as well be a big, smelly toilet clogger rather than a handfull of nuggets. The fact that nobody has picked him up yet suggests to me that either A. Despite being a free agent in mid April, he's still asking for more than anybody is willing to commit or B. attitude related. I know he's been awful the past few years, but hey, we just gave Kevin Gregg a minor league deal.

 

At this point, I don't know how much leverage he thinks he has at this point in the season. He should just be eager to sign anywhere in hopes of earning himself one more contract. Assuming that multiple teams were to offer him similar low base salary/incentive based deals, a team in the position to immediately hand him the closers role as soon as he's gone through some extended ST should be the most appealing. That's us. We're also in the position to offer him a bit more of a base salary than he's worth. Nothing overboard, but I'd certainly risk about 2.5 mil on him.

[Guest]

Wait 'til midseason when he's got time under his belt. Make it Rondon if he still looks this good and shows some command.

[Guest]

Clearly nobody on the roster is it.

 

Clearly.

 

Rondon, Bowden, and Russell have been fine. Marmol has been fine once demoted. Camp has been fine except when asked to throw 2 innings, and Fujikawa has been fine when he was healthy. Takahashi has been the weak link, but he's already the last man in the pen. And even with all that, the bullpen has thrown less than 35 innings combined.

 

It's been 12 games.

[treebird]

Clearly nobody on the roster is it.

 

Clearly.

 

Rondon, Bowden, and Russell have been fine. Marmol has been fine once demoted. Camp has been fine except when asked to throw 2 innings, and Fujikawa has been fine when he was healthy. Takahashi has been the weak link, but he's already the last man in the pen. And even with all that, the bullpen has thrown less than 35 innings combined.

 

It's been 12 games.

 

BUT I WANT TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS NOWWWWWWWW

[TruffleShuffle]

Clearly nobody on the roster is it.

 

Clearly.

 

Rondon, Bowden, and Russell have been fine. Marmol has been fine once demoted. Camp has been fine except when asked to throw 2 innings, and Fujikawa has been fine when he was healthy. Takahashi has been the weak link, but he's already the last man in the pen. And even with all that, the bullpen has thrown less than 35 innings combined.

 

It's been 12 games.

 

plus the cubs aren't a good team and aren't going to contend for anything this year, so who gives a [expletive] if they don't have someone good to close the games they aren't winning.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

[Guest]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

I don't except your logic here.

[Guest]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

I don't except your logic here.

[Little Slide Rooter]

More importantly, it requires more than being fine to be a big league closer. People often talk about how over rated the job is, but there must be a reason that they're as coveted and well paid as they are. Any big league pitcher should be able to called upon to protect a 1-3 run lead late in a game every now and then. It's quite another thing to be prepared to do so virtually every time such a situation arrises, potentially several times per week.

[Guest]

Yes, the question is about going forward. Going forward, is Marmol going to be closing games? No, not unless he's really good for a while in middle relief. Is Camp's 2 inning stint representative of his ability or his "ability to close"? No, it shows that he's not a long reliever and shouldn't be throwing 39 pitches over 2 innings when he's getting torched in said second inning. Is Fujikawa going to continue to be hurt/ineffective? I suppose that's possible, but if that's the case he's certainly not going to be pitching a lot of high leverage innings.

[mul21]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

I don't except your logic here.

 

He used the right one.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Clearly nobody on the roster is it.

 

Clearly.

 

Rondon, Bowden, and Russell have been fine. Marmol has been fine once demoted. Camp has been fine except when asked to throw 2 innings, and Fujikawa has been fine when he was healthy. Takahashi has been the weak link, but he's already the last man in the pen. And even with all that, the bullpen has thrown less than 35 innings combined.

 

It's been 12 games.

 

plus the cubs aren't a good team and aren't going to contend for anything this year, so who gives a [expletive] if they don't have someone good to close the games they aren't winning.

 

It's April and while its one thing for fans to think that way, it's not OK for a front office to do so. If we can get a one time world class closer at a good price, I'd take it without thinking twice. Deapite the record, this team hasnt been awful. And if July roles around, and we are awful, maybe he builds up a bit of value.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

I don't except your logic here.

 

Tim, you are awesome. I appreciate this site and you are clearly an accomplished and intelligent man.

 

I am, admittedly, frequently wrong.

 

Maybe you are just picking the wrong times. Maybe it's a small sample size and will regress to the mean in the coming seasons. But your record in correcting me is downright Lillibridgian at this point.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Yes, the question is about going forward. Going forward, is Marmol going to be closing games? No, not unless he's really good for a while in middle relief. Is Camp's 2 inning stint representative of his ability or his "ability to close"? No, it shows that he's not a long reliever and shouldn't be throwing 39 pitches over 2 innings when he's getting torched in said second inning. Is Fujikawa going to continue to be hurt/ineffective? I suppose that's possible, but if that's the case he's certainly not going to be pitching a lot of high leverage innings.

 

The fact that Shawn Camp's a 37 year old journeyman with so-so stuff who's never closed is representative of his inability to close. I haven't written off Fujikawa if he returns, but at this point we have no idea when that will be. The reason that I'm suggesting K Rod is because he has the experience and if at a reclamation price, it's a great low risk/high reward, one we should take. [expletive], it's April, we still have players returning and if there are chances to make the team better, take them. We're not beating the Astros or Marlins for draft position anyway. And how on Earth are the Marlins already 9 games back?

[Schwarber Fan]

Russell's been more than "fine." Bowden and Marmol have been nothing of the sort. And yes, it's easy to say "who cares because we suck", but we should be at least .500 based off the games the pen has blown.

[treebird]

i don't understand the inclination to say the cubs' record "should" be whatever it would be if the bullpen had given up zero runs this year. no one has a perfect bullpen. what would the cubs' record be if the offense score 20 runs a game? a lot better, i'll bet.

[SouthSideRyan]

Is K Rod even in AAA?

[Guest]

i don't understand the inclination to say the cubs' record "should" be whatever it would be if the bullpen had given up zero runs this year. no one has a perfect bullpen. what would the cubs' record be if the offense score 20 runs a game? a lot better, i'll bet.

 

Exactly. If you want to play that game, the only "abnormal" variance we've had is Marmol imploding twice and Fujikawa once when he was injured, and there's been steps to correct those going forward, so there's no reason to freak out about the bullpen.

 

Also, Bowden's line after today: 7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 ER. If you're not satisfied with that, then I don't know what to tell you.

[Guest]

If we except all the times when they've been bad, they've been fine? Can't disagree.

I don't except your logic here.

 

Tim, you are awesome. I appreciate this site and you are clearly an accomplished and intelligent man.

 

I am, admittedly, frequently wrong.

 

Maybe you are just picking the wrong times. Maybe it's a small sample size and will regress to the mean in the coming seasons. But your record in correcting me is downright Lillibridgian at this point.

bah. read it wrong.

 

my bad

[manbearcub]

Are they picking the 'closer' based on match ups yet? It's obvious this is going to be a problem all year so why bother with it?

[Rob]

Is K Rod even in AAA?

 

Abusive Assholes Anonymous?

[Old Style]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson_(baseball)

[neely crenshaw]

Camp was fine in his role, he is way too hittable to close. He blew the save in the first inning not the 2nd.

Fujikawa has not been good at all. His ERA is above Marmol's and has blown more games than marmol. He has 1 blown save, but remember he cost the 5-1 games to the braves when he couldn't hold a 4 run lead.

 

I'll buy the it's early part but the troublesome part is that usually pitching dominates early.

 

To me the only moves that make sense are:

1- put Marmol back there after a few more solid outings and hope we can get any type of deal.

2-put Fujikawa back there when healthy and find out for sure if he can be a closer or not.

Unless someone really is convinced that this team can bounce back and contend, picking up another fill in closer doesn't make much sense.

Rondon has never closed, but perhaps if Fujikawa proves to be a set up guy, he's the guy to groom for the job.

[Little Slide Rooter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson_(baseball)

 

I forgot about him. But isn't he still rehabbing? I think that K Rod's unemployment is due to either asking for too much money or not being willing to accept a minor league deal. Just a hunch, because if he were willing to take a minor league deal, I'm sure he'd have no shortage of suitors. Someone gave Kevin Gregg one, right?

[neely crenshaw]

Either could be waiting for a time when need is highest. With several teams (contending) struggling sooner or later they may get desperate. They could also be an injury away from a call from another contender.