Need Closer

[Little Slide Rooter]

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.

 

I do agree that you can't completely count a game in which the bullpen blew a late lead as a should-have-won. If so, in fairness any came when you rallied against the other teams pen should count as a should-have-lost. This being said, even when at his best, Marmol treated us to a lot of nail biters. When he gets out of them, it's makes the game that much more exciting, but any of those games could have been 1 pitch away from a L. Yes, that's true any time you have a small lead, but in Marmol's case, he seemed to escape by the skin of his teeth with loaded bases more often than your average closer.

[GammonsPocketTweets]

I'm 20X more worried about Rizzo then I am about our closer situation.

[SouthSideRyan]

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

 

Until this guy who's pitched in 5 major league games gets some closing experience, he shouldn't start closing.

[23sharks]

I'm 20X more worried about Rizzo then I am about our closer situation.

 

Same here. Hopefully he gets it going soon.

This team is so far away from being good....the lack of a closer being just a small part of the problem....

[neely crenshaw]

Agree on Rizzo. He is a spot that needs to be here and very successful long term. Our closer situation is short term for this year. It could cost us a few games this year but as long as it's settled whenever we have a team that can contend, it'll be ok.

 

I said for Rondon could be "groomed" not handed the job. As far as value goes, I was thinking they have him up on the major league club working in relief rather than getting starts in AAA. Shark made the switch but it's not a common way to do things. So I think they are viewing Rondon as a bullpen arm. He seems to be about the only one close to ready AND has the stuff to be that type of guy.

Bowden has done fine, and Russell has been great. I don't see Bowden as having the stuff to close regularly. Russell could be the guy, but for whatever reason he never has done it, and I'd hate to lose a lock down lefty 8th inning guy to have an average closer.

I was simply looking at guys we have, and that are close to being ready-which isn't many. Going out of the organization to find a fix for this year would certainly mean taking a gamble on a player that has already flamed out for some reason someplace else.

As I said there is a reason many of our bullpen guys were available for us to grab. For the guys out there (mostly Wilson and KRod) there is some reason no one has grabbed them. Even Detroit re-signed Valverde (who they did not want back), rather than get either of those 2.

[imb]

we're not going to pay brian wilson 6 million or whatever to come help us inch closer to 70 wins

[SouthSideRyan]

Rondon's a Rule Five pickup, he can't be a starter in AAA

[treebird]

we're not going to pay brian wilson 6 million or whatever to come help us inch closer to 70 wins

 

the fans deserve at least one player who has been in a taco bell commercial, stop supporting crickets*

 

*autocorrect but also my new nickname for ownership

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm pretty sure I'd assassinate Brian Wilson's character if the Cubs signed him.

[neely crenshaw]

Rondon's a Rule Five pickup, he can't be a starter in AAA

 

gotcha, forgot about that. That changes a few things. I still think he has the stuff for the job, but if he can be a starter, he is certainly interesting in that role also. Especially since there aren't many arms in our system close to being ready for the majors.

[Old Style]

we're not going to pay brian wilson 6 million or whatever to come help us inch closer to 70 wins

Is that a fact that he won't play for less than $6MM.

[apete6]

You need to invest in a closer when there are games that are actually important to close (late season in a pennant race and the playoffs). For any team that is knowingly going to suck to spend any amount of money on a guy to strictly close games is a foolish use of $. Really, all closers are a waste of $ because that should be a position that is relatively easy to use a homegrown guy or a guy who is relatively unknown.

[UMFan83]

Sveum admits that he's considering making Marmol the closer again.

[neely crenshaw]

You need to invest in a closer when there are games that are actually important to close (late season in a pennant race and the playoffs). For any team that is knowingly going to suck to spend any amount of money on a guy to strictly close games is a foolish use of $. Really, all closers are a waste of $ because that should be a position that is relatively easy to use a homegrown guy or a guy who is relatively unknown.

 

For this team right now the difference of having a great closer could be 5 games, maybe a few more tops. Absolutely no reason to spend any more money on a retread closer for this year. Makes much more sense to try to work Marmol in to up his value(if that's even possible) and to see if Fujikawa can do the job or not.

If that fails, 3rd choice would be to see if there is anyone on the that can possibly be the guy.

[neely crenshaw]

Sveum admits that he's considering making Marmol the closer again.

 

They went through this last year. Marmol was horrid early, actually worse than this year but ended the year 3-3 with 20 saves in 23 chances. He saved 19 of his last 20. I was pretty sure that he would return to the role sometime this season unless Fujikawa was awesome, which I had my doubts on. Right now Russell and Marmol are throwing the best in the pen. I am sure he'll get some shots but it would make sense to go match ups until someone steps up and is decent consistently.

[apete6]

You need to invest in a closer when there are games that are actually important to close (late season in a pennant race and the playoffs). For any team that is knowingly going to suck to spend any amount of money on a guy to strictly close games is a foolish use of $. Really, all closers are a waste of $ because that should be a position that is relatively easy to use a homegrown guy or a guy who is relatively unknown.

 

For this team right now the difference of having a great closer could be 5 games, maybe a few more tops. Absolutely no reason to spend any more money on a retread closer for this year. Makes much more sense to try to work Marmol in to up his value(if that's even possible) and to see if Fujikawa can do the job or not.

If that fails, 3rd choice would be to see if there is anyone on the that can possibly be the guy.

 

Exactly. If Marmol and Fujukawa suck again and Russell is still killing it, give him a chance in the 2nd half of the season. No need to play matchups and [expletive] up the rest of the bullpen the next 3 months.