Wisch: The Trouble With Carlos Marmol?
By Dave Wischnowsky--
Wait…there's trouble with Carlos Marmol?
Well, you wouldn't think so considering that the Cubs' star closer avoided arbitration on Monday by agreeing to a three-year, $20 million deal that locks him up with the team through 2013.
And you wouldn't think so considering that Marmol – who, in 2010, merely went 38 for 43 in save opportunities, posted a 2.55 ERA and broke Bruce Sutter's franchise record for relief strikeouts – is only 28 years old and just reaching his theoretical prime.
In fact, you wouldn't think there's any trouble with Carlos Marmol at all. And, as it turns out, I don't. Rather, I think he's the most gifted young reliever in baseball.
My friend, however, is a different story. He views Carlos Marmol is trade bait. And he calls him trouble.
Do you?
On Sunday morning, while zipping down I-57 on a road trip, my buddy and I were bantering about Chicago Cubs baseball. We saw eye-to-eye on most things until the discussion drifted to the topic of Marmol – and then we didn't see eye-to-eye at all. There was no argument between my friend and I about Marmol's enormous talent – that's undeniable. Rather, my friend's argument was that Marmol's pitching motion is too violent, his mechanics too suspect and his rocket of a right arm too likely to end up suffering a serious injury.
I told him he's seen too many Mark Prior and Kerry Wood horror movies.
Because of his concerns, my friend said he believed that if the Cubs fall out of the playoff race early this season, they should deal Marmol to a contender because his trade value would be so high and the Cubs could rake in some fantastic prospects in return.
I disagreed, saying that whatever prospects the Cubs did pick up in a trade wouldn't fill the void left behind by Marmol's ninth-inning absence. And, besides, while I think the Cubs – with Carlos Pena, Kerry Wood and Matt Garza – do now have a chance to compete in the NL Central in 2011, I still think the organization's focus should be more trained on 2012.
And Marmol should be part of that future focus. I don't disagree that his pitching motion is herky-jerky and he throws an exorbitant number of sliders. Last season, a whopping 59 percent of his pitches were sliders. Among relievers during the past four years, few have approached Marmol's slider usage rate, but the two closest – Michael Wuertz and Brad Lidge – both have had arm troubles.
Now, Marmol could certainly experience an injury – any pitcher could – but I'd be more concerned about that if Marmol was a starter and throwing 100 pitches or more a game. In his four-plus-year career, Marmol has spent only 16 days on the disabled list, and all of those came in 2006.
Personally, I believe Marmol falls more into the "untouchable" territory than the "injury risk" category. And even if the team struggles this season, he's the only Cub other than Starlin Castro that I wouldn't deal for anybody.
I think doing that is just asking for trouble.
Do you agree with Dave? Post your comments below.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com.
