The Carlos Marmol era, which started with great promise in 2006 and almost ended over the winter in a trade with the Angels for Dan Haren, officially came to a close yesterday when the Cubs designated the beleaguered reliever for assignment. Marmol’s Cubs career almost came to an end this offseason, when he was nearly traded to the Angels in exchange for starter Dan Haren, but that trade fell apart at the last minute. Looking at this performance this year in a Cubs uniform, it may have been best for all parties had he moved on at the time. Marmol was thought to have lost his role in the beginning of December when the Cubs signed Japanese free agent closer Kyuji Fujikawa. When Fujikawa was injured early and often, Marmol was given another chance to close and failed spectacularly.
After failing as a starter in 2006, Marmol resurfaced in 2007 as a setup man and helped the Cubs capture back-to-back division titles in 2007 and 2008. Over those two seasons, Marmol battled Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood for the closer spot, getting his opportunity in both years thanks to injury to the incumbent. In 2009, he finally replaced an ineffective Kevin Gregg as closer, and that is where he mostly stayed, until now.
Marmol’s strength was in his ability to strike out opposing batters, averaging 16 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, breaking the record for highest K/9 ratio by a pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched, previously held by Eric Gagne. However, with this came extreme wildness. For his career, he has also averaged 6 walks per nine innings pitched. He’s also managed to hit 46 batters over his career.
These past two seasons have seen Marmol start to fall out of favor with Cubs fans and management. In 2011, he finished with the worst save conversion percentage of his closing career thanks to 10 blown saves. 2012 got off to a similar start, although he did end up with the second highest save conversion percentage of his career. This past offseason, the Cubs imported Japanese closer Kyuji Fujikawa to handle ninth inning duties, but elbow reconstruction has put him out of commission and gave Marmol another opportunit to close. Unfortunately, Marmol failed spectacularly, putting up a 5.36 ERA in 31 games, picking up only 2 saves and averaging 2 HR allowed per 9 innings pitched.
Personally, Marmol ranks third overall and first among Cub pitchers in games pitched that I have attended. His 7 saves are either tied with or behind such luminaries as LaTroy Hawkins, Kevin Gregg, and Joe Borowski.
Marmol’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
