Tag / Dan Haren

by admin

2021 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Newcomers


baseballhof

The BBWAA recently released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2021, with the results of the vote due to be revealed on January 26th.  Assuming the corona virus is under control by then, induction would take place July 25th.  With Derek Jeter and Larry Walker getting elected in last year’s voting, the new ballot contains 14 holdovers along with 11 newcomers, which may potentially continue the logjam caused by the current BBWAA rules which limit the number of votes on one ballot to 10 and the ongoing refusal by some writers to vote for players tainted by PEDs, leaving too many qualified candidates fighting for limited spots.

Yesterday, we looked at the returning candidates.  Today, it’s time to look at the newcomers and who may be thankful come January.

Mark Buehrle

While he is one of only three pitchers, along with Cy Young and Sandy Koufax, to have a no-hitter, a perfect game, and win a World Series title with the same organization, I don’t see any way he will make it.  Hopefully he will get enough votes to remain on the ballot for another year.

A.J. Burnett

I don’t see him getting much in the way of support.

Michael Cuddyer

I wonder what it feels like to be placed on the ballot knowing that you won’t earn even a single vote.

Dan Haren

I can see him getting a vote or two, but not enough to stick around.

LaTroy Hawkins

I mean, he had a nice career and all, but no.

Tim Hudson

My initial reaction was no, but he was the first one to make me look up his numbers.  His predictive numbers are actually very similar to Buehrle’s, so I’m going to have to say no here as well.  It’ll be interesting to see how their vote totals match up considering how close their predictive scores are.

Torii Hunter

Probably the most interesting case out of the newcomers.  I can see him sticking around for the entire 10 year run, but I don’t see him getting in.

Aramis Ramirez

While a local favorite, I don’t see him getting a lot of support.

Nick Swisher

F this dude and anyone who votes for him.

Shane Victorino

No.

Barry Zito

The start of his career looked promising, but those later Giant years were brutal.

by jim

Another Carlos Dump For Cubs

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:

Continue reading →

by admin

A Carlos Marmol Problem

Carlos-Marmol-bummedOne week into the 2013 season, the Cubs find themselves with a Carlos Marmol problem.  In May of last year, new manager Dale Sveum removed Marmol from the closer role after Marmol’s continued control issues and an over-reliance on his slider.  Marmol eventually worked his way back to the closer role and finished the year on a high note.  And that’s when things got weird.

Looking at another year of rebuilding and Marmol’s impending free agency, the Cubs decided the time was right to move him.  Last November, word leaked, from Marmol himself, that he had been traded to the Angels for Dan Haren, but that deal fell apart.  Japanese reliever Kyuji Fujikawa was signed over the winter, with the expectation that he would be the new closer.  The Cubs then told Marmol’s agent to expect a trade during spring training, which, of course, never happened.

The Cubs entered the season with Marmol as their closer, with the hopes of showcasing him for an eventual trade.  What they didn’t plan for was Marmol’s complete meltdown over the first week of the season.  Coming in to yesterday’s home opener, he’s faced 13 batters and has managed to retire 4 of them, culminating in Saturdays blown save to the Upton brothers and the Braves.

The Cubs now find themselves in the unenviable position of needing to send Carlos Marmol out there to prove that he can get people out but unable to do so because he so clearly cannot.  He actually managed to pitch an inning of mop up relief in yesterday’s home opener without giving up a run, but it will take more than that to rebuild whatever value he may have had.

by admin

Another One Bites The Dust

For the second time in less than 4 months, the Twitterverse has exploded with confirmed reports of a confirmed trade involving the Cubs, only to have it fall apart within hours of being confirmed.  The first, back at the trade deadline at the end of July, involved Ryan Dempster being sent to the Braves for one of their top pitching prospects.  Word broke on Twitter after someone in the Braves front office leaked the news, but before Dempster had been told of the trade.  He got angry and ultimately witheld his approval despite previously agreeing to waive his no-trade rights if a deal was made to the Braves.

The second occurence went down Friday night, when Twitter exploded with reports that Carlos Marmol was being traded to the Angels for Dan Haren.  This time, the source was Marmol himself, who had waived his no-trade rights and was giving interviews in his native Dominican Republic about the trade.  The only problem was that the trade was not completed and was eventually scrapped, with the Angels ending up not picking up Haren’s option, making him a free agent and leaving Marmol as a member of the Cubs.

In both cases, the Cubs were not to blame for the trade details leaking before the deal was complete, but they did still come out of both situations with a little egg on their face.  They eventually ended up trading Dempster to the Rangers, but got a worse return than what they were going to get from the Braves.  Time will tell if they will eventually end up moving Marmol this winter and if they can get anything close to Haren.