Lou taps Gregg for closer

Marmol delivers

I am surprised. I thought for sure Carlos Marmol the heir apparent, and newly acquired Kevin Gregg the insurance policy. Wrong. Some of the arguments pro and con that I am hearing today make sense to me, but I’m not so sure about Gregg. I have never seen him pitch – I only know him by his numbers and what I’ve read. Seems like he had a knee injury mid-season ‘08 that skewed his numbers. If he’s over that, then fine. But I know what Marmol can bring and for my money he should be at the end of the game.

If this is the biggest controversy going into the season, maybe the 2009 Cubs are truly in good shape. But still, my money is that Carlos Marmol, one way or another, will be the Cubs closer by fourth of July. Just a gut feeling.

Marmol is still a relatively young guy and has proven (‘08 NLDS, ‘09 WBC) very shaky on the big stage. His pitching stuff is filthy good, but he needs some seasoning from a maturity standpoint. So I guess there is less pressure on him to return to his set-up role once again and leave outs 25, 26, & 27 to Kevin Gregg. But one of these days this will be Carlos Marmol’s role on the team - his job – he is destined to be a closer.

Again, this is a good problem to have.

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March 30, 2009 Tags: Carlos Marmol, closer, Kevin Gregg Posted in: controversy, lineup, players