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How good has Cubs closer Carlos Marmol been this season? Historically good. As ESPN.com’s Bruce Levine reports, Marmol “is averaging 15.94 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. The Major League single-season record for a reliever is 14.98 for nine innings pitched by the Dodgers' Eric Gagne in 2003.” Considering that Gagne was a ‘roided up phony of a pitcher when he set that record, it makes Marmol’s accomplishment even more impressive. That slider employed by the Cubs closer is the best slider this side of White Castle. The only question coming into Marmol’s first full season as a closer was whether his lack ...
With back-to-back wins against the San Diego Padres this week, the Chicago Cubs are now 21-11 under interim manager Mike Quade.
The impetus for this resurgence has been the team's much-improved starting rotation: Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, and Randy Wells have combined to win 13 times during the span, and Zambrano is 6-0 under Quade.
Despite the success of that trio, however, much about the Cubs' rotation for 2011 remains shrouded in mystery.
Wells' future may still be in doubt after a dreadful middle third of the season, leaving either two or three spots in next year's rotation vacant.
Carlos Silva, who had a ...
Even though the 2010 season is an absolute chaos for the Chicago Cubs, they get a lot of attention at the end of the calendar year.
They are put in a new mission—spoiling their opponents’ hopes to access to the playoffs.
In the span of the ongoing 10 days, they had faced teams in contention, the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals last week. They opened another series Monday night in the last road trip of the season in San Diego, playing against the NL West second place team, the San Diego Padres who were only half-game behind the Giants.
Alfonso ...
Cubs television analyst Bob Brenly officially withdrew his name from the list of candidates for the Cubs skipper job that opened when Lou Piniella retired last month. While he did not disclose his reasons, one sentence seems to say a lot about why he would not want to manage the team in 2011.
Carrie Muskat of MLB.com had this nugget from Brenly: "I'm not overly pessimistic about this team for next year," Brenly said, "but I'm not overly optimistic either. You get the players on the field, you start playing the game and you never know what's going to happen."
Look, he ...
Isn't it amazing how good a manager can look when his pitching staff is throwing up goose eggs game after game?
Things don't look quite as good when your opponent is scoring runs in bunches against you like the last two games, and that's my problem with interim Cub manager Mike Quade and his ascent to one of the favorites to get the job next year.
An eleven game run with his pitching staff posting a 1.29 ERA and his starters going 9-1 during that span helped propel Quade from after-thought status to maybe being the 'man' for the job.
A career minor ...
Who says you can't go home?
Kerry Wood, the sometime Cub who remains beloved of the team's fanbase, will be a free agent this winter.
After signing a two-year contract in December 2008 with the Cleveland Indians, Wood struggled to stay healthy and effective. He posted a 4.80 ERA in 81 games with Cleveland before a July trade to the New York Yankees.
Since reaching the Bronx, however, Wood's career has come back from the brink. He has a stunning (if inevitably lucky) 0.39 ERA in 21 appearances as a Yankee and has struck out 26 in 23 innings. He will not get ...
The Chicago Cubs will be among four teams most eager to sign free agent-to-be Carl Crawford this offseason, according to ESPN's Buster Olney (via Twitter).
If true, this is a stunning development for a team with a bloated payroll to which owner Tom Ricketts has thus far seemed unwilling to add substantial amounts.
Crawford is certainly the winter's big catch: He has speed beyond anything seen in Chicago since the failed Juan Pierre experiment of 2006 and plays his position (left field) better than anyone since Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Crawford has also put together his best all-around offensive season in 2010, batting .306/.358/.492 with ...
On August 17, 2007, it was difficult to see exactly how stable the Chicago Cubs would be in the long-term.
There were still seven years left on Alfonso Soriano's contract, four left on Aramis Ramirez's, and three on Derrek Lee's and Ted Lilly's, but Soriano, Lee, and Lilly were all heading into their age 32 seasons. Young players like Rich Hill, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol, Angel Guzman, and Ryan Theriot had shown some promise but weren't far enough into their careers to even approach status as a known quantity.
Michael Barrett, who was eventually traded, and Jacque Jones were having much ...
Randy Wells should be happy tonight.
By beating the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night, following his win last week in St. Louis, it is the first time since April that he won two consecutive games. He has been trying hard to turn his unfortunate season around but it took him until the end of the year to do so.
The right-hander (8-13) outdueled the hot Giants starter, Jonathan Sanchez in the Cubs’ 2-0 victory to tie the series at one game apiece in the three-game set.
The Cubs’ first run came in the third inning and it was the game-winning run. Lead-off Kosuke ...
Just as the news broke about Ryne Sandberg's name appearing of the list of possible Blue Jays' managerial candidates, the Cubs decided to get involved in the hiring process.
ESPN reported that the Cubs general manager, Jim Hendry, has met with the Triple-A Cubs manager in Arizona on Tuesday and continued to speak on Wednesday.
Hendry will take looks at other candidates before making a final move. Tuesday's meeting with Sandberg was an interview and there were no official reports of a contract negotiation yet.
Bob Brenly of the Cubs broadcasting booth and former Arizona skipper Bob Melvin have upcoming meetings with the Chicago Cubs' front office.
Pat ...
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