One of the brightest bright spots in the '07 Cubs season was young Carlos Marmol.
Following a forgettable 2006 rookie year--5-7, 59 K, 59 BB, ERA+ of 76--the righthander started the '07 season in Iowa, was summoned to the big club in mid-May, and buckled National League knees the rest of the summer. Marmol finished the year 5-1 with 96 K in 69 1/3 IP and a jaw-dropping 1.43 ERA (ERA+ of 326).
Maybe more impressive than those numbers, however, was this one: Marmol inherited 41 baserunners in his 59 appearances for the Cubs last season, and he only allowed 5 of them (12%) to reach home plate.
Interestingly, Marmol's bullpen-mate, Michael Wuertz, was almost as adept, preventing 33 of his 38 inherited baserunners from scoring.
Marmol and Wuertz rank second and third among all Cub relief pitchers in stranding inherited runners (minimun 50 IP and 20 Inherited Runners). The arcane list follows:
| Pitcher | Year | Inherited Runners | % of Inherited Runners Scoring |
| 1.) Joe Borowski | 2003 | 21 | 10 |
| 2.) Carlos Marmol | 2007 | 41 | 12 |
| 3.) Michael Wuertz | 2007 | 38 | 13 |
| 4.) Turk Lown | 1957 | 54 | 15 |
| 5.) Terry Adams | 1997 | 43 | 16 |
| 6.) Bill Long | 1990 | 25 | 16 |
| 7.) Steve Wilson | 1989 | 51 | 16 |
| 8.) Dave LaRoche | 1973 | 43 | 17 |
| 9.) Randy Myers | 1993 | 24 | 17 |
| 10.) Lee Smith | 1984 | 41 | 17 |
Marmol and Wuertz finished 1-2 among all NL pitchers in stranding inherited runners in 2007 (again, minimum 50 IP and 20 Inherited Runners). Teammate Bob Howry, who allowed 24% of his inherited runners to score, was 12th.
(Stats from Baseball-Reference.com Play Index)
Labels: Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol, Cubs relievers, Joe Borowski, Michael Wuertz
Crain's Chicago Business (subscription required) reported Monday that progress on the sale of the Cubs is slower than the junk Livan Hernandez threw to break Cub fans' hearts over the weekend.
According to a Crain's source, the boys in Tribune Tower are still trying to figure out how to maximize their return on the transaction, i.e., moving the Cubs, Wrigley Field and Trib's share in Comcast SportsNet in separate transactions or bundling them all in one big bag of billion-dollar fun.
The net of all this is that there now appears to be a distinct possibility that Tribco will continue to own the team well into the new year and even beyond Opening Day 2008, when Carlos Zambrano whizzes that first pitch under the chin of Rickie Weeks.
How that will impact Jim Hendry's budget this winter is, I guess, impossible to say. The Crain's source sounded confident, however, in pronouncing that none of the Cubs' suitors to emerge to date--including the high-profile group led by Chicago financier and friend of Commissioner Selig, John Canning, Jr.--are likely to lose interest because of the delay.
Mark Cuban, for one, is willing to spill his own blood to show how much he wants the team.
Labels: Cubs relievers, John Canning, Mark Cuban
