Season in review: Carlos Marmol

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick89173 Comments

If I told you that in 2012 Carlos Marmol's final stats were like they are below, what would you say?

44 IP, 31 H, 29 BB, 60 K, 3 HR, 2.66 ERA, 3.25 FIP

You'd say I was full of shit because that wasn't his final line, but that's what Carlos Marmol did after returning from his phantom injury in May. I realize that this is nothing more than selective endpoints, but I also realize that something was completely off with Marmol when the season began. Prior to his DL stint, he had thrown 11.1 innings, allowed 9 hits, walked 16 and struckout 12. He allowed 10 runs, 8 of which were earned.

The baseball season doesn't begin after a DL stint so those appearances matter. Overall, Marmol posted a 3.42 ERA, 3.98 FIP, .2 fWAR and .3 rWAR.

Below was Marmol's projection entering the season:

Marmol ended up walking only 1 fewer than 46 despite throwing only 55.1 innings. The projection for him was about 1.3 WAR and he failed to come close to that.

Marmol has always been a wild card in my opinion. He's had a couple really good years, but even in those years he walked a lot of batters. He was never as good as he was at his best and he's probably better than he was this year though probably not by a whole lot.

2010 was a great season for Marmol despite walking the world. He struckout batters at a near record breaking percentage and was unhittable when he threw strikes. With the exception of that year though, Marmol has been your run of the mill late inning reliever over the last 4 years.

On a good team, Marmol wouldn't be the closer, but good the Cubs are not. Marmol's contract wasn't a bad one at the time it was signed and nor was it a good one. What should have given us all pause is that Jim Hendry's record on signing relievers was ridiculously poor. It's difficult to imagine a GM signing as many poor relievers as Hendry did. Not surprisingly, the Cubs got little in return.

If I recall, the Cubs paid Marmol about what we'd have expected him to be worth, but he hasn't really come close to doing that. After his dominating 2010 season he took a huge step back last year and in some ways (FIP, fWAR) another step back this year. His ERA did improve to about the same as 2009. I don't know what to expect from Marmol entering next season, but I'd guess it's more of the same that we've seen over the last 4 years. At times he'll look dominating, but mostly he'll just be a decent and perhaps above average reliever.

The Cubs will have a hard time trading Marmol because he's due nearly $10 million in 2013. The Cubs also don't exactly have anyone who can replace Marmol. No, Rafael Dolis should never see that role again. Ever.

Marmol is a great example of your average good reliever. He's had 3 really good years and 3 not so good years. Relievers are unpredictable because they throw so few innings per season and Marmol has been no different. There was never a reason to think he would be different.

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  1. mb21

    @ josh:
    I’ll repost what I wrote last night attempting to explain what happened.

    Dave Cameron wrote a silly article (what, Fangraphs wrote another silly article?)
    MGL called him out
    Dave defended himself
    MGL called him names
    Dave showed he’s more classy than MGL could ever be
    People call MGL out
    MGL says same shit
    People call MGL out
    MGL apologizes
    MGL basically takes back apology later on
    Someone calls him out
    MGL bans that person
    MGL writes something else
    A couple people have questions
    MGL upset they didn’t read every word 32 times
    MGL begrudgingly answers questions
    More questions
    MGL’s pussy hurts
    MGL quits

    You’re call caught up.

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  2. Berselius

    Colin managed to sum up one of the main reasons why I stopped reading fangraphs a while back

    Frankly the conclusions are getting far ahead of the evidence there—it’s a find-a-conclusion-and-then-find-evidence-to-support-it post hoc rationalization, at this point. So you have two underexplored claims that cancel each other out, basically. And then there’s an overly sensational headline/rhetoric about those claims.

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  3. josh

    @ Berselius:
    Yeah, I read maybe one fangraph article a week, if the title catches my eye, but I can’t remember the last time they wrote something I thought was that insightful. It’s more just the sheer quantity they are throwing out there. And the used to do those WPA graphs everyday. I was looking at those for awhile, but not anymore. If they still do them, they’re now buried in bullshit.

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  4. Mish

    mb21 wrote:

    I’ll repost what I wrote last night attempting to explain what happened.

    Dave Cameron wrote a silly article (what, Fangraphs wrote another silly article?)
    MGL called him out
    Dave defended himself
    MGL called him names
    Dave showed he’s more classy than MGL could ever be
    People call MGL out
    MGL says same shit
    People call MGL out
    MGL apologizes
    MGL basically takes back apology later on
    Someone calls him out
    MGL bans that person
    MGL writes something else
    A couple people have questions
    MGL upset they didn’t read every word 32 times
    MGL begrudgingly answers questions
    More questions
    MGL’s pussy hurts
    MGL quits

    You’re call caught up.

    I really think you should make this an OV article. (dying laughing)

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  5. mb21

    I actually don’t even visit Fangraphs all that much anymore. Or at least not nearly as much as I once did. I prefer the stats layout on BRef though I know others disagree. Just a personal preference for me. I also like their method of WAR better, especially for pitchers. I very much dislike using defense independent metrics to calculate WAR. The one complaint that I have about rWAR for pitchers is that it doesn’t calculate the defense behind the pitcher but rather uses the team defense and then assigns that value based on the percentage of innings pitched. It seems it wouldn’t be very hard to calculate what the defense did in terms of runs saved behind each pitcher so why not use that? Despite that, I still prefer using what actually happened than what “should” have happened.

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  6. mb21

    @ josh:
    It’s hilarious because it’s actually what happened. All I know is that when I decide to leave the blogging world behind, I’m going out in much the same way. Just a post title about me leaving and wishing you all good luck with no content. That will be the last you’ll hear from me. I just wish I thought of it before MGL did.

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  7. mb21

    Does anybody know of a way to search google by excluding a certain site? Bleacher Report is killing my ability to search for shit I might actually want to know because of their dumbass fucking headlines and bullshit layout. I don’t ever want to see another article by them when I search google. Can this be done?

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  8. mikeakaleroy

    @ mb21:
    It seems like when I just searched Google for baseball related stuff, Bleacher Report was in the search results. When I added -bleacherreport to my search query, those results went away.

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  9. Berselius

    GBTS wrote:

    You guys are clogging up the tubes!! You’ll be sorry!!

    I knew we shouldn’t have gone to TGI Friday’s for our OV Corporate Retreat last night. The toilets will never recover.

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  10. mb21

    I am so excited. I can search for baseball shit now and not get 4000 fucking articles from Bleacher Report. This is like Christmas when I was a kid. (dying laughing)

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  11. mb21

    Another question. I get these jury duty things all the time and I have to call in for a week to see if I need to report. I’d never gotten one before I moved to Topeka and in 10 years I’ve gotten at least 8 or 9 of them. I get them about every year. Only a couple times I’ve had to report and neither time was I selected. Anyway, I ask people around here who I know and who have lived here for a while and they never get them. Not even once. I ask the people who show up for jury duty and they’ve gotten them 4, 5, 6 or more times.

    I don’t see how it can possibly be random.

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  12. josh

    @ mb21:
    You want to get crazy, depending on your browser you can establish a keyword search that will automatically filter out unwanted sites. Or something. pff. It’s all bullshit anyway.

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  13. GBTS

    @ mb21:
    Maybe they put “+statfags” in their random search. Do you find yourself talking about $WAR or wRAA a lot with the other prospective jurors at voir dire?

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  14. josh

    @ mb21:
    Depending on the laws of your state, maybe you can call the whoever-is-in-charge-of-that and ask to be temporarily removed from the list or something. Or look up how they are picking people. Some places do it by voter registration and others by driver’s license.

    Maybe all the people you asked who never got called are convicted felons.

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  15. pinetar

    @ josh:

    Create a bogus DMCA request and it’ll get removed from Google’s results at least temporarily. Best thing is to just block the site entirely in the Google search settings.

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  16. Berselius

    mb21 wrote:

    I am so excited. I can search for baseball shit now and not get 4000 fucking articles from Bleacher Report. This is like Christmas when I was a kid. (dying laughing)

    In honor of BR, we should make a slideshow of the top 23 times that we tried searching for useful shit and got their site instead.

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  17. Rizzo the Rat

    @ mb21:
    FG is still the first place I go to for a player’s stats for several reasons (wRC+, FIP, pitching velocity). But if b-ref decides to enter the 21st century and replace stuff like OPS+ and ERA+, it’d make FG obsolete for me.

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  18. Rizzo the Rat

    b-ref’s stubbornness on some things is frustrating, since it could be the go-to stat site, instead of my second choice.

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  19. mikeakaleroy

    Is anyone else watching these playoff games and thinking “Wow, Wrigley is history and all, but what a shit hole compared to these new stadiums”?

    /blasphemy’d

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  20. mb21

    @ Rice Cube:
    You’re excused for 1 year here, which is a long time for me that I don’t have to at least call to see if I’ve been selected. I just don’t buy that this shit is random. The same people keep that stupid fucking letter.

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  21. mb21

    @ Rizzo the Rat:
    Most of the time OPS+ works just fine for me. If I need more accuracy (writing an article or something, I’ll check out wRC+). I don’t pay any attention to ERA+, but I’d rather see the RA9 stats they have for pitchers than FIP. I can calculate FIP in my head so I couldn’t care less that they don’t have it.

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  22. mb21

    @ mikeakaleroy:
    Welcome. I’ve been on that side since Oriole Park at Camden Yards was completed. I was 18 and that’s when I first realized that you can have an awesome ballpark with all the modern amenities.

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  23. josh

    @ mb21:
    The only other park I’ve been to, really, is Old Busch and New Busch. I guess I’ve been to US Cell (which I’m not a big fan of. Seems like both times I had to really crane my neck to see home plate. Never had that problem anywhere else). I’d say New Busch is the best. We had seats behind home plate. THey didn’t look that close when I purchased them, but they felt right on top of the action. My Dad has been to a bunch, but he always says something like “I was paying more attention to the game than the stadium.”

    I will say that, at least on the radio, the Diamondbacks stadium is easily the most annoying, though I didn’t notice it as much this year, so maybe they toned down some of the stupid loud sound effects.

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  24. josh

    @ SVB:
    It was all right, though watching baseball seems to, in general, result in fewer Tonka trucks to the face.

    Lucky those things are plastic these days…

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  25. mikeakaleroy

    @ josh:
    Miller Park and Target Field are two newer parks I’ve recently enjoyed. New Busch is pretty nice, as well, but it still holds the Cardinals.

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  26. Rizzo the Rat

    @ mb21:
    Back in the 80’s, Wrigley was widely considered one of the better parks, since so many parks were domed stadiums with artificial turf. Many of the outdoor ones sucked as well (the multi-purpose Shea Stadium). In that context, Wrigley was an oasis. Camden revolutionized the way we look at ballparks, combining the best of the old and the new.

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  27. mb21

    josh wrote:

    I will say that, at least on the radio, the Diamondbacks stadium is easily the most annoying, though I didn’t notice it as much this year, so maybe they toned down some of the stupid loud sound effects.

    I like Bank One Ballpark (Chase Field now?). I lived in Phoenix during its opening and attended several games. Had a blast every time. It could be in a better location, but other than that I liked it a lot.

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  28. josh

    @ mb21:
    Never been there. All I’m saying is that the music and sound effects were so loud and repetitive I could almost never listen to a full D’backs-Cubs game. I don’t even know if I tried listening to one this year, though. This was back when Ronny was still alive though. I don’t recall that in the last couple of years, so maybe they stopped doing that.

    I mean, having something yell “Everybody clap your hands!” once or twice in a game at a key moment is fine, but this felt like once every 5 minutes. Extremely annoying. Maybe when you’re there and there is bear, it’s not so bad.

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  29. Rizzo the Rat

    Oh, another thing I love about Fangraphs: they have the players stats in the game he’s currently playing in (as well as updated season stats). And, really, they just have much, much more on the front page than b-ref (BB%, SO% swinging strike%, BABIP, etc. etc.).

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  30. GBTS

    I found the Nationals Park to be slightly above average. The seats feel close to the action but I wasn’t overly impressed with the food options or the overall design. Also I hated their stadium announcer, particularly the way he pronounces “Zimmerman” like he’s Rastafarian.

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  31. mobile dave

    @ josh:
    If all of this shit talking will keep the fuckwads who go to the ballpark to eat $17 crab sandwiches from crossing the bay, I’m all for it. The Coliseum is a dump, but I did have the most fun I’ve ever had at a ballgame there when I hit game 3 of the ALDS this year, even moreso than when I went to game 1 back in 1984.

    (And Oakland itself is easily the most interesting place in the Bay Area at the moment. So, yeah, do me a favor and keep trashing it so the dullards stay away.)

    For the record, I think AT&T is overrated. Concourse and egress problems, an obscene price point, and seats that are a mile from the field. I prefer Safeco, myself.

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  32. mb21

    @ Aisle424:
    You know, as long as these are “legal” I don’t mind them. That said, MLB could easily solve this issue if they wanted to. All they’d have to do is demand that MLB umpires call the game by the rules, which in this case would result in the trailing runner being out. It would also have the added benefit of not allowing home plate collisions. As long as they don’t call it by the rules, I don’t fault them any more than I fault all the pitchers for failing to have their toe on the rubber when they release the pitch: http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/do_most_pitchers_throw_with_illegal_mechanics/

    Both are against the rules and neither is called. A player would be silly to not take advantage of it as long as they’re allowed to. It’s not like the opposing team won’t take advantage so I hope the Cubs are smart enough to take runners out in this fashion and pitch from in front of the rubber.

    The solution is simple though. That’s what I don’t get, but MLB cares more about steroids than they do the shit that goes on down on the field.

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  33. mb21

    Why don’t umpires call these players out? The catcher shouldn’t be allowed to block home plate (runner safe). The runner shouldn’t be able to plow him over (runner out). The runner shouldn’t be able to intentionally disrupt fielder (runner and batter potentially out too). The pitcher should have to keep his toe on the pitching rubber or otherwise it is a balk.

    The ridiculous thing is that it would be so easy to fix this that it’s clear as day MLB simply doesn’t care about breaking rules unless it’s a chemical that might enhance performance.

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  34. mb21

    We’re going to get a rematch of the 2006 World Series. Like that year, the worst team in the playoffs will end up winning it all. The only difference is that in 2006 the Cardinals were no better than the 8th best team. This year they’re no better than the 10th best team.

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  35. SVB

    I was going to chip in on the Ballpark talk, but thought my comments would be better in the forum instead. I guess you can see the link on the left.

    One advantage of starting a Ballpark forum topic is that it’ll be there for eternity, or at least a few weeks, depending on MB’s sense of website ambiance. (dying laughing)

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  36. SVB

    If I told you that in 2012 Carlos Marmol’s final stats were like they are below, what would you say?

    I’d say a 1.36 WHIP is pretty high for a $10 million relief pitcher.

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  37. uncle dave

    @ Rice Cube:
    The place is unquestionably a dump, and it only got worse when they built Mt. Davis and took away the view of the hills. I guess my big issue with the comparisons with AT&T is that a number of the things that the Coliseum takes flak for (the concourses, access to the stadium, and the seating bowl) aren’t a whole lot better over at AT&T. Specifically, the concourses, access to the stadium, and the wait for concessions are brutal for a stadium that’s so new.

    The flak that Oakland takes generally gets a bit old, too. I guess I shouldn’t expect folks to know much about that, but you know, it’s home and all.

    Unrelated: fuck you, Cards.

    Edit: They also play Journey every fucking night at AT&T. So there’s that in the minus column as well.

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  38. uncle dave

    @ mb21:
    The rule should really be enforced, no doubt. I don’t have a problem faulting Holliday for playing the way he does, though. Simple human decency should keep him from endangering other players on the field whether the he can get away with it or not.

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  39. Rice Cube

    @ uncle dave:
    I actually went to many more A’s games because it was cheaper and the tailgate experience was better. AT&T is in a nicer touristy area and is just nicer overall. Different strokes for different folks 😉

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  40. uncle dave

    @ Rice Cube:
    Yup, definitely. I disagree with most folks here on ballparks because factors 1, 1a, and 1b in my judgement of a ballpark is how close I am to the action. Oakland isn’t a great ballpark for that generally, though the price point means that you can get better seats relative to the ballpark.

    I don’t turn down the opportunity to go to AT&T when I get the chance, tho.

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  41. Rizzo the Rat

    Really hated seeing Vogelsong forced to lay one down with 1 out and 2 runners on. Things like that are why I’ve warmed up to the DH rule.

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  42. Rizzo the Rat

    I mean, I’m extremely tired of the argument that pitchers hitting forces managers to be more strategic. That kind of auto-bunting is the opposite of reasonable strategy.

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  43. EnricoPallazzo

    mb21 wrote:

    Another question. I get these jury duty things all the time and I have to call in for a week to see if I need to report. I’d never gotten one before I moved to Topeka and in 10 years I’ve gotten at least 8 or 9 of them. I get them about every year. Only a couple times I’ve had to report and neither time was I selected. Anyway, I ask people around here who I know and who have lived here for a while and they never get them. Not even once. I ask the people who show up for jury duty and they’ve gotten them 4, 5, 6 or more times.

    I don’t see how it can possibly be random.

    i have heard from multiple people living in various states that once you get picked, you are more likely to be picked again. no one has any proof of this but this conversation has come up a few times and the people in the room are always divided evenly between those that have never been picked and those that have been picked several times. no in betweeen. i might just have a really weird group of friends though.

    no one has concrete reasons as to why this happens but the general consensus is that if you show up to jury duty, you get put on a list of suckers that the state can count on to show up.

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  44. Mercurial Outfielder

    Theriot: .283 wOBA, 78 wRC+
    Barney: .287 wOBA, 75 wRC+

    Obviously the gap in defense is big, but Barney is not much at the dish.

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  45. Aisle424

    I think the difference between my attitude towards Barney and Theriot’s hitting is that Barney doesn’t pretend to be a power hitter because he’s hit a couple of big HRs. He seems to be doing the best he can as a mediocre/bad hitter. Theriot got himself out by thinking he was better than he was.

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  46. mb21

    @ uncle dave:
    human decency should keep athletes from endangering other athletes, but professional sports (and college for that matter) are about winning. Whether or not they should be is something that should be debated, but as a society we place too much importance on winning that we can’t reasonably expect an athlete to behave in any other way than what’s best for his team. At least I don’t think so.

    One of the reasons I have no interest in the NFL, or nearly as much interest in college football, is because of how violent the game is. Not just that, but how it’s celebrated by the players, coaches, media and fans. You see a defensive back place a huge hit on a wide receiver and that player doesn’t even stop for a moment and think about how that may have felt for the other guy. Instead, he’s jumping up and down, getting chest bumps from his teammates and the fans are cheering like crazy. What makes it worse is that he could have taken the guy down in a much better way than he did, but chose not to.

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  47. mb21

    @ Aisle424:
    Theriot was cocky, which isn’t really surprising since most of them are, but it was annoying. It became even more annoying because he seemed to feed off the media and fans falling in love with him right away. Barney is just much more likable. I don’t remember him making stupid ass mistakes on the bases at the rate Theriot did. Theriot wasn’t a good hitter or all that much a fielder either and he seemed to excel at doing the “little things” as poorly as anybody in the game.

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  48. Rice Cube

    The Giants, understandably, did not take kindly to Holliday’s slide. Scutaro X-rays negative, hopefully the off-day helps him recover in time for the next game.

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  49. uncle dave

    @ mb21:
    I’ll concede that those two issues are separate, and I’m sure that there would be a substantial subset of fans who would applaud that play were it one of the Cubs in Holliday’s place, unfortunately. I think that particular play absolutely landed out of the bounds of ethical conduct as most MLB players would define them, and that matters.

    Plus, fuck that asshole and his whole fucking team.

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  50. Rizzo the Rat

    @ Aisle424:
    But Barney hits homers in batting practice! That means he could hit for power if he wanted to. Same for Ichiro, Wade Boggs, and dozens of other guys who hit more homers in BP than in actual games.

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  51. SVB

    Did you guys see this quote from Sullivan yesterday?

    Soriano has been though a lot in his six years in Chicago, from the division championships of 2007 and ’08 to the 101-loss season this year. Through it all, he’s been the most accommodating player in the clubhouse, never refusing an interview request or blowing off the media.

    I’m surprised this statement came from this source, but glad to see it.

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  52. mb21

    uncle dave wrote:

    I’m sure that there would be a substantial subset of fans who would applaud that play were it one of the Cubs in Holliday’s place

    That’s another reason why I’m not critical of these plays. I’m biased and I know if a Cubs player does it I’m not going to be outraged. I might even argue it was a necessary play or that the player was well within the rules to do what he did. I didn’t complain one bit when Geovany Soto took out a catcher to score a run in 2008. Years earlier I didn’t complain when Gary Matthews Jr. took out a catcher in what was probably the most vicious hit I’ve seen on a catcher in my life. I didn’t particularly care when Zambrano threw at Jim Edmonds and was only mildly annoyed that he threw at Chipper Jones.

    So I try not to react any differently regardless of who does it. If I can’t be fair or even with my criticism against players for such things, the best thing for me to do is just not care.

    Also, if players really wanted to put a stop to this behavior, they would. They could easily insist such plays be ruled illegal, but they don’t. They have even less interest in accomplishing that than they do a clean (PED free) game. So if the players don’t mind, why should I?

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  53. mb21

    @ SVB:
    I’m glad Soriano is getting the positive coverage he has been, but this just points out how much of a lying scumbag Sullivan has been and will be again. The fact he insisted otherwise for years despite now acknowledging his own lies is disgusting and should get him fired immediately.

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  54. moblie SVB

    @ mb21:
    Yeah, that’s why I linked it here. Both to give Soriano extra props and to point out the hypocrisy, though I suppose I might have been too subtle in the latter. (dying laughing)

    With your new Google Search skills you could probably pinpoint a number of articles from Sullivan that illustrate his duplicity. But why bother? It would be like searching to see if circles are circular.
    (dying laughing)

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  55. mb21

    The ones pre-Bloguin have the original author name, but all the articles from the Bloguin ACB are written by ACB. You can probably figure out who wrote what since MO is a much better writer than I am.

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  56. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ mb21:
    That was after we tried to engage him on the issue and got the “Hilarious, good luck with your blog” response (dying laughing)

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  57. mb21

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:
    That’s right. What’s kind of funny about it is how petty Sullivan is. Yeah, we attacked him harshly, but I’ve emailed with Whittenmeyer a couple times and he’s aware of how harshly we criticized him too. He was professional. I may not think much of his journalistic ability, but he out-classed Sullivan. Then again, who couldn’t?

    I’ve also been a critic of Bruce Miles and while I’m sure he doesn’t like it, I’ve spoken with him too. I can at least respect Miles and Whittenmeyer because they aren’t petty fuckwads. Sullivan actually talked shit about us at the Cubs Convention (we called him racist, which was bullshit).

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  58. mb21

    I remember WV and I talking about how many visits we’d get from the Tribune when we’d write an article about Sullivan. I never noticed a spike from the Sun-Times or Daily Herald. Sullivan is an insecure lying bag of shit.

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  59. Rice Cube

    @ mikeakaleroy:
    Correct! And now I shall go without dinner.

    It sounds like the Cubs got some money too along with Carreno. The original trade was for two PTBNL, so I wonder if the money negated the other PTBNL or if the Cubs can still get another warm body.

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  60. Carne Harris

    @ Rice Cube:

    Negates it. Cubs and Tigers have both gone on record saying Carreno and cash complete the transaction. Totally down with that as compensation for Homerun Baker. Nice job by the FO.

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  61. EnricoPallazzo

    the unanimous animosity (unanimosity) on OV towards sullivan is very amusing. he is terrible but i don’t know if he deserves the level of outright hatred one normally reserves for date rapists and telemarketers. maybe i just don’t think he’s that terrible because compared to phil rogers, he looks like fucking bill shakespeare. i can’t even summon the energy to properly express my distate for rogers.

    for what it’s worth, i like miles. (possibly because i read one of his articles about every 2 months.)

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  62. mikeakaleroy

    @ EnricoPallazzo:
    From the stuff that I have read from Sullivan, he manages to somehow turn every situation negative, and seems to embody the “Cubs suck and will forever suck no matter what” type of attitude that THoyer is trying to get rid of. It seems like we could win the World Series, and he would bitch about the Cubs choice of relief pitcher in the 6th inning of game 1, and then say “Oh yeah, and we won the World Series”

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  63. mikeakaleroy

    Well, Alvin should be happy:

    Doug Padilla
    ‏@ESPNChiCubs
    Cubs to lower ticket prices 2% overall for 2013. Bleachers down 10%. Season tix either flat or reduced for 2nd year in a row.

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  64. SVB

    @ EnricoPallazzo:
    I like Miles too. He’s the only one I read with regularity.

    I was a little afraid I’d started a B**** session, but then I just decided it was just MB, MO, and Aisley just reliving Greatest Hits. “F’n Another Brick in the Wall was awesome dude. Yeah, but so was Wish You Were Here….”

    Having said that, I might dig through some quotes this evening for MB, I mean, what else do I have to do? Watch some dumb debate?

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  65. Chet Masterson

    @ Berselius:

    What always stands out to me most about Phil Rogers is his invention of trade scenarios.

    Somewhere in the middle of a ridiculous column about what is wrong with the White Sox, he will invent some series of trades that he just made up while he was watching reruns of Murder She Wrote that say, “The Sox could put together a pakage of Gordon Beckham, Paul Konerko and Your Mother to get Mike Trout from the Angels.”

    Then if you look somewhere like ESPN Insider you’ll see “White Sox looking to deal for Trout?”

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  66. Mercurial Outfielder

    I think Miles is pretty good. Muskat is ok, but boring. The rest…the rest are shit.

    On the football side, Biggs and Mully are excellent, Jensen and McClure ok.

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  67. SVB

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    We should watch next summer for the substitute writers, so that when Sullivan or Wittenmeyer take some time off and some kid covers for them and does a good job, we can send props.

    I assume that won’t happen before Opening Day because their is little need for baseball content.

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  68. SVB

    I’m thinking that if Vizcaino and Carreno turn out to be serviceable Major Leaguers, then Baker and Maholm will be the 2012 Cubs MVPs.

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