Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol (With a P.S. for Koyie Hill)

I think the Cubs are making a mistake in designating Kevin Gregg as their new closer and leaving Carlos Marmol as the eighth inning setup man. For several reasons.

First, Kevin Gregg may have had a good spring, and he may have saved 61 games over the last two seasons, but he did lose the Marlins’ closer’s job at the end of last season, and he did lead the majors in blown saves last year. There were reasons for that.

Second, if Carlos Marmol was not going to be the closer this year, then the Cubs needed to do a better job in the "care and feeding" of Carlos Marmol. I know some people will say that he is a big boy and he is getting paid a lot of money, but that doesn’t mean each person isn’t different and that different people don’t need to be handled differently. Maybe there is nothing the Cubs could have done about the fact Carlos is disappointed (a/k/a upset) about not being the closer. But Lou Piniella certainly did not help the situation with his comment earlier in the spring about Kevin Gregg throwing 98 mph fast balls while Carlos was away pitching for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. That was not a smart comment.

Baseball players are people, too, and psychology makes a difference. Let me give you an example. Carlos Marmol was unhittable in April and May of last year. Things were not quite as good in June and by early July, things were turning bad. On the Saturday before the All Star game, Carlos was terrible and was booed big time. But then, a National League pitcher had to drop out of the All Star game, and Carlos was next in line to go. He went and he pitched great. And when he came back, he pitched fine for the Cubs. Getting picked for the All Star game and his performance at the All Star game cleared Carlos’s mind and got him back on track. Maybe Carlos has had a little bit of trouble this spring, but naming Kevin Gregg the closer was not the way to clear his mind and get him on track.

Third, I know that Kevin Gregg had a great spring, but he better have a really good April and May, too, or he is going to be in trouble with the Cubs fans. Who cares what the fans think, you may say; the fans don’t get to decide. Maybe, but before you say that too definitely, you might want to check with Mel Rojas and LaTroy Hawkins.

There are going to be a lot of fans who are not happy with the designation of Kevin Gregg as closer. Some will be sorry Kerry Wood is gone. Others will be mad that Carlos is not the closer. A couple of blown saves, and the fans are going to be all over Kevin Gregg. And Kevin will find out that blown saves at Wrigley Field have a different feel to them than blown saves at whatever football stadium it is the Marlins are currently being allowed to play in. Kerry Wood even had some experiences with the fans last summer, and he had the advantage of being Kerry Wood, so most of the fans were a lot more forgiving than they are going to be with Kevin Gregg.

All in all, the Cubs handled the whole closer question very poorly. I just hope the way they did it not does not come back to haunt them with poor performances from both Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol.

P.S. I was happy to see that Koyie Hill got the back-up catcher job. I like Paul Bako, and I was not wishing for bad things for him. Koyie Hill just has a great story (see here and here), and I am glad he made it.