Here come the Gregg Apologists...

The “everything is rosy and we’ll be fine types” or the “I told you so-and- so sucked” crowd.

but I’ll certainly concede that he hasn’t been that great and seemingly trending downward.

I believe the only feasible solution for this problem in 2009 would be to let Guzman close. The problem with that, of course, is that the bridge ot Guzman may include Heilman, Marmol, and Gregg.

His fastball would not work in the Little League World Series

His return to Florida seems to have brought about his downfall. He was serviceable until then. Now he shouldn’t even be used.

It ain’t right, it ain’t fair, and its not closer stuff…period.

and is not a cloasr on a winning team.

he has given up 6 HR in 15+ innings. Last Saturday he need ed 30 pitches to put away the stinking Pirates. His season WHIP vs RH is 1.60. His WHIP on the road is over 1.60.

On a positive note, ……………let me get back to you on that.

Gregg managed 9 blown saves last year, despite the fact that he managed to lose both the closer role (in mid-late August, thanks to a massive meltdown vs. the Cubs) and the 8th inning role, shortly thereafter.

How on earth does Hendry think it’s a good idea to go after a failed Marlins closer?

It didn’t work in 2003, and it didn’t work in 2009. But our GMs continue to get distracted by the Bright Shiny Object that is raw saves totals.

It is anyones guess how these guys get to control 9 figure budgets.

 Twittermeyer says…

cst_cubs: Lou says he’s changing closer role after another Gregg homerfest. Says he’ll have more details Tuesday.

Here’s article from Trib with Lou’s comments: LINK

Even worse in person.

The 2009 Division race ended tonight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Gregg

2009

Gregg competed with Carlos Marmol for the position of closer during the 2009 Spring Training; on March 29, 2009 manager Lou Piniella announced that Gregg had won the closer position and Marmol would serve as set-up pitcher. Gregg is one of the worst closers in Cubs history, and wets his bed nightly

i was unaware of that…

and stuck around for Spring Training, perhaps there would have been competition. If memory serves me, Gregg had 9 consecutive saves — nailing down the gig.

Marmol was pretty much fucked up in AZ, which may have lead to a crisis in confidence, and the just above average performance we’ve witnessed this season.

…and I wouldn’t give a damn who wins. For once.

I wish I stayed home and saved the gas!

Kevin Gregg is pathetic! He is no closer. Who the hell is intimidated by Gregg? This division is lost! 6 games would require a 2007-08 Mets style collapse by the Cardinals.

I said after the Florida series that I needed to see more failure because he’d been, by and large, pretty good.

I’ve seen enough.

GREAT start to the “Under .500 Teams Tour That is Going to Save our Season!”

Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who were just supposed to fold like oragami against good teams, beat the Dodgers.

The Cards go into Dodger Stadium, against the best team record-wise in the NL, and on the strength of Chris Carpenter (gave up 2 earned runs) and two home runs, get a 3 PITCH, 3 OUT save from their closer, who has a mind boggling mid-1’s era, and win.

The Cubs go into Petco, against won of the worst teams record-wise in the NL, get great starting pitching, scratch out 1 run, then watch their closer hand the game over by giving up his 14th or 15th or who effing knows I’ve lost track home run to lose the game.

This division is no longer “a race”…sorry to say.

…to all my out of town visitors that I take to Wrigley, that this is the Cubs’ sorry-ass excuse of a closer.

Of course that apology comes after the one for:

• the left fielder,
• right fielder,
• occasional 2nd baseman,
• one middle reliever in particular, and of course
• the whipping boy of many here, the occasional utility infielder.

Boy am I glad its only 6 1/2 weeks until the Blackhawks open the season in Helsinki.

Mathematically, it’s far from over, but they have a solid team all around, one that’s come up big in clutch situations lately (in stark contrast to the Cubs), and a realtively easy schedule down the stretch. I just don’t seem them slipping into a prolonged slump. They’re more liklely to overtake LA for the NL lead and roll into the playoff as a WS favorite.

Our only realistic chance right now is the wild card, but without a reliable closer, that won’t happen either.

Have a bad feeling that last night was the beginning of the end.

No, I did not. But frankly, neither did most of you. I’m not a Gregg fan, but I’m not delusional enough to say I knew he would melt down like this down the stretch. Gregg failed as closer in April and August, but he was an above average closer in May, June and July. His season, on the whole, compares favorably with Kerry Wood’s year in Cleveland; Wood, after all, was brutal in April and May, and would have had most of you saying “I told you so” a lot sooner than this. And it compares very favorably with Carlos Marmol, who we all know can’t find the strike zone at all this year after being dominant in the past.

If you really predicted all of the above, congratulations, you’re either remarkably claervoyant, or a shameless liar. But tell me: having predicted the failure of the three legitimate candidates to be the Cubs’ closer this year, who exactly was your suggested alternative? What’s that? You knew all along Angel Guzman would be our only legit reliever this year — what a genius you must be.

It’s time for a change, no doubt. This time lets just put those predictions clearly on the record so folks have something to point to when they say I told us so.

Some guys are going to have to overachieve. Guzman has to be the closer for now. I’d use Grabow there occasionally, as well. Gregg doesn’t sniff the 9th for the rest of the year.

“OVER? NOTHING IS OVER!”

I thought he was Ok but last night did it for me. I really think releasing him is not a crazy idea. If he is not the closer
he has no role so get one of the kids from Iowa up.

Seems that they had the right idea.

…and it’s magnified by the Cubs’ position in the standings and number of games left. I’d still use him in leverage situations maybe more so than Marmol. His numbers at Wrigley have been fine and he’s struggled on the road. He’s a FB pitcher that Ks a lot of guys, but his WHIP could stand to decrease. Juts reviewing some his stats, he’s getting crushed on first pitches.

I wouldn’t replace him with Marmol unless they are convinced the latter has the control worked out. I would like to see Guzman get more experience in this role but I still think Gregg is productive pitcher for the Cubs. It is strange that he’s given up some dingers to blow games at parks known for depressing HRs, but at Wrigley he’s pitched very well.

is nothing more than research being done for Kaplan, who will spend 15 minutes on CTL ripping Gregg apart. Gregg can go on to save the next 25 games without a blown save, adn Kaplan, just like the Gregg haters, will continue to bash his every breath.

…some of Gregg’s numbers still don’t look that bad. He’s got a 9.3 K/9 – that’s pretty good. He’s walked only 23 batters in 56.1 innings for a 3.7 BB/9 – that’s not too shabby.

But, wait, what’s this? He’s giving up hits to the tune of 8 per nine innings and, oh yeah, his HR/9 is 1.9! He’s already raced past his previous career high of 10 home runs allowed and given up 12. Just one more and he’ll have matched Bob Howry’s total from last season. And that’s basically who Gregg is at this point – the 2009 Bob Howry, not really walking too many guys but getting hit all over the ballpark.

So I applaud Lou’s decision to apparently make some changes. Now as to whether Lou should’ve done it earlier – that’s hard to say because Gregg has had some success in stretches. Perhaps 10 HR allowed for a closer should be the breaking point, though.

I’ll even out myself with the fanpost I wrote two months ago in support of Gregg. At the time, my argument was sound – he did have good numbers at that time, though not the great numbers we needed in the post-season.

He has gone from “good enough” for the regular season, to truly awful. I am officially stepping off my support Gregg position, and throwing my support behind Dempster as the Cubs closer. Not Marmol or Guzman – they’re too erratic and inexperienced.. Dempster. He has the moxie to do it.

Think how many blown saves Marmol would have if he was the closer. Whether it means anything, I’d rather see Gregg give up the game winning homer as opposed to watching Marmol walk in the winning run.

I’ll say it again, Week 1 of the NFL can’t come soon enough.

will all probably be starting next year.

With no rest, he’s had 2 outings out of 17 with a lead change:
- 4/7 HOU, letting the inherited runner on 2B score in the tie game 10th inning
- 8/2 @FLA, a true disaster but where he shouldn’t have even been in after 38 pitches in the BS the day before.

So he is maddening as he pitches well on the second day. Therefore, I can see why Lou and Larry had wanted to get him a lot of work. It’s also consistent with his 2008 numbers – 21 appearances on no rest, 3 lead changes, one of those being after he’d thrown 30 pitches the day before.

But the problems with this theory have been:
- Lou put him in SIX times with no rest and a 3 or 4 run lead
- In the 10 games where he gave up a HR, 9 were with rest
- Four of his blown saves came due to appearances with home runs on one day’s rest

Again, this is consistent with 2008 – he only gave up 3 HR in 2008, but all were on two days’ rest and all were blown saves. In fact, he had 4 blown saves on 2 days rest in 10 save situations (14 appearances total on 2 days rest).

This is not the formula for a major league closer. You HAVE to be able to pitch on one or two days of rest, otherwise being able to pitch well on no rest doesn’t matter.