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Carlos Marmol is in a happy place | Print |  E-mail
Written by Greg Mitchell   
Friday, 05 February 2010 11:23

Despite the fact I am taking an incredibly boring and fluff-filled psychology of sport class this semester, I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know exactly what is going on inside Marmol's head. But there seem to be signs he is in a much better place mentally now than he was last season. Here is a quote in today's Tribune about the difference of going to Spring Training this year:

"There's no pressure on me," Marmol said. "I know there are a lot of possibilities, and if I put it those possibilities in my mind, I'm going to be messed up. Just calm down, and whatever happens, happens."

As odd as it may seem, the pressure seemed to affect Marmol a lot less last season when he was named closer. From the first time he went out to the mound in the ninth inning he became the effective reliever he was for the majority of 2008 than the walk-machine that had been setting up Kevin Gregg.

Seeing that quote makes part of me happy the Cubs didn't bring in someone like Matt Capps: a closer by trade and name that wouldn't be much (if at all) an upgrade over Marmol. However the other part of me thinks if we have a closer that can't handle even that amount of pressure, how will he fare in the ninth inning over an entire season. But back to why Mesa in 2010 will be a much happier place than it was in 2009 for Marmol.

The Tribune article also talks about how Marmol expected to get the job last year only to be beaten out by Gregg. There you have hit number two to his confidence that March. The first came in the World Baseball Classic when Marmol was credited with a blown save when the Dominican Republic was eliminated in stunning fashion by the Netherlands. An error by Willy Aybar at first base was what really blew the game, but Marmol was nonetheless on the mound trying to close the game in the 11th.

Marmol has shown before that confidence is related to how he pitches. After struggling before the All-Star break in 2008, he himself said that being named to the All-Star team really boosted his confidence at a time it was pretty low. After the break he returned to form. Lucky for the Cubs (and Marmol), this year there is no WBC and no closer competition.

 



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