The Life of One Writer

I know. It sounds like the line-up of some odd folk band, but in fact, they are the Cubs pitchers I’d like to discuss because there’s been so much garbage hurled their way.

First of all, let’s get the children out of the way. I touched on this on Twitter after the marathon loss in Milwaukee Friday night. I like Lendy. He’s got some stuff, but he needs some work. He’s young and in need of some control and polish. He hasn’t pitched above A ball. If the Cubs want to keep him, then they need to make a deal to keep him and then send him down or use him more. They’re doing him (and the rest of the bullpen) a disservice by sitting him most of the time. He needs regular work in order to get better.

Dolis has already shown that he does have some good stuff. Sveum is using him as part-time closer with Russell. But he too has control issues and he too has limited minor league experience, having not pitched above AA. When it comes to these two pitchers, I feel fans are too quick to go for the noose with them. They are going to have growing pains. Big, painful ones sometimes. Be patient.

Volstad has the curse of one bad inning. He struggles when guys get on base, but he’s shown glimmers of potential. He has the fans yearning for Carlos Zambrano. Well, kids, I hate to break it to you, but no matter how much you want it, you can’t undo that trade. We’ve got Volstad. He’s a Cub now and I’m rooting for him to get better. Now whether that improvement happens at the major league level or AAA is also out of my hands. I just want it to happen and I’m going to continue to look for and emphasize the positives about him while he’s in pinstripes. Call me stupid (I know you already are), but I’m going to do continue to hope he gets better. I’d also like to point out that he doesn’t exactly get a lot of run support. Those big innings loom bigger when nobody’s scoring any runs.

Kerry Wood is probably at the end of his career, but while he’s still pitching, I’d like to believe that as a veteran he can find ways to be effective enough to help his team. Again, I’m going to keep rooting for him to do well so long as he’s in the uniform. That’s how I roll. He had some pretty good innings after the glove tossing incident. Speaking of, it’s not something I thought he should have done (of course, I’m incredibly selfish and wouldn’t be giving any Cubs fans any of my shit for nothing), but it happened. And for all the people comparing it to anything Zambrano did, if Zambrano had done it, you’d be totally fine with it. You can look down your nose at everyone else for defending various players you don’t like, but Zambrano could punch a baby and you’d be cool with it because he’s “competitive” and “passionate”. Just admit you’re just as biased as everyone else and climb down from your crosses.

And finally, I come to Carlos Marmol. There were a lot of people in my timeline calling Philly fans classless for cheering Jayson Werth’s and Joakim Noah’s injuries. However, these same people were ROOTING FOR Marmol to be hurt. Really? That’s classy? Yes, Marmol is struggling. He needs work. He’s actually shown some improvement since he was removed from his closer duties and I truly thought he could have gotten Corey Hart out before he injured himself. But to root for him to be hurt makes you no better than a Philly fan. Yeah, I said it and I meant it.

I realize that I’m viewed as nothing more than a mouth-breathing Pollyanna, but I’d rather be that than be spewing vile all over the Internet because a player isn’t up to my standards.

I’m willing to give these pitchers a break that doesn’t involve a limb.