Dodgers acquire Carlos Marmol

The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol, according to Jim Bowden of ESPN. LA sends reliever Matt Guerrier in exchange for Marmol and around $209,000 of internation signing bonus money.

Winners of eight of their last nine, the Dodgers remain in last but are now just 3.5 games behind the first-place Diamondbacks. The NL West is the tightest (read: worst) division in baseball this year and a key deadline acquisition could decide who backs into a playoff spot.

Carlos Marmol is not that acquisition. The Cubs designated him for assignment six days ago after briefly running his season ERA over 6.00. The 30-year-old is on pace to set career highs in BB/9, H/9 and HR/9 and his lowest K/9 total since 2006. Primarily an eighth- and ninth-inning guy in Chicago, Marmol was just two of five in save opportunities before being sent down.

Continue reading →

Postgame Wrap: Giants Finally Remember How to Baseball, But Too Little Too Late

Update: I wrote this whole wrap after the sixth inning, assuming the worst. And hey, I was right aside from the last hurrah in the ninth. Obligatory LOLeague and BeatLA.

Things looked good for a while there. The Giants hung with the Puigs for five whole innings, and a small part of me wondered if Mike Kickham would turn out to be some kind of crazy Dodger-killer, some secret weapon who would charge bull-like at anything blue. Sure he gave up a two-run homer to Mark Ellis, but that’s basically what Mark Ellis does. I gave up two homers to Mark Ellis while eating my cereal this morning. It’s a force majeure that just can’t be avoided.
But then the wheels came off. Hanley Ramirez, still the least likeable player even before he donned the Dodger blue, winged one off the foul pole just to remind us how close we came to avoiding tragedy. Then Jake Dunning made a bad throw he shouldn’t have made and that was that was that.
Remember when we actually felt confident in the Giants to come from behind and win games they were losing? No I swear, that was earlier this year.

And the worst part is that the Dodgers didn’t even play that well. Puig was a non-factor, Kemp didn’t do much, and Fife managed to stump the Giants with trickery and brainteasers. Clayton Kershaw didn’t even play, the lazy bum. It’s one thing when Puig goes 4-5 with seven homers and Kershaw throws a complete game shutout, but tonight really felt like one bad team just couldn’t keep up with another bad team.
Oh well. At least the standings still like the Giants better than the Dodgers.

On the bright side, the Brandons looked good: Crawford flashed some mighty leather and Belt homered. Buster Posey continued to climb out of his mini slump. Gregor Blanco keeps up his hot streak, and Tim Lincecum didn’t walk anyone. Every inning that George Kontos doesn’t give up runs is a step toward an effective and confident bullpen, Scutaro went another day without causing himself permanent nerve damage, and Ryan Vogelsong has a sweet injury beard. So all in all, not too bad of a day.

Tomorrow please consider beating LA.

SF Giants transactions: Sandoval returns, Gaudin to disabled list

Monday was turbulent day in Giants-dom. Not only did Giants fans get to experience Puig-mania for the first time, but the roster got a complete overhaul.

Pablo Sandoval returned from a foot injury that kept him out for the better part of three weeks, going 2-4 in last night’s loss to Los Angeles. To make room on the roster, infielder Nick Noonan was sent down to Triple-A Fresno. The 24-year-old Noonan hit just .212 in 85 at-bats, plying his trade at multiple infield positions.

—

Fill-in starter Chad Gaudin hits the disabled list after taking a line drive off his pitching arm. Gaudin slid into the rotation after Vogelsong was himself struck with a ball, and pitched admirably. In four starts Gaudin posted a 3.38 ERA, notching wins in the first two games he started.

Lefty Mike Kickham was recalled for the second time this season, having previously made a spot start in Oakland in May. Kickham didn’t make it out of the third inning in his debut, giving up four earned runs in 4.1 innings. The No. 3 prospect in the Giants’ system according to Baseball America, Kickham has a career 3.85 minor league ERA.

—

The Giants made a non-injury roster move as well, sending down right-handed reliever Jean Machi and recalling George Kontos from Fresno. Machi gave up five runs on seven hits across his last two appearances, registering just two outs in the process. Kontos was demoted on June 12th in favor of Sandy Rosario, and may still face a suspension for beaning Andrew McCutcheon. He is available because the 3-game suspension is under review.