Sean Marshall had an ERA of 2.26 in 2011. His pay was 1.6 million and he would have not been a FA until 2016. He stood 6'8" Left Handed and had great control with a devastating curve. He was considered by many to be one of the best relievers in the NL with great control. He will be 30 on his next birthday. That is a formula for success. That may have been the worst trades of the year if not several years. He was the guy most able to replace Marmol if he fails. He could easily have been part of our future. Pitching can still win pennants and that is the worst part of our current game. Either Theo did not realize how good he was or over estimated the value of Wood. If Theo had a do over on this I feel he would certainly not make that trade.

He was a free agent after this year until the Reds extended him. In extending him, they had to guarantee 16.5 million over the next 3 years not including the incentives. We weren't going to extend him at that kind of money.

They traded a lefty reliever who they could replace with a guy already on the team (Russell) for 3 players who could be part of their future.

Aram , it was not going to be worth paying him what he wanted for 3 more years , his defense has gotten pretty bad the last few years. He was one of my favorite Cubs ove the last decade, but it was time for them to move on.

That young new GM just took a Padres farm system from a #29 ranking when he arrived to a top 5 when he left in a 3 year time frame.
Yes their major league team currently blows but thats mainly due to them not being able to afford to keep good players and their system is loaded and should start providing a steady flow of talent now. Something they will need if they have to continue to operate on a low budget.

Z was a cancer who was never going to be part of this clubhouse again, maybe you missed what some of the players said about him?

It's called selling high on players, I realize you don't get that because the Cubs usually never do it .

Marmol couldn't be traded. His value is low and his contract is not team friendly. Marshall was and therefore he was the one dealt. We are stuck with Marmol for awhile.

You make it sounds like the team makes up most of that net worth. This is not true.

No, I am going to try and discus it with him. You are going to troll as you usually do.

Did you ever think maybe there weren't any good offers coming in for Marmol?

There might have been decent offers for Marmol when Hendry was still in charge, but not this year. They saw his second half last year. It was not pretty.

I loved Sean Marshall, didn't want him traded but fully understand why he was traded and I'm not going to use the excuse of money like others have.

Good GM's learn to sell high on certain players, thats not something we're used to seeing from the Cubs.

It will take a while to determine how well this deal ends up being because I think Torreyes is the key.
You don't often get 3 players in return for a bullpen arm and show me how many bullpen guys not named Mariano Riviera sustain success for as long as you see Marshall doing it 8-10 years ?

come on man, I'd say 1-3, you never know when bullpen arms are going to go south , they are always very unpredictible.

And they have James Russell and I'm not taking time to post the stats again, but he was very close to matching Marshalls numbers last year out of the pen and he's moved into Marshalls role quite well so far and they have Maine and Belliveau to replace his role.
You traded him at a highpoint of his trade value and you have replacements.

Impatience is not a virtue.

As you said, we won't know the winner of this trade for awhile to be honest. Keep an eye on Torreyes and even Wood to some degree. I think Sappelt is a 4th OFer at best, but there is value in a player like him even if it means adding him as a throw in on a potential deal.

Scott Maine has a nice deceptive delivery ---as far as a LH specialist, I see him having the better career over Russell.

Then stop acting like one.