Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said the team DFA's Carlos Marmol because he was becoming a "distraction" to the team. Since no team is willing to trade for Marmol or his contract, it is expected that the Cubs will shortly release Marmol.
However, one must beg to differ on the reason why Marmol was dismissed: how was he a distraction?
From all press accounts, Marmol was a professional. He sat at his locker and took all questions from the reporters, after good outings or bad outings. He never lost his composure to the media. He was like by his teammates. There were never any reports of being a disruptive person in the locker room.
So why was he now a distraction?
Distraction is defined as a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else; or an extreme agitation of the mind or emotions.
There is no evidence that Marmol never gave his full attention to pitching or had emotional issues.
In comparison, Ian Stewart was a distraction. He went on twitter rants and blasted the Cubs for letting him "rot" in Iowa, even though he was only batting .168. After his rehab time in Iowa, he took three days off when he was outrighted there after clearing waivers. The Cubs released Stewart after he served a 10 day suspension for cause.
Marmol was never such a headache. Marmol was just a bad pitcher. But the Cubs staff is filled with bad pitchers. Edwin Jackson has a 5.84 ERA; Hector Rondon has a 6.23 ERA; Shawn Camp has a 6.53 ERA; Zach Putnam had an 18.90 ERA.
Perhaps, Hoyer misspoke when he said Marmol had become a distraction. Instead, Hoyer needed to create a distraction by releasing Marmol to divert the fans attention to how bad the Cubs team had become under his leadership.
