Yes, Tacoma, it's me that likes Marco, and I have liked him since Gonzaga. The interesting thing to me is all the "13.50 ERA" comments around the 'Net about his callup. I've had some issues in my life that required some rehab, and I currently have to go to PT to maintain my ability to walk and stand even a little bit. For Marco, coming off TJ surgery and not pitching at all last year, getting built up in April, then pitching a few games in Memphis and then getting called to pitch in a DH for the Cardinals is actually quite good progress.
He got hit. OK. The Cardinals are among the best at developing pitchers. They didn't DFA him right there. The sent him back down to Memphis, where he pitched lights out for 6 games and then got traded. Two more games in Tacoma to get used to things and settle back into the NW (his home is Seattle, even when he was with the Cards). Now we get to see him.
Yes, he's a LH pitcher who throws a change-up. But word is his FB is back sitting 91-92, touching 93 again - and maybe better movement than before TJ. And, he's known for a first-class brain and iron determination. We're not talking an 85 mph fastball here (though he struggled to maintain 90 in his Cardinal call-up). We're not talking razor-thin margins to BP pitching. This guy was pitching in the majors for one of the best-run clubs in baseball a year out of college and doing so in the playoffs with LOTS on the line. And he's hitting his stride after rehabbing for over a year.
I thought Tyler O'Neill was the high end for Marco in a trade; I thought something less (a rental?, an AA guy ++?) might get him because the Cards had a need at OF and have several top prospects knocking on the door. But I'm not sorry Dipoto made this trade. O'Neill still has trouble making contact, even though the contact he makes is LOUD.
Is Gamel a better bet than Tank going forward - less power but far more contact? In my mind, yes. And his defense and ceiling once he gets his base-running going full-bore adds considerable value. Gamel-Heredia-Haniger-Dyson-Martin until Lewis is ready (with Gamel as the back-up 1B)? Yeah, I'll take that, especially when Haniger gets a real reset (although he's hitting ~.800 OPS over the season in any case). Maybe not the Series this year. But I can't remember liking the roster quite this much in a LONG time.