Jason Marquis

[glunn]

If there is even a 1% chance of Marquis getting back to being decent, it seems to me that Rochester makes sense, assuming that he is willing to go.

 

I see two reasons for this.

 

First, if he did make a comeback, he would have some value. And we have no way of knowing how much he has been affected by his child's injury. Maybe there is still some gas in his tank, and he will get better as his child recovers.

 

Second, this would reduce the need to bring up someone from AA if the Twins call up a starter from Rochester.

[Dilligaf69]

Sending him to Rochester makes no sense for a 35-36 year old. Marquis has had too solid of a career for too long to do that to him. DFA is the only way. Hendriks is the Red Wings best starter, but I think he should get more than 3-4 starts down there. It's all about what's best long term, and that's Hendriks being used/moved wisely. It's also about seeing what you have in the likes of DeVries/Walters (and Slama, etc.).

 

I agree with Seth here....Hendriks needs more starts at Rochester, you can always recall him later in the summer. Much rather give Marquis spot to DeVries....If Pavano's next start is pushed back I think Swarzak gets the nod.

[Guest USAFChief]

I'd DFA him and put Liriano back in the rotation.

[Nick Nelson]

I personally believe DeVries will get crushed in the majors. I'd just as soon recall Hendriks since he's already on the 40-man and he's pitched very well since going down to Rochester.

[Twinsfan2284]

I understand that Marquis has been bad, but honestly, what were people expecting. He was signed to be a back-end of the rotation guy, with the potential to at least eat innings and Pavano-lite. But anyone thinking that cutting him is going to make a drastic difference is kidding themselves.

 

As far as who should replace him, Duensing should stay in the bullpen. We have seen this experiment the past two years. He was okay in 2010 and was drilled in 2011 (after teams figured him out), but his skillset in getting out left-handed batters lends itself best to the bullpen.

 

If I had a vote, it would probably be Swarzak to take Marquis' place. He has started before in both the majors and minors, has shown the ability to be tolerable (i.e. a back of the rotation guy), and who knows, if he pitches well, we may be able swap him for some sort of mediocre prospect at the deadline if he pitches well and some team is desparate for a back-end starter (albeit very unlikely). And hey...he can't be any worse as a starter than Marquis, right? This move will also make way in the bullpen for us to bring up one of our many right-handed relievers in the minors (Slama, Waldrop, etc...). And I think at this point I would rather put Slama on the 40 man than Cole Devries.

 

This team is not contending this year, so I don't want to jeapordize assets (read: serviceable players) that we have (Hendricks as a starter, Deunsing as a bullpen guy) to try and find a 5th starter on the last place team in all of baseball. We have righty bullpen assets in the minors and I think Hendricks could use some extended time in Triple A to develop some consistency.

 

Anyway...just my two cents...

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

I personally believe DeVries will get crushed in the majors. I'd just as soon recall Hendriks since he's already on the 40-man and he's pitched very well since going down to Rochester.

I think Devries would perform better than Marquis, but I agree that Hendriks should be the one getting starts. Slama or Guerra should replace Jeff Gray as well for a new sweep of transactions. I don't think anyone was surprised how poorly Gray did in the 16-4 loss. His ERA was so misleading and he was due to get shelled. Up to that point, he was one of the luckiest pitchers this season.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

I'd DFA him and put Liriano back in the rotation.

NO NO NOT Liriano...dont put him back in rotation till at least the AS Break.

 

I would bring up Slama for the pen and move Swarzek to the rotation and DFA Marquis

[StormJH1]

Pains me to say we should DFA him, but that seems to be the move. The only reason they're not doing it is that the depth is already hurting pretty badly at SP.

 

That 3 million dollars should have been used on two or three washed up relievers (hoping for a Jared Burton-type find) or combined with Carroll's money for a better 2B or 3B option. All the Twins did for years was draft "safe" guys that had upside as a 5th starter, and then they go and sign a 5th starter anyway. Never made sense to me.

[Mike Sixel]

Seth....trying to keep the Slama train alive....good for you....

[Alex]

Seth....trying to keep the Slama train alive....good for you....

Is anyone "with access" asking this question? It'd be nice if they were.

[Yoshii]

The big question is why haven't we heard the DFA announcement about Marquis yet?

[stringer bell]

I think there are probably six relief pitchers more big-league ready than any starter in the Twins' minor league organization. Slama, Fien, Oliveros, Manship, Guerra and Waldrop, off the top of my head. Add to this that there is already one too many relievers on the ML club and this situation cries for stretching out relievers and putting them in the rotation. Probably in July, the situation will cry for trading relievers. Manship and Swarzak have always seemed like the same guy to me, with Swarzak having more durability. Both seem to do better in long relief than as starters.

[wavedog]

Marquis performance got me to thinking about how great it is to be a baseball player. $3M this year guaranteed - probably more than I will make in my working lifetime - for stinking it up out there. I am not questioning his effort but how did the bottom fall out so quickly or better yet how did the Front Office miss on this. If I was the owner I would be getting pretty irritated over some of these money for nothing decisions on Nishi and Marquis. Add that to the fact of injuries to all the big salary players in the past few years Nathan, Morneau, Mauer and Baker and that has to be pretty frustrating.

[Mike Sixel]

DFA Marquis, let Manship and Swarzak start/go for half a game /whatever. That combo can't be any worse than Marquis.

[SweetOne69]

The big question is why haven't we heard the DFA announcement about Marquis yet?

Marquis' spot in the rotation won't come up again until Friday (Saturday if they push Pavano back a day), so they won't DFA him (assuming that they do) until Wednesday or Thursday.

 

They have to answer the question "Who is going to Start on Thursday?" if they give Pavano an extra day of rest, before they deal with the Marquis problem.

[Nick Nelson]

Too bad the Twins didn't sign Bedard instead of Marquis during the offseason.

[Shane Wahl]

Too bad the Twins didn't sign Bedard instead of Marquis during the offseason.

 

Yeah there is something to be said about taking players--in such scenarios--who haven't merely been average the majority of their careers, but who have excelled and dealt with injuries. Zumaya didn't work, but Burton did. Now if they would just apply that to acquiring starting pitchers.

[Thrylos]

Too bad the Twins didn't sign Bedard instead of Marquis during the offseason.

Agreed, but in order for that to happen, the Twins need to make changes in the FO and field management staff. Here is why the Twins (incorrectly) valued Marquis over Bedard:

 

a. He has thrown more than 200 innings a few times in his career (equated in their brains with a "workhorse")

b. He is a ground ball pitcher who pitches to contact and generates ground balls.

 

Unless they hire decision makers who value missing bats and K/9 more than GB/FB and IP, this team will keep overvaluing the Marquises and the Pavanos (and the Blac_burns) of the world. That simple

[Highabove]

Too bad the Twins didn't sign Bedard instead of Marquis during the offseason.

Bedard signed with Pittsburgh for 4.5 million,

 

Ryan decided to go cheap and scrape the bottom of the Barrel, resulting in the total waste of 3 million dollars.

 

The Twins could not go a few dollars over their self imposed budget. A small market move.

[snepp]

They would have had an additional 5 million to play with if not for the horrendous decision to bring back Capps so unnecessarily early in the offseason.

 

 

The more I think about it the more it ends up pissing me off due to it being almost completely indefensible.

[Cris E]

Ryan decided to go cheap and scrape the bottom of the Barrel, resulting in the total waste of 3 million dollars.

 

I think they really felt that Marquis is a healthier guy than Bedard and stood a better chance of throwing 180-200 IP. The money was probably secondary given how much trouble the team has had with health over the past few years, and doubly so with Baker's elbow being a question mark over the winter. The problems with this roster have more to do with assumptions and evaluations than with cheapness.