Twins Add Veteran Starter Germán Márquez On Minor League Deal

[Matthew Taylor]

The Minnesota Twins have added some veteran pitching depth, signing right-hander Germán Márquez to a minor league deal, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Márquez will report to Triple-A St. Paul.

Márquez was designated for assignment by the San Diego Padres on August 5 to make room for Robbie Ray, whom San Diego acquired at the trade deadline.

The 31-year-old Márquez has spent 11 seasons in the Major Leagues, with the first 10 coming with the Colorado Rockies. He earned an All-Star selection in 2021 and has made 210 career starts. Despite carrying a 4.70 ERA for his career, Márquez has posted a 103 ERA+, which is above league average and speaks to just how difficult it is to pitch half of your games at Coors Field.

Márquez primarily works with a mid-90s fastball and a knuckle curve that has generated a 27% whiff rate. However, the underlying numbers haven't been particularly encouraging in recent seasons, which helps explain why the Padres ultimately moved on.

He doesn't miss many bats, averaging six strikeouts per nine innings over the past two seasons, and he's also been prone to giving up hard contact. Over the past two seasons, Márquez has allowed 37 home runs in 179 innings.

There's certainly a chance Márquez doesn't have much left in the tank. That's also why the Twins were able to sign him to a minor league deal rather than making a significant commitment. There's a good chance he never makes an appearance for the big league club.

Still, Márquez provides the Twins with something valuable at this point in the season: veteran starting pitching depth. He's been through just about everything a pitcher can experience over an 11-year Major League career, and if the Twins suddenly need someone to make a spot start because of an injury or another roster need, Márquez has plenty of experience doing exactly that.

It's a low-risk move for the Twins, but one that could potentially pay off if they find something in Márquez that the Padres couldn't.

What do you think of the Twins signing Germán Márquez to a minor league deal? Leave a comment below and start the conversation!

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[PuckettPond]

I like the move.

[weitz41]

On a minor league deal? Heck yeah that's a good signing. We're one injury away from it being a big deal. Until Ryan comes back. Could buy some time for that if needed.

[Greglw3]

You can never have too much pitching. The Twins success with righting Gomez and Kremer says maybe he can help! In his second to last appearance ~ July 31, he went 5 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball vs the Giants so he has something left!

[HarmonK03]

31 minutes ago, Greglw3 said:

You can never have too much pitching. The Twins success with righting Gomez and Kremer says maybe he can help! In his second to last appearance ~ July 31, he went 5 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball vs the Giants so he has something left!

And his last outing he gave up 4 runs in 1 inning on 2 home runs, so which is he.  Like the article said San Diego moved on for a reason.  This is a good break glass in case of emergency move, hopefully they don't force him on the roster when his opt out comes up on 8/25 unless he earns it or there is an injury.

[DocBauer]

Why not? St Paul isn't exactly flush with starters at the moment either. If someone went down tomorrow, I think it would probably be Rojas who came up first. Gallagher has been on a hot streak, but I doubt he's ready to make his debut yet.

I had thought they might be on the lookout for someone to bring in. I had thought about Littel, but he would have to have been an immediate 40 man add, so that was pretty doubtful. So yeah, this signing makes sense.

I just hope we don't need him.

[ashbury]

More than half a decade ago, he was the guy everyone hoped their team would trade for, to "get him out of Coors".  Never happened.  Part of a season in San Diego tells us it's probably too late.  A pity, because he got periodic recognition from awards voters or ASG fan votes so people knew he was good - but he never was granted the opportunity to really show it.

[DocBauer]

12 minutes ago, ashbury said:

More than half a decade ago, he was the guy everyone hoped their team would trade for, to "get him out of Coors".  Never happened.  Part of a season in San Diego tells us it's probably too late.  A pity, because he got periodic recognition from awards voters or ASG fan votes so people knew he was good - but he never was granted the opportunity to really show it.

I agree totally.  And I hope we don't need him. But as @Greglw3stated, we've already seen that Maki and his staff are really good at what they do.

If there's an arm that has hidden talent, they're really good at enhancing it. I sometimes wonder if the very quiet Maki isn't greatly under appreciated for the coach that he is.

Marquez might just be toast after all of those years pitching at Coors Field. But 31 is not exactly old. I am NOT expecting crazy waiver wire street FA steal. But if there's still life in that arm of his, I think the Twins are one of the better teams to resuscitate such arms.

[ashbury]

21 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Marquez might just be toast after all of those years pitching at Coors Field. But 31 is not exactly old. 

This is the only part of your post I'd take issue with.  I don't have any reason to believe the implication that Coors Field ruins arms.  And as for Marquez's age, consider that Bailey Ober turned 31 last month, and he's having a devil of a time maintaining velocity.  It's a long time since baseball front offices believed that a player reaching 30 was "just hitting his prime." Not that an older player can't succeed.  But I just checked and of the top-20 pitchers ranked by WAR this season, only 4 are as old as Marquez is now.

[DocBauer]

13 minutes ago, ashbury said:

This is the only part of your post I'd strongly disagree with.  I don't have any reason to believe the implication that Coors Field ruins arms.  And as for Marquez's age, consider that Bailey Ober turned 31 last month, and he's having a devil of a time maintaining velocity.  It's a long time since baseball front offices believed that a player reaching 30 was "just hitting his prime." Not that an older player can't succeed.  But I just checked and of the top-20 pitchers ranked by WAR this season, only 4 are as old as Marquez is now.

I don't disagree with you Ash. I've always believed, generally speaking, that a pitcher is/can be his best in his late 20's and early 30's because of experience/knowledge plus stuff, as long as the stuff doesn't suddenly go away.

I don't know that Coors Field, by itself, can "ruin" a pitcher. But I do wonder if it can mess with their approach, and maybe rob them of confidence at times. It's the "this worked before, why isn't it working here"?

I absolutely love what Ober has done this season for the Twins. For whatever reason, his FB just seems to be gone. But except for a few bad games, he's been largely effective for a rotation that needed him. And he's been throwing "old school" with location and deception. I have doubts the Twins will bring him back for 2027 though. 

Marquez might be toast. And I hope we don't need to rely on him. Visions of Dallas Keuchal (sp?) still run through my brain at times. BUT, if he can STILL hit 93-94, there MIGHT be something there to work with if he hasn't lost the feel for his other pitches.

I have zero illusions he's some kind of steal. He was signed to a MILB deal for a reason. But he MIGHT be a better version of Keuchal if we need some emergency rotation help. 

[TCanWins]

2 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

And his last outing he gave up 4 runs in 1 inning on 2 home runs, so which is he.  Like the article said San Diego moved on for a reason.  This is a good break glass in case of emergency move, hopefully they don't force him on the roster when his opt out comes up on 8/25 unless he earns it or there is an injury.

Sounds like second half Bradley, Ober and Ryan 😅.. Kremer has been the most reliable starter since the deadline. I like it. Help is help.

Edited 2 hours ago by TCanWins
Forgot to add Ober