Can Jason Marquis Stick with the Reds
By Wayne Cavadi
Jason Marquis is looking to creep his way back into the big leagues. He will have that chance this March. The Cincinnati Reds have signed Jason Marquis to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
Marquis spent all of 2014 in the minor leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He had a winning record, but his peripherals showed that the once steady right hander may in fact be declining. He went 3-1 with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, but had a 4.63 ERA and only had a 6.9 per nine strikeout rate facing competition that should have been inferior to his major league career.
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The Atlanta Braves drafted Marquis in the first round in the 1996 draft, selecting him 35th overall. The Braves drafted Marquis at a time when they were kings of the pitching world and hoped that the righty out of Staten Island would be the next in a pretty stout line of Braves all star pitchers. He would never reach those heights as a Brave or any of the other six major league teams he would pitch for in his 15-year career.
What Marquis was was a reliable middle of the rotation arm. He rarely finished with an above .500 record nor did he get his era below 4.00 very often. However, he threw innings and kept teams in games. His best year was in 2004, his first year in St. Louis after being traded from the Braves with Adam Wainwright for J.D. Drew. He went 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA and 138 strikeouts. The win total he would match one more time in his career, the ERA and strikeouts would be his career highs by a wide margin.
Despite it seeming that Marquis fell off the board after a 15-win 2009 campaign, the Reds may be a perfect landing spot. They have already traded Alfredo Simon, an All Star in 2014, and there are still big question marks surrounding Johnny Cueto’s future. The Reds having uncertainty in their rotation, and if Marquis can throw together a solid spring, he could very well be the veteran presence the Reds need at the back of their rotation. With so much youth and questions in their current rotation, this could be Marquis best, and last, chance at resurrecting his major league career.