Tigers Interested in Jason Marquis
By Editorial Staff
The guys over at Fox Sports have reported that the Tigers and Nationals are discussing a deal that would send starting pitcher Jason Marquis to Detroit.
The Tigers have been looking for starting pitching for weeks, as trade rumors have linked them to Jeremy Guthrie, Hiroki Kuroda, Ubaldo Jimenez and Doug Fister.
But talks have stalled with other clubs this July for various reasons, and the Tigers seemed to have turned their attention to the Nationals.
Washington has already been active this summer, trading for Jonny Gomes while actively pursuing a young center fielder.
While the Nationals have been more on the buyer’s end of things lately, this current scenario with the Tigers is something that would be more expected from a club that’s 6 games under .500 and in last place in their division.
Marquis had a productive 2009 with the Rockies where he logged over 200 innings at around a 4 ERA which earned him his current 2 year $15 million deal with the Nationals. As he’s now set to become a free agent this offseason, the Nationals could save about $2.5 million by trading him.
And trade him they should, as Marquis is having a career year.
In 2011, the 32 year old has posted an earned run average of 3.95 and 1.42 WHIP over his 120.2 innings of work. Digging deeper, it does appear that Marquis has been for real this season with an FIP of 3.74.
But you only have to turn back to last year to see why some clubs may be hesitant to bring in Marquis. Over 13 starts in 2010, he posted a 6.60 ERA with a WHIP of 1.71. The right hander has never posted a season FIP under 4.00 and has only kept his ERA south of 4 twice over his 12 years in the bigs.
Still, the Tigers are in need of pitching and as they’ve come up short while shopping elsewhere, Detroit may have to settle with what’s most available and affordable to fill in the back end of their rotation which has struggled this season.
Detroit starters have allowed the 9th most earned runs in the majors this year, and outside of Justin Verlander have generally been a disappointment. Marquis’ numbers would make him the Tigers second most successful starter behind Verlander, placing him ahead of Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello and Brad Penny who are all sporting ERA’s over 4.25.
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