Hendry Keeps Rollin’
The Cubs continued to collect pitchers, adding former St. Louis Cardinal Jason Marquis to the rotation. The Cubs have signed Marquis to a three-year deal worth approximately $20 million dollars. Marquis, 28, had a down year last year, going 14-16 for St. Louis in ’06 with a 6.02 earned-run average in 2006. he was 3-10 with a 6.72 ERA after the All-Star break, costing him a rotation spot in the postseason. Marquis got a head start on a possible Cubs connection by meeting with pitching coach Larry Rothschild after the Cardinals’ successful World Series.
"Jason called me shortly after they got done with the World Series and asked me if he could come down and throw," Rothschild told WGN Radio on Friday night. "He’d talked to [Greg] Maddux during the season and [Maddux] recommended that if he had a chance to let me see him."
Maddux and Marquis were teammates in Atlanta. Marquis threw once for Rothschild, and the two talked pitching mechanics.
"One thing you could tell was that his arm is healthy," Rothschild said. "He has the arm strength. I’m not sure what happened in St. Louis last year — I have some ideas as I think a lot of people do — but I think it was a little bit of a confidence thing. There were a couple games when he had a rough time and I think it snowballed on him."
The rough time that Rothchild is talking about came against the St. Louis Cardinals, and many Cardinals fans feel Marquis wasn’t the same pitcher. In the first interleague series versus the White Sox on June 21, Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder only lasted 2 1/3 innings giving up 9 runs on ten hits. The Cardinals went to their bullpen and five more pitchers gave up an additional 11 runs, making the final score White Sox 20, Cardinals 6. The next night, Jason Marquis started the game for the Cardinals. The Sox jumped out on Marquis early, giving up 9 runs in the first two innings, but rather than pull Marquis like he did Mulder, Tony LaRussa decided to leave Marquis in the game letting him get whacked like a pinata. By the time it was over, Marquis had given up 13 runs and 14 hits in five innings, ballooning his ERA from 4.55 to 5.53 in one game, leaving his confidence shot.
"It was a bad night all the way around," Marquis said. "Our bullpen is a little short right now. You got to go out there and eat the innings up. If that means I’ve got to take a little beating while I’m at it, so be it."
It sounded ok at the time, but that game marked the beginning of the downward slide for Marquis. Marquis was 11-6 with a 5.55 ERA in the first half of the season, but went 3-10 with a 6.72 ERA in the second half. Teams hit .267 against him in those first 18 starts, and batted .321 in his final 15 starts. The last insult came when he was not included on the playoff roster.
Rothchild believes he can turn Marquis around.
"He’s a guy who has pitched 200 innings over a few years, and has had a lot of success," Rothschild said. "He’s a guy who’s done it, and seems to be healthy and we can use the innings.
"You can look at him and see that he’s a guy capable of doing that," Rothschild said. "If we get him and he does those things for us, we could have a good year."
The Cubs believe pitching coach Larry Rothchild can fine-tune Marquis and make him a more consistent pitcher. His best season came in 2004, when Marquis went 15-7 with a 3.71 ERA. His career record with Atlanta and St. Louis is 56-52 with a 4.55 ERA.
It’s up to Larry to make the change. Rothchild will be held more accountable to Lou Pinella’s high standard, and will be expected to get the most out of Marquis.
We’ll see, but it’s definately is getting more interesting.
mlblogscrawlyscubs
You know, I have a sneaking suspicion, with all this spending, that the TRIBUNE has already sold this team. I understand that getting Soriano is a GOOD thing, and I am VERY excited about Ted Lilly. BUT JASON MARQUIS???? 6.3+ Million dollars for THREE YEARS? This deal makes as much sense as the bonehead Jaque Jones deal ($8million for 2 more years to watch him strike out every other at bat!). So now we go into this season with a #5 pitcher who has proven to all of baseball over the last two years that he ***** (Marquis), and we reward him by saying “hey, young man, you look like a loser, come join our club to off-set the good work we’ve done this offseason. Do your best to anchor our team going into next year when we’re going to need a LOT of money to sign Zambrano to a long term contract.” I am telling you, Cubs fans (myself included), if these contract prohibit them from locking up Zambrano and not losing him to the Yankees or the Mets (God forbid), I am going to jump off the Sears tower. And Marquis, if you come in here stinking up the joint like you did the last two years, don’t be surprised if the Cubs fans boo you mercilessly. We are intelligent and WE KNOW that you are being grossly overpaid, so don’t let us down! And Larry, how about adapting new ideas about mechanics this year? You’ve done a TERIFFIC job with Wood and Prior (NOT). Thank God for Zambrano’s rubber arm, but if Hill goes down this year because of Rothschild’s stupid mechanic antics (or lack of detecting mechanical flaws) he’s GOTTA GO!
YOU SULLY ARE MENTAL!!! Would you rather not have marquis have Prior go down than go through MORE ANGEL GUZMAN wait til guzmans ready than trade him for some cheap (but good) minor league pitching and sign Big Z back GO CUBBIES!!
PS by him I mean Marquis
This is a clear case of the Cubs taking on a Rothschild project, an expensive one. I remember Jason Marquis when he was good, and when I was glad he was the Cub’s opposing pitcher.
He’s a talent, and if the Cubs want to spend $20M on the chance that he can come back, good.
I was glad to read that it was Maddux that sent him to Larry,a piece of info I didn’t have and very much appreciate, Crawley.
Thanks!