Marquis Wasn’t About to Give In
Jun. 25, 2009 | 12:10 am
15 
By Tracy Ringolsby
Right-hander Jason Marquis has said he feels more accepted by the Rockies than he has by any team he has ever pitched for. He wants to repay the confidence the Rockies have shown in him.
He tried to pitch through some problems on Wednesday, and it didn’t go well. Marquis’ bullpen session was cut short on Monday. There was speculation he had a blister. The hope was after two days of rest and with some treatement the skin would toughen up.
Marquis, however, never had his command on Wednesday, and the right-hander who shares the NL lead in victories at nine had his worst outing of the season.
Give Marquis credit for his toughness and desire. But was it wise?
Tagged:
I wonder how much the 125 pitches on Friday played into the blister problem (did it start then or in his bullpen on Monday) and into his performance tonight.
I have the same question that Townie does about Friday’s pitch count.
Also, I have read that Marquis tends to do better in the first half of seasons than in the second half of seasons. I hope that doesn’t happen this year because he has been very important to the success of the team thus far.
If any of the current starting pitchers need to miss one or more starts, who is the current best candidate to step in? It seems that Morales is still erratic and would be well served to stay in AAA until he works things out. Adam Eaton appears to have had three good starts in AAA. What do you hear about how he is doing? Who else do you think could step in for a start or two?
We are already starting to see problems from Tracy extending the starters during the 17 of 18 stretch. It will only get worse. But it is a catch-22: extend the starters and then watch them suffer injuries or suffer from fatigue or blisters, or turn to the bullpen early like Hurdle did and watch the relievers get hit hard.
I would rather see the starters going late into ball games then to see the bullpen falter like the other posts but once you reach 100 pitches it’s time to start thinking of the situation and when a good time to put a new guy in is. And I really think de la Rosa needs to go to AAA once Greg smith is healthy I think the team would be better served and hopefully we can get rid of some pieces to get some better relief pitching to ensure the health of our starters.
I don’t think you can tell anything about pitch counts from one game, esp. if the issue is a blister.
Everyone will get an extra day of rest with today’s off-day. I think as long as Tracy doesn’t over do it, they’ll be ok. Marquis by and large hasn’t been throwing much over 100 pitches (he is averaging exactly 100/start).
There really isn’t anybody at AAA that would excite me to come up and start. The best pitchers are at AA; Rogers and Chacin. Would the Rockies bypass one of the more experienced guys in favor of a youngster?
IIRC, Marquis wasn’t annonced as the starter until Tuesday, so something may have been bothering him. Let’s hope it’s only a blister. Not to sound mean here, but I don’t see a problem with riding Marquis hard. He’s a free agent after this season, so the Rox have no long-term interest to protect. Ubaldo is a different story. No way I’d allow him to exceed 110 pitches in consecutive starts. That’s why we need another decent reliever … and we need it fast. Tracy has no real confidence in anyone other than Street and Peralta now, so he risks going too deep with his starters. That may be dangerous, but it’s definitely not optima.
I personally don’t think having an extra day of rest helps that much when you’re used to throwing 100 pitches and then all of a sudden you’re throwing 120-125. With off days, starters have the extra day all the time. But when it comes right down to it, when you hit that 100th pitch you start to get tired because that’s what you’re trained and used to throwing. Throwing 25 extra pitches than what you’re used to throwing every start is going to cause problems with or without the extra day of rest. And I agree Agbayani, it’s different with Marquis because he is a veteran and a FA at the end of the year. The Rox won’t re-sign him, so this is the only year the Rox will be concerned with his health. He could get hurt next year and it won’t mean anything to the Rox. Ubaldo is way different. He is an up and coming star(at least that’s what everybody is thinking and hoping for), so to stretch him out like this when he is so young doesn’t make much sense to me. And with that being said, I think people baby pitcher’s way too much in the U.S. But we can’t baby them for years and then take off the training wheels all at once and expect them to stay healthy. It has to start when they are young. Build a mentality of throwing a lot of pitches and build stamina to do it also. Look at how often the guys throw from the far east. They seem to have a lot less arm issues too. But they are trained from when they are young to throw a lot. We aren’t!
You guys don’t care whether Marquis gets worn out to the point it impairs him for the 2nd half?
I care as long as he is pitching for the Rox. So to answer your question, yes! All I’m saying is chances are he wont get hurt this year. He might wear down but I don’t think you will see him hurt his arm. Obviously if blisters continue then that is a form of being hurt. Ubaldo may very well hurt his arm by pitching 125 pitches right now. Every start that is. You will see that show up next year for whatever reason. You see it all the time, pitchers come up and pitch a certain amount of innings for a couple of years, then one year they make the playoffs or pitch 200 innings for the first time and the next year their arm is hurt. Francis is an example of that, Cole Hamels has been injured this year(some seem to think he is still injured with his struggles). I just don’t like stretching guys out like this every start with or without the extra off day. I don’t really want Marquis to get hurt even if he is pitching elsewhere, I’m just saying with him being a FA and knowing the Rox will never re-sign him, it’s easier to see them ride him for all he’s worth to try and win now. And if the Rox ride Ubaldo and it ends with a WS championship this year, then maybe it’s worth it. Or maybe Ubaldo just has one of those arms that never seems to get hurt(Randy Johnson). Although Ubaldo has had arm issues in the past in the minors.
And there is no doubt the Rox bullpen isn’t very good so that makes it even harder to pull the starters, especially knowing the starter is way better than the bullpen guys. Street is very good and Peralta has been a nice surprise so far. Hopefully Corpas can come back and pitch like he was, that should help a lot if Peralta and Daley continue to pitch well. That would give us 4 guys out of the pen that we can count on. And I really hope Greg Smith gets healthy and Morales finds consistency so we can rid ourselves of DLR. I’m anxious to see Smith pitch in the bigs.
Does anyone know how Ryan Speier is doing in regard to his rehab?
Ryan pitched one inning two nights ago for the Springs and gave up one hit.
I haven’t read anything that would indicate that he suffered a set back.
Only speculation but I would guess a couple more turns down there and, barring a problem, he’s back after that.
Ryan Speier pitched another shutout inning for the Sky Sox last night. When he comes back up, who gets sent down?
BTW, what will happen when Jeff Baker is ready to come back to the Rockies? Who gets sent down or cut? Are there any trade rumors relating to him?
Your lead on the story, Tracy, says a lot:
“Right-hander Jason Marquis has said he feels more accepted by the Rockies than he has by any team he has ever pitched for. He wants to repay the confidence the Rockies have shown in him.”
That’s the kind of attitude a manager can tap into — and see it spread to the whole team.
Is there a chance taken when the envelope is pushed? Yup.
(as mike points out).
The push here, I think, is important.
And could have a long-term payoff.
If the Rockies are to have a break-out season, playing safe all the time won’t hack it.
I’m pleased to see the chances taken.
Ballplayers are rewarded (handsomely) in financial terms. When they are willing to put their all on the line in return…
Well, All I can say is bravo. Win or lose.
It’s the mark of champions.
Tony Benjamin,
Loveland
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