Mets Interested In Jason Marquis

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• Phil Hoops December 12, 2009 at 10:07 am

  I really would like to see the Mets sign Marquis. His stats are comparable to the other second tier pitching free agents and he actually has a desire to play in New York.

  If he were willing to take a hometown discount of sorts this would be a no-brainer.
• Tomterif December 12, 2009 at 10:48 am

  He can only be a number three starter for us if our number two is Lackey or Halladay. And I don’t want him if the money and years are obscene.
• Tommy2cat December 12, 2009 at 10:53 am

  For months, I have been skeptical about the Mets signing Jason Marquis. The obvious question is why would we sign him when we have several pitchers like him? Here’s a few thoughts:

  Durability: Marquis has remained durable throughout his career, with a brief stint on the DL in 2008. Ollie, Maine & Niese are all coming off shortened seasons due to injury.

  Dependability: He is a demonstrated innings-eater because he pitches to contact by pounding the lower quadrant of the strike zone. His K-to-bb ratio (115/80) isn’t great, but it doesn’t have to be because he is a ground ball pitching machine.

  Maturity & Intelligence: At some point in their careers, baseball pitchers either figure it out or they don’t. If they do, then they can pitch well consistently. The occasional bad start is due likely to temporary arm fatigue. As long as his arm is healthy, he’ll keep us in games, much like we had hoped from Redding last year.

  I understand Marquis’ method because I was very much like him at his age pitching in the independent leaque. I finally realized that I couldn’t strike everyone out, so I developed a sinking slider that would vary in break and speed depending on the grip and velocity. Its an effective pitch when thrown in conjunction with a 2-seam fastball and change-up. I became a different and much more effective pitcher.

  Marquis has always wanted to be a Met. I think he should be given that opportunity based upon all factors considered, but not to the exclusion of signing someone like Lackey. Marquis IS NOT a number 2 starter, but a bona fide back of the rotation bedrock that can be relied upon every 5th game to give us a chance to win. I’d certainly like to mark that need off our list.
  • Bob L December 12, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    i like Marquis too. We sign Lackey, Marquis, trade for or sign Correia. Sign Bay. Santana, Lackey, Marquis, Correia, Maine, Pelfrey, Perez….gives us depth.
• Carol December 12, 2009 at 10:59 am

  Maybe a holiday present–a pitcher and an outfielder!
  I hope that the Mets sign Marquis. I believe that players have more of an incentive to play harder for their native team and furthermore he can pitch more than five innings per start.
  I hope the Mets sign Bay for five years. They signed Beltran for that much and Bay can hit homeruns.
  I wish the Met Organization and players a Happy Holiday season and A Healthy New Year!
  Happy Holidays for those at Metsmerized.com. You help keep baseball alve through out the entire year!
  Carol
• theonlymaskman December 12, 2009 at 11:30 am

  I certainly hope Omar is working on a proposal to him. If not, something is missing in the area of grey matter in Flushing.
  • Des December 12, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    Maybe the missing ingredient is green matter.
    • theonlymaskman December 12, 2009 at 10:46 pm

      The missing green is all in the Wilpons pockets or at least the GKLF, the Grandkid’s Legacy Fund.
• Alex in CT December 12, 2009 at 1:38 pm

  As long as Marquis is in addition to John Lackey, I think it makes a lot of sense for the Mets. What’s the harm? He’d be an upgrade over Pelfrey, Maine, Perez, Livan, Redding, Figgy, etc.
  • TommyJ December 12, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    My feelings exactly.
• Yu December 12, 2009 at 1:41 pm

  I might be in the minority but I like Marquis. I don’t love him but I like him because he’s solid and he knows what its like to be on a winning team. He’s not even a #3 but I can see him filling the 4 or 5 spot PROVIDING we have a Lackey/Halladay in the 2 and a Pineiro/Escobar/(fill in the blanks) in the 3 spot. I’m all for getting rid of players that we have already liked Marquis. I’m ready to move a lot of the “old guard”. As an organization, they wait too long to get value for players. Maine, Pelfrey, Ollie, and Figgy can go. Maybe even Niese/Nieve if the return is right…Got to make big moves to be a player…
• russell Zanca December 12, 2009 at 3:16 pm

  Keep in mind that every team Marquis has played with has made the playoffs–pretty terrific credential.

  Incidentally, he’s one of the best hitting pitchers in the game!

  He could easily pinch hit, and did so successfully for a number of teams.
• Hitman December 12, 2009 at 7:26 pm

  I’m on the fence about Marquis. Sure every team he has played with made the playoffs, but the one thing that worries me about signing Marquis is his habit of having a really good 1st half then falling apart in the 2nd. Last season, he had a really good 1st half (11-6, 3.65). After the great July he had (2-2, 1.93), he really came apart the last few months (3-6, 10.10). However, I’d rather have him than Garland, Davis, and Piniero.
• Tommy2cat December 13, 2009 at 2:14 am

  Hitman:

  Here’s Marquis’ splits for last year. Dont’ know where you get the bloated era…

  http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_splits.jsp?c_id=col&playerID=150302&statType=2

  Two guys that intrigue me are Pineiro and our own Fernando Nieve. Don’t know if Pineiro just had a career year or whether he’s figured out a method that works well consistently for him.

  As far as Nieve goes, I’d really like to see him get a shot at cracking the rotation. Until he pulled his hamstring, he manhandled some of the best line-ups in baseball – his performances were not shaky, but dominant. He was once ranked the 3rd best prospect in the Astros organization, and I remember him and his nasty stuff before he fell off the radar screen due to injury. He’s one of those guys whose had superior stuff, which means late movement on the low, hard and nasty and a deuce to keep hitters honest. I wouldn’t be surprised at all that his pitching acumen continued to develop while he was recovering over a 2-year period.

  Santana, Lackey, Pineiro, Marquis, Nieve (Niese, Maine, Ollie, Pelfrey)… I’d like to see us package one pitcher with Fernando (I fell on my freakin’ face) Martinez and Rueben Tejada to obtain Brandon Phillips from the Reds. Would that be enough?
  • theonlymaskman December 13, 2009 at 8:18 am

    I agree with you about Nieve. He has become the forgotten man of the starting rotation. With all the Mets we are counting on coming back from injures, why not him as well. He actually pitched better than anyone else following Santana. If we include him as an SP, what does the current rotation look like? Santana, Pelfrey, Maine, Perez, Nieve. I sure hope we add 2 pitchers to this list (Lackey or Halladay and Marquis, for example), so we can adjust Pelfrey’s place in the order and relegate Perez to long relief. We would have a $12 mil mop-up man, how neat is that? The question is could Ollie handle that role without screwing it up. The new rotation would be Santana, Lackey or Halladay, Marquis, Pelfrey, Nieve. Wow, look we even have room for Maine to handle the set-up role. Sign Bay for LF and with those 3 additions, we can patch everything else together. Such things are the fuel for mets fans dreams. Too bad we have no confidence in ownership and mgmt to do it.