John Fay reported earlier this afternoon that the Cincinnati Reds have announced that Jason Marquis has won a spot in the rotation.
#Reds rotation is Cueto, Leake, DeSclafani, Marquis and Iglesias to start the year. Maholm been told he’s competing for bullpen spot
— John Fay (@johnfayman) March 18, 2015
After facing 31 batters in the first two weeks of spring training the Reds decided that Jason Marquis showed enough to win a spot in the rotation. His last season in the big leagues as an average pitcher was 2009. He didn’t pitch in the big leagues last season and didn’t hit 88 MPH in the minor leagues over the course of his eight Triple-A starts in the second half of the season. I don’t know how hard he is throwing this spring, but let’s hope it’s a lot harder than he was last season in Triple-A.
The good thing is, Raisel Iglesias has been named a starter also. Of course, Homer Bailey is scheduled to be back after just one or two missed starts, and that means that someone is going to be on the outside looking in. That brings us back to the quote from Bryan Price from earlier this week where he said that Jason Marquis is a guy they want to use from start to finish. That would suggest that Iglesias is going to be that man looking on the outside of the rotation when Bailey returns.
Is Riasel Iglesias ready to handle the full workload for a big league season? No, he isn’t. He’s not going to pitch from April through September (or hopefully October) in the rotation. He could however start the first half of the season in the rotation before moving into the bullpen to limit his innings and at that point call up someone from the minor leagues or perhaps transition Tony Cingrani or Michael Lorenzen into the rotation for the second half to fill that spot. Is that plan ideal? No, it probably isn’t. The young arms the Reds have aren’t ready to step in for a full season yet. From that standpoint it makes sense to be hesitant to use them for the full season.
On the flip side, Jason Marquis is the definition of a replacement player. He’s offering next to no upside. Even when he was a solid big leaguer, six seasons ago, he was merely average. Expecting him to be even that doesn’t sound like a good bet. He doesn’t have big stuff, he never had big stuff and he’s going to be relying entirely on the defense to do the work for him. The Reds have a strong defense, but they are going to be strong no matter who is pitching.
At least with the young guys there’s a chance that you can get above-average production. Raisel Iglesias can throw 97 MPH. Michael Lorenzen can throw 99 MPH. Tony Cingrani has already shown that he can be very effective at times in the big leagues. Do they all have questions and concerns that come with placing them as starters? Absolutely. But there’s a chance that you could see them be very good pitchers. With Jason Marquis that chance doesn’t exist.
Sending Raisel Iglesias to the bullpen, or even to Triple-A in order to keep a 36-year-old in the rotation who hasn’t been average in six seasons is not the move teams who are trying to make the playoffs make. The Reds held onto Johnny Cueto this offseason because they want to compete this season. They traded for Marlon Byrd in December because they want to compete this season. Giving Jason Marquis starts over young, big armed pitchers is not the best way to try and compete.