Not So Fast, Mr. Marquis

Not so fast. Chris DeLuca at the Sun-Times is reporting that the deal between the Cubs and RHP Jason Marquis is not completed yet. DeLuca reports that although there is a verbal agreement in place, nothing has been signed. Even the number of years and amount per year are still up in the air.

My guess is that the deal will be completed next week, probably after Marquis takes his physical. Some teams won’t announce a signing until after the physical has been taken, others announce before the physical. The Cubs have done it both ways.

After thinking about adding Marquis to the rotation all day yesterday, I actually have come to accept it. There’s no doubt that Marquis had a bad year last year, but his unusually high ERA was due in large part to two very bad outings where he was left in the game to save the bullpen. He also did not have much help from the bullpen during the second half of the season, when his W-L record went south and his ERA went north.

Plus, Marquis is an excellent innings eater. He's averaged over 200 innings per year during his major league career and he does have a winning record over his career.

One thing that does concern me are the reports that Marquis could not get along with Tony LaRussa, Dave Duncan, or his teammates. I’ve got to believe that the reports are at least partially overblown, but it just might be that where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

So it looks like the Cubs are going to trot out a rotation that looks like this:

Zambrano
Lilly
Hill
Marquis
Prior/Miller/Marshall

That really isn’t a bad rotation. And if Prior is healthy and can get back to his old form… I know, we’ve been down that road before.