In Defense of Marquis

Sorry for the lack of posts; sometimes my real job messes with my life.

Before the season started, I predicted problems in a few spots for the Cubs. For the most part, the problems haven't cropped up, though at least in the case of Theriot, I still think I'll end up being right eventually.

One thing I was pretty adamant about was that Marquis needed to go. I was certain Lieber would be a better choice, or, failing Lieber, perhaps Marshall or Gallagher. (Of course, I still thought Rich Hill would return to form. Oops.)

So here we are in late August, and Marquis is still there, and despite the outcome of yesterday's game, I have to say...I was wrong. Look, he's not Rich Harden or Carlos Zambrano, but that's fine. Nobody has an ace in the 5th slot of the rotation. Generally teams expect their fifth starter to not suck and hopefully keep things under control enough to make the games winnable.

Using that yardstick, Marquis is doing fine. So far this year he's thrown a little over 134 innings, giving up 141 hits and 71 runs, walking 52 and striking out 71. The K/9 and K/BB ratios aren't good at all, of course, but he's giving up a BABIP of .288, which is pretty sustainable. His ERA+ is 94, so he's basically slightly below-average.

I'm guessing a lot of teams would really like to have that kind of production at the back of the rotation.