When I went over the NL West on Monday, I mentioned that the Diamondbacks needed a starting pitcher to fill out the back end of their rotation. I mentioned Jason Marquis of the Nationals as a possibility for Arizona. Kevin Towers and Mike Rizzo must have been reading the post, because that trade has just gone official. Marquis to Arizona is done, and the return is unclear right now, as if the amount of salary being picked up in the deal by the Nationals. If they pick up a lot of the remainder of the $7.5 million owed to Marquis this year (which would probably be around $3 million), they’d get a better player in return. If they expect Arizona to pick up most of the contract, the return will be minimal.
Marquis is having himself a solid year after a disastrous 2010 campaign. In 120 2/3 innings, he has a 3.95 ERA with a 5.30 K/9 and 2.91 BB/9. The strikeout rate is right in line with his career norm, while the walk rate is lower. His sub-4.00 ERA is backed up with a 3.74 FIP and 3.85 xFIP. Arizona didn’t need an ace pitcher like Ubaldo Jimenez, or a solid mid-line option like Hiroki Kuroda. They needed a solid back-end option, because their top four starters (Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Josh Collmenter, Joe Saunders) all have ERAs under 4.00. The only one who looks like he’ll fall back down to earth is Saunders, as the other three all have FIPs and xFIPs falling under 4.00 as well. The fifth starter’s spot has been a disgrace for Arizona, with Armando Galarraga, Zach Duke, and Barry Enright all getting starts in that slot and doing pretty poorly.
The Diamondbacks might not be done dealing. They could use a bullpen arm, and with someone like Koji Uehara on the market, they could swing a deal to bring him to town. They needed to answer the Giants trade for Carlos Beltran, and while this move isn’t as much of an impact move as that one was, it still filled a need that the team had.
One more note on an earlier trade….the PTBNL in the Doug Fister trade will be one of Detroit’s first three picks from the 2010 draft. So that means that Nick Castellanos, Chance Griffin or Drew Smyly is also heading to Seattle. That dampens things a little more for the Tigers.
UPDATE: The return for the Nationals is 20 year old third baseman Zach Walters, who has a line of .302/.377/.485 in 97 games for South Bend in the Midwest League this season. Walters was a ninth round pick in the 2010 draft by Arizona. He has some good pop and good speed to go along with solid plate discipline, though he strikes out too much.
UPDATE 2: Arizona took on all of Marquis’s contract, $2.47 million. Good haul for the Nationals
