Starting pitching is at a premium this deadline season perhaps more than ever before, but Rockies skipper Bud Black rather decisively stated that one of the more coveted options on the market will be staying put. In an appearance with Jim Duquette on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link, with audio).
“He’s on a multi-year deal, so we have him a couple more years,” Black said of Marquez. “…He’s not going anywhere. Even though it might be out there — there might be some noise — we let our guys know, these guys aren’t going to be traded. That’s how our owner feels. That’s how so many people in our organization who are the decision-makers feel about German — and a few other guys, too.”
Obviously, Black doesn’t have final say over baseball operations in Colorado, but he’s no doubt in regular contact with interim general manager Bill Schmidt and the front office regarding the team’s direction as the July 30 trade deadline approaches. Absolutist statement such as this are rare this time of year, as most clubs take an open-minded approach to the deadline, but it seems the Rockies are none too keen on parting with their top starter. They’ve been unwilling to commit to a rebuild in recent years, and that doesn’t appear to have changed for the time being — in spite of a front office exodus that has seen GM Jeff Bridich step down and assistant GMs Jon Weil and Zach Wilson resign.
On the one hand, it’s understandable that any club would be reluctant to part with the 26-year-old Marquez. Under the contract extension he signed in April 2019, he’s being paid $7.5MM in 2021, $11MM in 2022 and $15MM in 2023 before the Rockies must decide on a $16.5MM club option (or a $2.5MM buyout) for the 2024 season. Pair that affordable contract with Marquez’s generally strong track record, and he has the makings of a core piece.
Despite pitching his home games at the hitter-friendly Coors Field, Marquez has pitched to an ERA comfortably south of 4.00 in three of the past four seasons. He’s sitting on a 3.59 mark at the moment and has combined an excellent 54.5 percent ground-ball rate with roughly average strikeout and walk percentages (24.2 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively). He’s also extremely durable. Marquez has only had one trip to the injured list since breaking into the Majors in 2016 — a brief stint for arm inflammation at the end of the 2019 campaign. He averaged 30 starts per year from 2017-19, made all 13 of his starts in 2020, and hasn’t missed an outing so far in 2021.
On the other hand, however, there’s a clear argument that these are the exact reasons the Rockies should be looking to move Marquez. Nolan Arenado is now in St. Louis. Trevor Story and Jon Gray will either be traded in the next 24 days or will very likely depart via free agency this winter. The Rox are on a collision course with their third straight losing season and their ninth playoff miss in 11 years. The farm system is ranked among the thinnest in baseball, and the top of the NL West looks more formidable each year. A Marquez trade could be the catalyst for a reshaping of the team’s farm system and its long-term payroll outlook.
That, however, simply hasn’t been the modus operandi for owner Dick Monfort. Even on the heels of a 71-91 recird in 2019 and an offseason in which he brought in zero help for the big league roster, Monfort proclaimed that the 2020 Rockies would win 94 games.
“I interpolated ’07, ’08 and ’09,” Monfort told the Denver Post in early February 2020. “I had an analytical staff go through and interpolate those numbers — and so in 2020, we’ll win 94 games and lose 68.” (Obvious, unforeseen circumstances rendered that prediction impossible to come true, but the 2020 Rockies went 26-34 — a .433 winning percentage that was actually worse than their 2019 percentage.)
Fatal optimism has been a hallmark of Rockies ownership, and the wholehearted dismissal of even considering a Marquez trade so far in advance of the deadline looks like a continuation of the status quo. It’s possible, of course, that a club blows the Rockies out of the water with a strong initial offer they can’t ignore, but such strong comments from Black make that decidedly unlikely.
It should be noted that an unwillingness to trade Marquez right now does not mean the Rockies will be similarly closed to the notion this winter. Schmidt is only the interim general manager in place of Bridich, and it would be sensible for Monfort to want a transaction as substantial as a Marquez trade to be engineered by whoever is hired to oversee baseball operations on a permanent basis. That’s a luxury the Rockies don’t have with regard to potential trades of Story, Jon Gray and C.J. Cron, all of whom are impending free agents, so it’ll fall to Schmidt and his lone remaining assistant GM, Zack Rosenthal, to spearhead any such negotiations.
MilwaukeeStrong
the best asset you have to bring back quality pieces for the rebuild is not being moved at peak value?
Just confirms that the Rockies are the most poorly run franchise in this sport–maybe even behind the Pirates
HubcapDiamondStarHalo
I have to guess that the “no chance of a rebuild” contributed heavily to so many execs leaving. If those guys were of the opinion that this roster isn’t going to win any time soon and the owner stuck with “Yes it is,” I can see wanting to get out…
RunDMC
It’s interesting that Bud Black is making this statement. Almost wonder if to retain a vet manager with his resume, he was assured that several pieces he can work with to make them competitive would stay so he doesn’t feel like a AAAA manager with ML contract. Feels like one of the scenes between Art Howe/Billy Beane took place behind closed doors with a chair inevitably needing to be replaced.
A'sfaninUK
Yet another front office run by absolute clowns with no clue as to how to build a winner. MLB has too many teams like this and it needs to step in with better quality owners who do everything to win and understand when to rebuild and how rebuilding is the only way to victory for most of them – Rockies included.
Ducky Buckin Fent
Disagree.
Without a doubt, tanking, & excessive/ineffective/unending rebuilds are the biggest problem right now in MLB.
Sure.
What they are doing is not currently working out. But way too many fans jump to tearing their teams apart far too quickly. Don’t forget, not nearly all rebuilds end up a success story.
Why hurry to trade this guy?
Nobody expected the baseball Giants to be playing the way they are. Yet look where they are today.
Something to think about.
Colt 45
“Without a doubt, tanking, & excessive/ineffective/unending rebuilds are the biggest problem right now in MLB.”
No, that would be 7-inning double headers and ghost runners in extra innings.
Also, this is an opportunity for me to express my dislike of the use of “tanking”, for what teams do. Team rebuilds go all the way back to early Connie Mack, and maybe further back than that. To the best of my knowledge, nobody but the Black Sox is *trying* to lose. What they are trying to do is to utilize resources in the most efficient way, in order to generate the most possible success over the next 5, 10, 15, or 20 years.
Some teams are historically better at doing this than others.
LaFlamaBlanca
Lol and those same Giants could very well fall completely apart in the second half and miss playoffs all together with 2 surging teams behind them. Rockies need to get a clue, Márquez is at peak value right now with a thin pitching market and the way he has been pitching the last month in the most hitter friendly environment in all of baseball. Trade him and do it now. Trading away Story, Gray, Márquez, and possibly Cron could very well position the Rockies to actually contend in the next 2-3 years.
1984wasntamanual
The, “maybe we’ll be good cuz…reasons” approach hasn’t worked for them, Sure it could next year, but what are the chances of that? Do you really want to plan your teams future on lottery ticket type odds?
The Giants roster had better players. Just as a quick example to show this, SI had the giants projected for 79-83 and the Rockies at 58-104 and you could easily make the argument that the 2022 Rockies roster will be worse than the 2021 Rockies roster. So yeah, the Giants are playing better than projected, but the Rockies were projected to be even worse and don’t show a lot of signs of changing that for 2022. Making an argument based on outliers that really don’t even compare to the team in question isn’t a very solid basis for an argument.
hiflew
You admit the Giants are playing better than projected, but so are the Rockies. They have among the best home records in the NL, if they could figure out how to play on the road even at .500, this is a playoff team. Of course that is a big IF, but they not nearly as bad as a 58 win team. They should get somewhere around 70-75 wins this year, which would still be FAR better than projected.
Ducky Buckin Fent
All valid points @jameson, @blanco, & @1984guy.
I guess I just don’t want to see yet another unwatchable baseball team & the attendant issues that come with such.
A little pressed for time, so that’s what I got, fellas. Although, obviously, there is much more to it.
Thanks for the responses though.
1984wasntamanual
And still FAR from the playoffs…So unless you think they’re gonna magic themselves into being good at the things they’re bad at, the point absolutely remains.
Them being good at home and bad on the road probably works both ways, as they have an advantage playing at altitude over other teams, but disadvantage when not.
They’re on pace for 70.47 wins, so…
1984wasntamanual
Do you consider the current rockies team to be watchable?
yankee766766
Tell me something Hiflew….Rockies “should get around 70-75 wins this year”??? How does that stack up vs. LA, SD, and SF??? if I am a Rockie fan am I supposed to be happy with 70-75 wins? then you say they are “not as bad as a 58 win team”. Where does, in any of your “analysis ” do I see the Post season? Is that not the only goal of professional sports here ? This is a team in terrible management disarray and has been for some time. And with the obvious loss of Story upon them….this is a team that will continue to fail for a number of years. They will pick up some nice pieces for Story and maybe something for Gray…but that will not be enough. BUT add Marquez t that……NOW you are talking about a team that should net quite a haul for the future…..
hiflew
Well I am a Rockies fan and I am happier watching a 70-75 win team instead of a 58 win AAA team.
If you were a Rockies fan, you would know that the postseason is not a goal of management. The owner publicly said that he would happy making the postseason 1 out every 5 years.
Besides, aside from Matt Holliday in 2008, when have the Rockies ever traded a star and gotten back anything worthwhile? They traded Ubaldo and got jack. They traded Tulo and got jack. They traded Bichette, Walker, and Burks and got jack. So why should any Rockies fan hope for a trade to help in the future, when they know what happened in the past? Besides in this mystical future you discuss, the Dodgers and Giants are STILL going to have a much bigger payroll and will probably still be better.
I am a Rockies fan and proud of it, but I am also a fan of the people in the uniforms. I am not just cheering for laundry. I want to watch German Marquez for the next few years. I don’t care about a couple of names on a Baseball America crib sheet that I have never seen. I like watching Marquez, Story, and Gray. And besides, I could die tomorrow, then what does this future matter? You have to play for NOW. There are a lot of fans that might not be around in 5 years when a team decides it is okay to try again.
JoeBrady
The players you mentioned, that CO traded away, were mostly at the end of their careers. You can’t compare trading away soon-to-be-retired players, with trading away Arenado & Story in their primes. And relying on past failures to predict future failures, makes no sense to me.
Every team has trade skeletons in their closet, but it doesn’t stop them from trying to improve. That said, there are some people that would rather root for 75-80 every season, rather than tanking to 60 wins in the hope of a WS in the future. I’m not one of them.
yankee766766
And I am sure you like watching High School baseball games also!!!!! Which is fine…but put on your big boy pants and understand the game is a business and fans want to see winning teams…Management makes a ton of money…..so why shouldn’t YOU as A devoted Rocky fan demand putting winners on the field???
tymeslayer
” But way too many fans jump to tearing their teams apart far too quickly”
Who tearing apart the team here? Certainly not the fans. Lifelong season ticket holder here and it’s ownership that keeps tearing down under the guise of rebuliding. No, it’s not the fans although we are idiots for keep coming back for more shallow promises. Talk around town from the fans is to storm the front office and take over the team.
JoeBrady
I don’t think there are that many unending rebuilds. It’s different, depending on whether or not you have money, but a good rebuild could take 5 years between collecting draft picks, and seeing them regularly succeed on a pro level. Most of the weak teams from 2015 are a lot better now.
I think the bigger concern is that some teams simply are afraid to do big tanks. They hold onto to their best 1/2 players hoping to win 65 games instead of 60 games. It is still no guarantee of success, but adding a couple of top-100 prospects, in addition to dropping from the #8 pick to the #4 pick, is substantial.
1984wasntamanual
A big problem is also teams going in before they probably should. They don’t really have a consistent core in place, sign some free agents and then feel pot committed, so to speak.
Cap & Crunch
Im in the “timeline”/”window” camp myself …..I know many do not like this line of thinking
I will say Col has had a lot of success just recently that probably doesn’t get acknowledged enough. They made the playoffs in 17 and would have won the west in 18 if not for an Arenado Sept shoulder inj. That’s 2 of the last 3 FULL years results …I dont count 2020 for anything today
But…….. If I was a Col fan Id def want to trade current assets for future dreams today…And that has a lot to do with LAD SD SF .
Col has always had to play running uphill w the staduim, it sucks, its not fair, but you have to play the ball as it lies….
Id want Col to be thinking more 2nd half of the decade today than first ifI was a Col fan (Im not) …….I know the feeling must suck but again play it as it lies
BeforeMcCourt
Cap. They’ve missed the playoffs 9 of the last 11 years. The core of those 2 decent teams are long gone or over the hill
Truly. Who cares what happened a few years ago? They have nothing going the same
Cap & Crunch
They get pretty trashed McCourt….they had the West in 18, would have killed our streak if Arrenado didn’t bust his shoulder up late…. I tip my hat to that team
If you went thru this thread you’d have thought that was like 25 years ago or something …Im not saying their not in trouble today but the last 5 yr stretch has probably had more success than half MLB teams and they play at a disadvantage every year all year
BeforeMcCourt
“ Why hurry to trade this guy?
Nobody expected the baseball Giants to be playing the way they are. Yet look where they are today.”
Anyone paying attention knew Zaidi would turn the giants into a contender. He’s a year ahead of schedule sure, but the Rockies are missing a Zaidi type move. Truly, it seems they’re trying to cut bait with anyone that differs from the owner
It’s literally the polar opposite
hiflew
It is amazing how many people on this site think they are better at running baseball front offices than the actual people doing it. I would bet that anyone here, myself included, would get taken advantage of on a daily basis by the rest of the GMs in baseball.
1984wasntamanual
Seriously, your argument against the Rockies’ front office being bad, despite all the evidence that supports that claim, is basically just an appeal to authority?
hiflew
Dude are you stalking me? You don’t have to fight me on everything I say.
1984wasntamanual
How very narcissistic.. Nope, you just make a lot of dumb posts.
hiflew
And yet you are too dumb to realize you can mute me instead of stalking me. I’ll save you the trouble.
The Saber-toothed Superfife
I could run the Tigers way, way better than BigAl Avila and Little Chris Ceasar, no doubt and no one would be taking advantage of me.
hiflew
Easy to say when there is absolutely no chance to be proven wrong.
Dock_Elvis
We need to work toward a day when all 30 teams have a reason to sell tickets to their fans during any given season. It’s impossible for all teams to be competitive….but this champ and tank scenario is bad for baseball. People can pay major league money to essentially watch AAA teams duke it out. There has to be a middle ground. Right now…teams are absolutely doing the right thing to build winners. That needs to be less advantageous. It’s bad for the game.
whyhayzee
“I interpolated ’07, ’08 and ’09,” Monfort told the Denver Post in early February 2020. “I had an analytical staff go through and interpolate those numbers — and so in 2020, we’ll win 94 games and lose 68.”
Meanwhile, the rest of baseball extrapolated.
goob
… and the Rockies immolated.
JoeBrady
I’d challenge anyone, no, I double-dog challenge anyone, to interpret what Montfort just said.
1-I don’t know why he used the word interpolate.
2-I don’t know why he based his ‘interpolation’ on 2007-2009.
3-I don’t know how he got from a winning % of .438 in 2019, to a projected winning % of .580 in 2020, without adding anyone, or having anyone returning from an injury.
Okay, it is a badly run organization, but if I were a fan, I would start to question Montfort’s cognitive ability.
cwsOverhaul
Doesn’t hurt to listen. Teams with young talent like Toronto and Seattle (among others) “might” be willing to part with some to get a starter like this for a WC shot this year and loftier goals beyond.
Richard Alicea
Clearly if the team isn’t committed to winning why hold on to a pitcher that can help rebuild their farm system. To me this is organizational suicide. Its clear they have no intention of signing Story or Gray, and subtracted Arenado from their roster, that to me is an indicator that the franchise has no intention of competing in the near future. A sound and well managed organization would trade assets that can net them prospects to build around in the future.
nosoupforyou
This is why bad teams stay bad.
hiflew
No, this is why some teams actually TRY every year. I am much happier being a Rockies fan and watching them try every single year versus being a Marlins fan and watching everyone get traded as soon as they are good in a non-stop rebuild effort.
If you don’t like it, there are 29 other teams for you to root for.
1984wasntamanual
They traded away Nolan and they’re going to let Story walk. It makes sense for them long term, but I wouldn’t say that screams a team that’s trying to in every year?
1984wasntamanual
Win* not in.
nosoupforyou
1) If the Rockies were “trying” for this season, they wouldn’t have traded Arenado for peanuts.
2) I’m not a Rockies fan lol. But thanks for the recommendation I guess.
hiflew
They traded Arenado for peanuts because they were sick and tired of listening to his whining. You pay a guy the kind of money they were paying him, you tend to expect them to not publicly call you out continually. The Rox made the playoff two years in a row and Arenado was still whining about not winning. So good luck to him on his 40-42 team. Maybe he will like it a little better.
sirandrews
Man, I don’t know if it’s just stupidity or ignorance on your part but your team most definitely isn’t trying to be win right now.
Blind homerism is disgusting. You should be ashamed of your owner and yourself.
Be better tomorrow.
gmenfan
Damn. Easy, bucko. It’s just a game.
JoeBrady
hiflew
No, this is why some teams actually TRY every year. I am much happier being a Rockies fan and watching them try every single year
================================================================
As a RS fan, I’d prefer to see them tank if they have no shot. I can tell you the year of every WSC. I can tell you the years when we lost in the WS. I might be able to tell you the number of wins.
But for the life of me, I have no idea what their record is in most other years. And using 2020 as an example, I couldn’t care less if they won 24 or 30 games.
I get that you always want to have a good team. But that is not always possible. And if my team (any of my teams that I root for) cannot win this year, then I hope they are preparing to win next year.
Cap & Crunch
I’m with ya Joe, even as a big market fan myself
I {think} your a RS fan….boy what a template post Mookie they have set for re-tooling –
I cant even find a bad salary they’d want to shed/match to bring back Rizzo and still limbo under the CBT line ….Now thats an amazing problem to have being BIG market and all !!
JoeBrady
Right now, the Executive of the Year award is either Bloom, Stearns or Zaidi.
Betts aside (and he had to be traded), he’s added value on almost every move. Kike, Pivetta, Verdugo, Whitlock, Renfroe, Arroyo, Ottavino, Perez, Sawamura, and Workman (!) have combined for 12.3 bWAR for a combined maybe $17.8M
I’m not bashing Dombrowski, since there is room in this league for big-game hunters. But Bloom is replicating the early Theo days, when Theo augmented the previous DD’s big names, with a lot of good, cheap kids.
And, while ignoring the peripherals, how many thought Workman and Rios would combine for a 2.58 ERA so far?
hiflew
That’s you, not me. Good luck to you.
Mynameisnoname
Meanwhile, they risk a Story injury and more potential buyers falling out of contention just so Trevor can lose in the 1st round of the HR Derby while donning a Rox jersey.
Rsox
Black is the GM now?
rxbrgr
Find yourself an owner who craves and pays for a winner above all else like Dick Monfort craves and pays for a winner above all else.
johnsilver
It’s a bad, bad, bad trade deadline to be looking for starting pitching. look over the people rumored to be available and it makes one wince, especially when Gibson has been looked at as the best of the lot. That is about as bad as Boyd the last couple of years and he was bad enough.
Brick House Coffee Tables Inc
What, no love for Mike Ferrin??
SwingtheFNbat
Totally agree on not trading him, they struggle enough producing, or signing, any real good pitching in Colorado. Everyone might not agree, but anytime the Rockies do a rebuild, they should trade all desired hitters (Story), and always keep there pitching, excluding maybe in there last controllable year. This shouldn’t be every teams way, but it should be the Rockies way.
chitown311
LOL @ Colorado front office
bot
Blows my mind when a guy says something like this – how everyone just believes it?! Doesn’t it make a lot more sense he’s just posturing for negotiations ??
Get the right offer – unload him. It’ll cost a top 50 prospect and 2 young players w upside. And he’ll be well worth it !
JoeBrady
It would be posturing, for a lot of teams. But the Rockies don’t operate that way. They just wait for players to age out or get hurt. But the key is really Story. He should’ve been gone the day they traded Arenado, but they seem intent on getting as little as possible for him.
Steve Adams
In MLB, at least, the instances of someone in a position of Black’s stature making this type of comment about a player being traded (or rather, not traded) is rare. The instances of someone of this stature making the comment and the team trading them anyway are even fewer and farther between.
On-record statements of a player’s trade availability (or lack thereof) from prominent club officials is not common — certainly not when presented in an absolutism of this nature.
Joel Peterson
It’s really really lame that less than 4 weeks away from the trade deadline and there have been just about as many posts for players who won’t be traded than actual trades.
This is big business. You should be taking your job seriously. Over half the teams in the league should be either buying or selling at this point no reason not to. None at all. I don’t understand how these teams spend all this money on everything they do and they are so complacent once the season starts, especially in a year like this where EVERYONE is hurt. I just don’t get it. Try to win. Try to lose. Just try!!!
JoeBrady
I agree, but some teams need some clarification about where they are in the standings. Cincy might be the best example. They play 7 straight against Mil. If they win 5-7, they are a contender, and if they lose 5-7, then they aren’t.
Same with the NYY. They have 8 games against Boston before the deadline,ad 3 v TB. In the next 18 games, there is probably a 50/50 chance of them either winning 11 or losing 11. If they lose 11, it might make more sense to play for 2022, with all due respect to Ducky.
solaris602
Wasn’t 2019 the year Monfort predicted 94 wins? Correct me if I’m wrong.
Steve Adams
I linked to the Denver Post interview where he predicted 94 wins. It was Feb. 1, 2020.