Rockies right-hander Germán Márquez landed on the 15-day injured list last month due to elbow inflammation. Manager Bud Black tells Manny Randhawa of MLB.com that Márquez won’t be able to make it back to the mound this year. As Randhawa relayed on X, the righty’s ulnar collateral ligament is fine but he has a stress reaction in his elbow and won’t be able to throw for six to eight weeks. Since there’s just over seven weeks remaining in the regular season, he won’t be coming back this year.
2024 will ultimately go down as a mostly lost season for the righty. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May of last year and was able to come off the injured list in July. He made just one start, allowing three earned runs in four innings, before going back on the IL.
Today’s news is somewhat positive in the sense that the righty’s UCL is not affected and he can have a normal offseason in preparation for 2025. But it’s also less than ideal for him to be going into next year with just four innings thrown this year. Ideally, he would have had the last couple of months of the schedule to compile a decent workload to build off next year, but that won’t be possible now.
The Colorado rotation has been an issue this year, to put it mildly. The club’s starters have a collective 5.45 earned run average, worst in the majors. That’s not necessarily a surprise, between the usual challenges of pitching at Coors Field and the injury issues the club has had. In addition to Márquez, Antonio Senzatela has also missed the entire season thus far due to his own Tommy John surgery recovery. He’s slated to start a rehab assignment tonight. Kyle Freeland also missed a couple of months due to an elbow strain and has only made 12 starts this year.
With Márquez unable to come back this year, the group is unlikely to get back on track anytime soon. Just today, another domino fell as Ryan Feltner was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain, though it’s not yet known exactly how much time the club is expecting him to miss.
It’s theoretically possible to imagine the group being in better shape next year with with full and healthy seasons from Márquez, Senzatela and Freeland. The Rockies signed all three of those pitchers to extensions as they envisioned that trio as their rotation core. Márquez was in the final season of his deal last year when he went under the knife, but he and the club subsequently reunited on a second extension that goes through 2025.
The extended absence from Márquez complicates things somewhat. He only tossed 20 innings last year, meaning he’ll be going into 2025 with just 24 innings thrown in the previous two seasons. That could lead to tricky questions about how to handle his workload next year. He did toss 975 1/3 innings from 2017 to 2022 with a 4.38 ERA, tossing between 162 and 196 innings in each full season of that stretch as well as 81 2/3 frames in the shortened 2020 campaign, but it’s fair to wonder if his elbow will allow him to simply jump back to that level.
There are other questions to be answered as well. As mentioned, Senzatela will be rehabbing and could get some major league starts under his belt before the season ends. Freeland has been off the IL for about six weeks now and seems healthy apart from a blister he’s been dealing with lately, but he could finish with an ERA above 5.00 for the second straight season. Though to be fair, his .348 BABIP and 62.4% strand rate might be clouding things this year. His 4.13 FIP and 4.24 SIERA suggest a sunnier outlook.
Cal Quantrill figures to be in the mix since he has one more arbitration season left and wasn’t traded prior to the deadline. He has a 4.56 ERA over his 23 starts this year. Feltner is having a decent season and will be part of the calculus as well, as long as this shoulder injury doesn’t linger into next year. His even 5.00 ERA doesn’t look great but his .321 BABIP and and 62.9% strand rate are both on the unlucky side. His 20.1% strikeout rate is a bit low but his 7.3% walk rate and 45.4% ground ball rate are both solid, which is why he has a 4.30 FIP and 4.26 SIERA. Austin Gomber, like Quantrill, can be retained for one more arbitration season and is having decent campaign with a 4.66 ERA in 21 starts.
Though this year has been rough, the club arguably has six decent starters on hand for its 2025 rotation between Márquez, Senzatela, Freeland, Quantrill, Gomber and Feltner. Baseball rarely allows clubs to follow a script, however, and the picture will undoubtedly change between now and then. The latest on Márquez already puts a bit of a wrench in their plans, though ideally things will progress well after his upcoming shutdown period.
I hope the Rockies trade him to a new team he has (or used to have) above average stuff but is hindered by coors
They’d be selling low on him and they don’t have much rotation depth for next year. They should just keep him and hope he improves
I’d love to see how he performs outside of Coors. He’ll always be underrated due to the inflated stats so it’d be nice to see how he does in a full season pitching in a different environment. Could possibly be a nice buy low option for somebody this offseason.
Who’s trading for a guy who hasn’t pitched in over 2 years? And could possibly get surgery again? I feel for the guy but best served just letting him try to get healthy in Colorado.
Rockies needed to trade Marquez a few years back, when teams wanted him and his value was very high. When it comes to Colorado and pitching in that environment it can go south real quick.
So the Rockies aren’t good because pitchers won’t come there and yet some people believe they should trade actual successful pitchers in Coors because it won’t last forever? That is the very definition of running in place. It may not have worked out as well as hoped, but I LOVE that the Rockies signed Freeland, Marquez, and Senzatela to extensions when they were young. I’d much rather they do that than be like the Marlins or Pirates or Rays and trading guys away constantly. I like cheering for players, not laundry. I want to get to know players over years instead of just rooting for whoever happens to be wearing a uniform.
Better to try and fail than not try at all. Yes some of their moves were stupid and didn’t make sense but tough to kill a team for wanting to keep their own players around. They can’t just say to hell with it and not invest a dime in pitchers be use they struggle there.
Wouldn’t we all love to have players stay on one team in your city. As lovely as your team’s extensions are, your team had an opportunity to compile talent to make your future better and didn’t.
Skenes has a point; your Rockies had a sell high situation, and that was the moment they were ready to deal Arenado. Oh, and then pay tons for Bryant a year later? Makes sense! Also makes sense Colorado is going nowhere.
Thank you for your unrequested input. There are 29 other teams for you to choose from to cheer for. Have a nice day.
No that was my way of telling you that you are not worth my time, without being rude. But since you are too dense to understand that. You are not worth another second of my time. Go away little boy.
In fairness hiflew your previous comment was rather childish.
Charlie Blackmon.
Never said what you are implying. Said they should have traded Marquez at top value when his value was high. Almost forgot it was around the time Arenado was traded. Makes more sense to have traded Marquez.
German’s Roger Beshens Football Slider made him and broke him, he needs to learn it so he can stay healthy. Ohtani, deGrom same thing.
Only 4 innings this year, but he did become the Rockies all time leading strikeouts leader in those 4 innings. He tore his UCL last season just 2 Ks short of the record held by Jorge de la Rosa. He got 3 Ks in that one start to get the record.
The biggest issue that pitchers have had with throwing at Coors Field is that none of them are very good
Clayton Kershaw has a career ERA of 4.64 in 27 starts at Coors Field. But I guess he isn’t very good either.
To be fair, Mike Hampton and Darryl Kile were good pitchers before Colorado.
maaan I’ve always loved Marquez. What a bummer.