Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn already gave the Twins a nice foursome heading into the 2012 MLB season, especially if Liriano can find his old form. Now they have likely found their fifth and final arm to head into spring training with the signing of Jason Marquis.
Ben Nicholson Smith writes, “Marquis made 23 starts for the Nationals and Diamondbacks this past season, finishing the year with a 4.43 ERA in 132 innings. His rate stats (5.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 55.1% ground ball rate) were right in line with his career averages (5.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 50.4% ground ball rate) and his average fastball checked in at 89.3 mph.”
While Marquis is hardly a, pardon the pun, marquee signing, the primary thing is that the Twins know what they are getting with him, whereas others like Liriano and young arms that include Brian Duensing can be very unpredictable. If anything, he gives them a stable option to get through five innings and keeping them game reasonably close.