German Marquez takes justified shot at Rockies from new NL West home

Nobody has tossed more strikeouts for the Colorado Rockies than German Marquez and the right-hander tossed one more strike, this time at his old club, on his way out of town.

Marquez recently signed a one-year deal for at least $1.75 million with the NL West rival San Diego Padres. While the Rockies have lost 100 games three years in a row, the Padres hope to make the playoffs for a third-straight season.

And for Marquez, he hopes to regain the form that made him one of the better pitchers in baseball for most of the past decade. His production was derailed by injuries the past few years, including Tommy John Surgery, making his ending in purple not as pretty as the rest of his time.

“I’m excited to be here,” Marquez told the San Diego Union Tribune on Thursday. “I spent almost 10 years with the Colorado Rockies. This is something new for me. I’m gonna give my best to this team. … I’m excited to play with a team that wants to win. When I was young, I had team that liked to win, and it was a cool feeling.”

Marquez was a key figure on the Rockies playoff teams during his rookie season in 2017 and the following season in 2018. With a 25-18 record over 62 starts where he tossed a 4.05 ERA, he was among the top 20 pitchers in basically every stat.

He kept up that good form for several more years, including an All-Star nod in 2021 but the Rockies’ play suffered in 2019 and beyond. There was that season, where they just didn’t have enough pop, then a lifeless team during a shortened season, the Nolan Arenado trade, Trevor Story walked and soon it was basically Marquez, the oft-injured Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and the tail end of Charlie Blackmon’s career. That weak cast led to the leanest years in Rockies history all the while their rivals like the Padres, Dodgers and D-Backs have all had storied seasons in the last couple campaigns.

So the Padres hope a change of scenery, another year off his major elbow surgery and the hope of winning baseball can turn around the career of Marquez, who isn’t even that old — he turns 31 this week.

“I worked hard to get a job and show that I’m healthy and I’m going to be healthy the whole year,” Marquez told the paper.

So props to Marquez, he performed just about as well as he could have in purple and like many of his old teammates, he too is taking a shot at the pathetic Dick Monfort owned Colorado Rockies on his way out of town.

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