Hot Stove rumor of the day

For those new to the game, the “hot stove league” is the term used to describe the baseball talk that goes on between fans or the media during the off-season. The MLB Network hosts a daily show where talking heads (real ones, not bobble-heads, although that would be kind of cool) discuss trade rumors, free agent signings, etc.

So the hot topic of the day, as far as we’re concerned, is whither Jason Marquis? The Chicago Cubs’ right-handed starting pitcher may be on his way to the Colorado Rockies, according to an article by Troy Renck in the Dec. 31 Denver Post and this more recent post from MLB.com. The Mets have also expressed an interest in him, which would be nice if for no other reason than he’s a Staten Island boy.

The 30-year-old Marquis has been a dependable, if unspectacular bottom-of-the-rotation guy. He’s won in double figures each of the last five seasons, average 13-9 over that time. For his career, which began in 2000 with the Atlanta Braves (he also spent three years with the St. Louis Cardinals), Marquis has won 79 games with a 4.55 earned ran average. That win total puts him in seventh place among Jewish pitchers; if he stays healthy, he seems a cinch to join Ken Holtzman (174), Sandy Koufax (165), Steve Stone (107), and dave Roberts (103) in the 100-win club.

Marquis is also no slough with the bat: a career .206 hitter with five home runs. Last year he became the first Jewish pitcher to hit a grand slam (against the mets, of course) since Harry Eisenstat belted one in 1950 for the Detroit Tigers. He won the Silver Slugger award, given each year to the best hitter at each position, in 2005 when he batted .310 with eight doubles, a triple, a home run, and 10 runs batted in.

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