With just under 24 hours before Major League Baseball trade deadline, the Nationals continued a busy Saturday by dealing veteran starting pitcher Jason Marquis to the Arizona Diamondbacks for minor-league shortstop Zachary Walters.
Marquis was 8-5 with a 3.95 ERA this season. He signed as a free agent with Washington in January, 2010, but struggled through a miserable season when elbow surgery knocked him off the mound for three months. He returned in August and finished out the season, but it was not the year he – or the Nats – envisioned. Not that 2011 was perfect. But this was about the Marquis they expected all along. He made 20 starts and averaged just over six innings each time out.
“Last year was kind of frustrating being injured like that for the first time in my career,” Marquis said. “I had to do a lot of work to make sure that when I came back I was the old Jason Marquis. This year turned out the way I wanted. I’m throwing the ball the way I want and need to continue to get better. It’s an exciting time to know a team has enough confidence in you to be part of a postseason run.”
Walters is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound shortstop. He was drafted out of the University of San Diego and a teammate of Nats pitcher Sammy Solis, who is now at Single-A Potomac. Walters will join him there. He had spent this season at high-A South Bend in the Midwest League, batting .302 with a .377 on-base percentage and an .861 OPS. Also had 27 doubles, six triples and nine home runs. He’s walked 42 times, but struck out 96 times in 97 games.
Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said he fielded several calls on Marquis from teams around the league. He said the Nats scouted Walters extensively when they were also looking at Solis, who they eventually took with their second-round draft pick in 2010. Walters is a switch hitter. He has some power and Rizzo’s scouts believe he is an instinctual player.
“We’re still going to be active. We’re going to be good listeners out there and do our due diligence on all the things that are possible. There’s a possibility we could do some things if they make sense for us.”
Rizzo denied that his team’s lackluster play post-All Star break had anything to do with Saturday’s traded of Marquis and veteran utility man Jerry Hairston. Those are moves for the future, to be sure. But he is still willing to add parts with a more immediate benefit. Rumors abound the Washington could part with reliever Drew Storen in a trade for a center fielder. Rizzo called Storen a “core piece”, but stopped short of saying he wouldn’t be traded: “Drew Storen would be a very difficult player to trade, a [23-year-old] terrific closer. He’s very dear to our hearts here because we drafted, signed and developed him.”
Trading Marquis is also a way for the Nats to get some starts over the final two months for Brad Peacock and Tom Milone – both at Triple-A Syracuse right now. That will let those two gain some big-league experience before spring training in 2012.
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