What's the difference between Sean Marshall and Joe Saunders

[badnews]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a scout or anything, but watching them I always thought they were somewhat similar. Why is Saunders recognized as a legitimate major league starting pitcher and Marshall is just this guy bumming around?

[CubColtPacer]

I honestly don't know enough about Saunders to really know if he perceived as a legitimate major league pitcher, but if he is perceived that way I can tell you one reason why he is and Marshall isn't. Durability. Saunders has thrown at least 190 innings twice in his career. Marshall has yet to break 150 innings, and the two years he's gone over 125 there has been one year where it was recorded that he had a dead arm (and then got hurt) and the next year where there were several signs of a dead arm.

 

Teams will live with durability issues from their top 2 starter potential types, but the market for 3rd-5th starters without any proven durability is just not that good.