what's so "proven" about marquis? that he's put up one slightly better than average year in the past five? wow, that's something to get excited about. and if marquis pitches anything like he did last year, i'd prefer that he not handle the work load of a full season. putting up a 5.50 era for 175 innings is pretty worthless. And I can ask you what's so proven about Gooz and Marshall? Again, nothing is a sure thing and I'd rather have too much pitching then not enough. If Gooz and Marshall are so much better they'll get their shot. no they won't. they're not going to bump marquis out of the rotation no matter how bad he is. oh, and guzman and marshall have proven that their paychecks are a lot smaller than marquis'. i'd agree with you that i'd rather have too much pitching than not enough, but not if you're paying 7 mil a year to the worst pitcher in baseball. Since when is he the worst pitcher in baseball? Are you kidding me? since the day the season ended? he had the worst era of any pitcher with more than 190 innings. he had the lowest vorp among pitchers with that many innings. carlos silva and joel pineiro gave him a run for his money, but they pitched less than him so what he "added" to the team hurt more. One bad (and it was, yes, REALLY bad) season after two solid ones should not qualify Marquis as the worst pitcher in baseball. It's not like he doesn't have decent stuff, and hes 28. With all the people on the boards who go on and on about "past preformance", I think I will use it in this case. Who cares what Marquis did last year? His combined ERA in the previous two seasons before 2006 was under 4. If Rothschild really found somthing he can fix, Marquis could be a huge bargian and pitch well. For now, it's the market. Doesn't mean you have to committ $22M in one season for these guys, not unless your GM is Jim "Captain Backload" Hendry. First off, since when are the two making a combined 22M? Even if the contracts weren't backloaded, I don't think the number would be this high. Secondly, I'm not a Lilly fan or a Marquis fan but they could easily pitch very well next season, with Marquis having lots more upside. What would you have done if you were GM?