Colorado Rockies: German Marquez discusses his arm injury

On Monday, the Colorado Rockies made a bit of a shocking move as they placed their ace, German Marquez, on the 10-day injured list due to right arm inflammation.

The Colorado Rockies pitching staff has been through the wringer for much of the 2019 season performance-wise but now, they have been through the wringer injury-wise as they have had to place Jon Gray, Kyle Freeland, and German Marquez on the injured list in the past two weeks.

That has left the rotation being compiled of Peter Lambert, a struggling Antonio Senzatela (who was called up from Albuquerque this week), Tim Melville (who started out the 2019 season working at a barbecue restaurant in Phoenix), Chi Chi Gonzalez, and, at least in the interim, Rico Garcia, who was added to the 40-man roster, 25-man roster, and made his MLB debut in last night’s start agains the Boston Red Sox at Coors Field.

Before the game, though, German Marquez spoke to the media, including Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry, for the first time since being placed on the injured.

He said, via his translator, that “t was just some…inflammation in my arm, my whole arm” while adding he doesn’t know how long he will be on the IL.

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He (via translator) also described his arm as being “tired.” He also added that it’s his tricep and lower arm that are most impacted by the inflammation

If the Rockies were in the playoff hunt, he might not be on the injured list at all. He said, “f I needed to pitch, I probably could but being realistic about it, it’s probably better for me just to rest it.”

As you may remember, Marquez had a scare a few weeks ago when he had to leave a game on July 31 when he experienced a “full body cramp.” When asked if that was a precursor to his arm injury, he said (via translator) that he “definitely think that’s a possibility that is related to that but, obviously, I can’t say that it’s the cause of this.”

He (again, via translator) said that it was building up “a little over time and I kept pitching and I kind of started feeling it more and more over time.”

Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the IL for the rest of the season and if he does come back, the Rockies won’t be pushing him much.

After all, the Rockies really aren’t playing for anything other than young players showing what they have at the major league level. If he’s off for all of September, it gives Marquez another month to build up for spring training, and hopefully a better season individually and as a team, in 2020.