"He probably could have toughed it out and played" commented Manager Mons Raider this week on speaking of the injury to Juan Marroquin. "He has for a few starts now, but we decided for his health and the long-term success of the team it was best to send him to the Injured List."
Juan Marroquin had been suffering from some back stiffness for much of the month of May. It was first reported after his May 11th game against Valencia in which he was pulled after 4 innings in which he had only allowed 3 hits and no runs. Marroquin decided to test it out in his next start and turned in a gem against Vancouver, going 7.1 innings of 1 run, 3 hit baseball and many felt he was good and everything was worked out. However in his last start against Yellow Springs, Marroquin complained of stiffness again after failing to get through 5 innings versus the Nine. He allowed 5 runs on 9 hits in Portland's 7-4 loss.
"It just never felt right" commented Marroquin after the game. It just kept tightening up on me. After talking with the trainer and Raider, we think it's best I skip a turn or two in the rotation and let it rest. Hopefully come back ready after that and be back to 100%."
Marroquin was scheduled to start Tuesday's second game of the series against Louisville but that won't be the case. He'll likely miss that start and his next scheduled one versus Des Moines over the weekend. Early indications are that John Simons, fresh off his stint on the IL from Triple-A and last season's Rule 5 pick-up, will be called up to Portland and head to Louisville to make the starts in place of Marroquin.
"We felt John did a good job last season and felt he was most deserving of the spot on the club" commented GM Chris Wilson.
"We could have put Kin back in the rotation" added Raider, "but he appeared yesterday in the pen and didn't think he'd be rested enough to make the start in Marroquin's spot. Plus, we wanted to see him a little more out of the pen. He had two pretty good appearances this week and mayve a few more will get him back on track and we can use him in the rotation again in June."
If all goes well, Marroquin will only be on the IL for 7 days and return to the rotation for Portland's games next week versus Des Moines and Nashville. He'll remain with the team and travel to Louisville and Des Moines.