Troy Renck makes another one of those statements that really means nothing, this time in regard to Jason Marquis' acquisition:
He’s a winner, having gone to the playoffs every season of his career.
Now, let's make this clear. From the year Jason Marquis started his career (2000 with the Braves) to this past season (2008 with the Cubs), the team he has been on has made the playoffs. But I'm not sure how that makes him a winner. You can say he is a winner because his career record stands at 79-70, but because he's made the playoffs every season?
And if he was such a winner, I'd expect him to, you know, pitch in the playoffs. As a rookie in 2000, he didn't make it. I won't fault him for that, pitching in only 15 games that season. He pitched two innings of relief over two games during the 2001 NLCS. He was left off the Braves' roster for the next two postseasons before moving to St. Louis. He saw action in the 2004 and 2005 postseasons for the Cardinals, and he even made the 2006 postseason roster for the NLDS, somehow, but did not pitch. But he didn't make the NLCS and WS rosters (let's remember that 2006 was really bad for Marquis). Moving to the Cubs in 2007, Lou Piniella went with a three-man rotation in the playoffs, leaving Marquis out of the rotation. And lest we forget, Marquis pitched the ninth inning of the first game in the 2008 NLDS against the Dodgers.
So, let's be clear. Jason Marquis is a winner in the sense that he has a winning record. But he is not a winner because he went to the playoffs every season. It's simply not true. Even if he did go to the postseason every season, there's a reason why over the last few seasons his managers didn't want to use him.