The Twins gave Jason Marquis a one-year, $3 million deal in late December to be a rotation regular in 2012. The era will apparently end after seven starts, mostly ineffective, according to La Velle E. Neal's report. Wha' happened? Well, let's read quickly from the story that came out when he signed: "He's a ground-ball machine," Terry Ryan said. "He throws the ball over the plate. I think this ballpark [Target Field] will suit our needs and his. We've got to support him defensively." Even Marquis added that he "pitches to contact and uses the defense to win games." He does so with a sinking fastball that has good movement. For his career, he averages 1.1 home runs given up per nine innings. ... Marquis didn't sound too concerned about switching leagues. He said he will rely on pitching coach Rick Anderson and scouting reports to come up with ways to shut down hitters he's not familiar with.

The problems? He doesn't really throw the ball over the plate (his career rate of 3.5 BB/9 innings is just a shade under that of noted wild man Francisco Liriano's 3.7). He pitched in his seven starts to extremely hard contact. He gave up 9 homers in 34 innings, way worse than his career average. And he didn't shut down hitters with whom he is not familiar.

But Marquis, assuming he is dispatched as the report indicates, will join a rather illustrious list of veteran starters who came to the Twins with optimism and left rather abruptly after things didn't work out. Here are the most telling examples from the past dozen years:

*Livan Hernandez (2008): The veteran got off to a great start, going 6-1 with a sub-.4.00 ERA through mid-May. But he ended up with a bloated 5.48 ERA, allowing 199 hits in 139.2 innings over 23 starts before being released after his final start in late July. *Sidney Ponson (2007): He had a very Marquis-like run with the Twins, getting seven starts in 2007, winning two games, posting a 6.93 ERA and being released on May 18. *Ramon Ortiz (2007): He made 10 starts in the beginning of 2007 before being demoted to the bullpen in late May while carrying a 5.75 ERA. He was 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA through April; he allowed 26 earned runs in 21.1 innings over five starts in May. *Sean Bergman (2000): The veteran posted almost unfathomable numbers for the 2000 Twins. In 15 games (14 starts), he threw 68 innings and allowed 111 hits (18 homers) and 33 walks. That helped him to an unsightly 9.66 ERA. If you feel like we've missed any prime veterans from this recent era or would like to take us back further into the team's history, please feel free to help out in the comments.