He was mostly "not good" because he was not Kenny Lofton. But like Kenny, Marquis had a very long career in the major leagues. Unlike Kenny, it was largely because he was genuinely liked as a teammate. Kenny always was much more talented, but he had to be with that prickly personality of his. Had Kenny possessed Marquis's personality, I daresay he'd be in the Hall of Fame today. But then, without that chip on his shoulder, maybe Kenny wouldn't have been as good as he was as long as he was. Lofton was outstanding with special needs kids during his tenure in Cleveland, though, but it was a side he rarely showed to the public (some would say to this credit...he wasn't a grand stander).
Marquis had a very short peak, putting three consecutive 5.0+ WAR years together in his mid-20's for the Montreal Expos. He was definitely quite good during that time and, on the basis of that run, he managed another eleven years in the game after that. No, Marquis isn't even worthy of being called a poor man's Kenny Lofton, but when you're named after a car coming down the assembly line by a weary autoworker dad and you end up buying each of your twelve siblings a house, I think you had a pretty good run in the game.