Traces Of An Ace...

[bjm676]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

 

 

Spring Training is here, one more article to whet the palate....

 

So glad Vazquez is here. Here's hoping Coop can work his magic, and Javy can keep the long balls down...

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Javier Vazquez possesses the strength, durability and repertoire of pitches that make scouts drool.

 

But Vazquez's results the last 1 1/2 years have caused baseball observers to shake their heads.

 

With the support of a stronger bullpen and a fortified offense, the White Sox believe Vazquez, obtained from Arizona in a four-player trade, will regain his stature as one of the top pitchers in baseball.

 

Manager Ozzie Guillen witnessed Vazquez's ascent as the third-base coach in Montreal in 2001. Vazquez, then 25, won a career-high 16 games, with five complete games and three shutouts.

 

"Confidence," Guillen said quickly when asked what ingredient Vazquez needs. "He just needs to throw the ball, have fun and don't worry about anything else. … I'd like to see that back. He's got an opportunity to do that here."

 

The Sox will get only glimpses of Vazquez's talent this spring. He leaves in early March to participate in the World Baseball Classic for Puerto Rico.

 

Vazquez, 29, got a close look from the Sox while throwing his first bullpen session Saturday morning.

 

Pitching coach Don Cooper said he didn't watch much videotape of Vazquez during the off-season."A guy who pitches 200 innings must be pretty good," Cooper said. "You don't get to that 200 level if you get knocked out in the second or third. He's got to be throwing something right.

 

"He's a guy I looked at from a distance when he was at Montreal and thought he was one of the better young pitchers around."

 

The New York Yankees thought so much of Vazquez they traded three players to get him and awarded him a four-year, $45 million contract before the 2004 season.

 

Although Vazquez made the American League All-Star team, a poor second half and the Yankees' craving for Randy Johnson resulted in Vazquez being dealt to Arizona before last season.

 

Vazquez quickly became the ace of the Diamondbacks' staff and pitched 2152/3 innings. But he lost a career-high 15 games and his ERA swelled to a career-worst 4.42.

 

Vazquez is 15-20 with a 5.07 ERA since the second half of the 2004 season—hardly the credentials of a marquee pitcher.

 

"It's tough to pinpoint one thing," Vazquez said. "With the Yankees, especially in the second half, I started dropping my arm angle a little bit and that had something to do with my struggles.

 

"Last year, I started off bad, did well, and was bad again. … [it] wasn't good. I made a lot of adjustments. And I improved from the Yankees days."

 

Sensing he was on the trading block in Arizona, Vazquez asked to be dealt to a team closer to his home country.

 

He said he was happy to land with the Sox, who are coming off a World Series championship with a talented pitching staff.

 

"I'm glad it was here," Vazquez said. "It could have been in another place, but this is a great team with great guys."

 

Vazquez's 2005 numbers might have looked more impressive if he had had better relief support. Because the Diamondbacks' bullpen had a major-league-worst 5.50 ERA, manager Bob Melvin leaned on his starters.

 

"I kept him in games because he was my best pitcher," Melvin said. "He was our No. 1 guy. Statistically, he didn't have the year he would have liked, but he still is a top-of-the-rotation guy and pitched a lot of good games for us.

 

"When he was on, he was somebody that when a team would come to town, they'd check to see if Javier Vazquez was pitching."

 

Vazquez pitched at least seven innings in 19 of his 33 starts. He didn't mind staying in games as long as he did.

 

"If you're a pitcher and get in a mess, you want to work out of it," Vazquez said. "[Melvin] doesn't have to feel bad. That's just part of the game, and I'm glad he did that because I want the manager to have confidence in me."

Edited February 20, 2006 by robinventura23

[SSH2005]

Vazquez quickly became the ace of the Diamondbacks' staff and pitched 215 2/3 innings. But he lost a career-high 15 games and his ERA swelled to a career-worst 4.42.

Mark Gonzales needs to do a better job on his fact-checking. Vazquez's career-worst ERA was 4.91 with the Yankees in 2004.

[Jordan4life_2007]

This might sound crazy, and I'm sure some would disagree, but I'm actually more concerned with guys like Garland and Contreras than Vazquez.

[KevHead0881]

This might sound crazy,  and I'm sure some would disagree,  but I'm actually more concerned with guys like Garland and Contreras than Vazquez.

 

Its not that crazy. Although it hasn't been very recent, Vazquez has had more big league success than both Garland and Contreras. Now, I believe Garland and Contreras have finally figured things out and are legitimately good pitchers, but they still have to prove that they aren't 1-year wonders.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Its not that crazy.  Although it hasn't been very recent, Vazquez has had more big league success than both Garland and Contreras.  Now, I believe Garland and Contreras have finally figured things out and are legitimately good pitchers, but they still have to prove that they aren't 1-year wonders.

 

I'm not really worried about the staff at all. I fully expect the Sox to lead the league in earned run average, complete games, ect. I just have that much confidence in Vazquez's ability. Add in the fact he'll have an elite defense and strong bullpen behind him, I expect no less than 15 wins and an era around 3.50.

[SSH2005]

It isn't crazy at all. Vazquez knows how to throw strikes and K's a lot of batters (1.27 career WHIP, 7.77 career K/9). But he's prone to giving up the long ball so pitching at the Cell won't help him much. I think Vazquez will struggle at home but pitch great on the road and still have a good season overall. Garland depends a lot more on the defense playing behind him than Vazquez. If Garland starts walking more batters than his 2005 rate, he will probably go back to a ~4.50 ERA. Contreras has great stuff. The question is -- will he continue to throw strikes like he did in the second half of last season? If he does, he will have a great season.

[Jordan4life_2007]

It isn't crazy at all.  Vazquez knows how to throw strikes and K's a lot of batters (1.27 career WHIP, 7.77 career K/9).  But he's prone to giving up the long ball so pitching at the Cell won't help him much.  I think Vazquez will struggle at home but pitch great on the road and still have a good season overall.  Garland depends a lot more on the defense playing behind him than Vazquez.  If Garland starts walking more batters than his 2005 rate, he will probably go back to a ~4.50 ERA.  Contreras has great stuff.  The question is -- will he continue to throw strikes like he did in the second half of last season?  If he does, he will have a great season.

 

Hopefully, whatever Coop was able to do with Buehrle, rubs off on Vazquez as far as decreasing his amount of hr's allowed.

[whitesoxfan101]

I'm not too worried about Vasquez, he will be good IMO with Coop and A.J. helping out. I also think Garland will be fine as long as he keeps throwing strikes!! I'm a bit worried about Count with El Duque gone, but hopefully Coop and him develop a better relationship and Count trusts his stuff.

[elrockinMT]

It's crazy alright! :rolly B)

 

I think we are going to have one stud pitching staff and maybe even better than last year.

[iWiN4PreP]

Lets hope everything works out

Im most concerned with Contreras, followed by garland. Then Vazquez. If garland can be for-real then we have a nice pitching staff. .

[YASNY]

I'm not concerned about Garland at all. I think he figured it out last year and will only get better.