Let’s play a game. It’s called Pitching or Constipated. Here’s how it works. We show you a picture of Julian Tavarez’s face, and you have to guess whether he is pitching, or constipated. Ready?

OK, obviously he’s pitching. And most likely, during the first week of the season, he’ll be doing that exclusively in the 9th inning. Is this ideal? No, probably not. But what does he bring to the table?

Well, first off, he has legitimate experience working out of the bullpen, unlike Superman’s father, Jorel Pinero. He has what has been referred to as “the mental makeup” of a closer; read crazy lunatic out on the mound. He’s a warrior, and nobody will argue with that. Remember when he punched Joey Gathright for spiking him last Spring Training and had to start the year suspended? Well that wasn’t even the first time he was suspended during Spring Training - while pitching for the Cubs in 2001 he was fined $1,000 and suspended for 5 days for “taking flying kicks” at Russ Davis of the Giants after taunting him following a strikeout. Flying kicks? Where was Youtube back then!

He actually has pretty average stats over his career. He broke into the bigs in 1993 with Cleveland, though wasn’t a regular Major Leaguer until 1995. He has played for 8 teams including Boston, and has gone on record that he just goes where the money is. Like I said - a warrior, or even a mercenary! He has a career 4.34 ERA which is pretty poor, though much of that came as a starter. Now here is the scary stat - 22 career saves and 24 career blown saves.

Am I missing something? Why is he suddenly going to become lights out? His K/9IP is around 5, which isn’t too hot. He’s not really that much of a strikeout guy. He’s always been just an average reliever, I don’ think he’s suddenly going to be an All-Star here.

Personality and (ugly) game face aren’t really enough to get the job done. Maybe we’re just starting with him to eliminate him as an option - or at least I hope so. I am still in favor of giving Pinero the ball and giving him his shot. Think Gagne, Smoltz, Eckersley and other starters turned amazing closers. Who says he can’t do it? Stats and craziness show me that Tavarez isn’t the best option.

Who knows, maybe they’ll end up trading for Derrick Turnbow - which would probably be a lower risk choice than Tavarez.
At least we know we’ll see a show every 9th inning with Julian out there, even if it ends in tragedy.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 6:53 pm and is filed under General Postings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.