Baseball in Fort Wayne

Posts Tagged ‘Yankees’

Chad Huffman became the 90th former Fort Wayne WizCap to debut in Major League Baseball. Taking the roster spot of the injured Marcus Thames, Huffman got his first hit in the third inning.

“I looked up on the jumbotron and saw my family jumping up and down,” Huffman said. “It was a great feeling… I’m going to give (the ball) to my mom so I don’t lose it.”

Huffman was a 2nd round selection of the San Diego Padres (53rd overall) in the 2006 amateur entry draft. With the Wizards in 2006, Huffman appeared in five games as the seasoned waned at Memorial Stadium. He started the following season at Lake Elsinore.

Huffman is the thirteenth player from the 2006 roster to make the Major Leagues. That is easily the most of any year, whether Wizards or TinCaps.

Related BBIFW Posts

• WizCaps Where R They? 2010
• Off Season Catchup: Huffman, Ramos, Chang, Carlin, Castro, Grube
• Fort Fragments: Player Movement
• Former Wizards Getting Early Spring Work
• Catching Up With the Arizona Fall League
• Plenty of Wizards in MadFriars’s Top 20
• Wizards Watch: Former Wizards Contribute to 30-0 Rout

The New York Yankees have obtain former Fort Wayne Wizard, Freddy Guzman, from the Baltimore Orioles for a player to be named later or cash.

Guzman started the year in the Mariners’ organization, but lost his chance with the team after breaking a bone in his hand. He signed a Minor League contract with Baltimore after being released from Seattle and has played 95 games for Triple-A Tacoma, Pawtucket and Norfolk this season. He batted .218 with two homers, 16 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.

He was a highly regarded prospect when he first began his professional career. Baseball America lauded his game-changing speed as he came up in the Padres system. While playing in Fort Wayne during 2002, he hit .279 with 53 hits and 39 stolen bases over 190 at-bats. He was San Diego’s #3 ranked prospect in 2004 and #2 in 2005. But he missed that season with an elbow injury and his prospect status dimmed.

The Padres brought him back on a one-year contract in 2006, but traded him to the Texas Rangers along with Cesar Rojas that May for Vince Sinisi and John Hudgins. A year later, the Tigers traded Chris Shelton to the Texas Rangers for Freddy. Last year with Detroit, he stole 71 bases while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.

LaTroy Hawkins was designated for assignment by the New York Yankees following the trade that brought in Xavier Nady from Pittsburgh. Hawkins signed a one-year, $3.75 million contract last winter and had hoped to resurrect his career in New York following a handfull of rather disappointing seasons. Now, his DFA status means the Yanks must trade, release or send him to the minors within ten days of the move. On the season, Hawkins was 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA in 33 games.

“I’m fine,” Hawkins said as he left Fenway before Saturday’s game. “I’m disappointed in the way I pitched. That’s about the only thing I’m disappointed in.”

But if there is a silver lining to the story, it’s that Hawkins may receive yet another chance to turn things around. Several teams throughout Major League Baseball are seeking middle relief help.

One of his former teams, the Minnesota Twins, are interested in bringing him back. He pitched with the Twins from 1995 to 2003 and had been one of the team’s many “homegrown” talents over the years; having risen through the ranks of the team’s farm system.

With the Twins, he was a reliable and sometimes dominant set-up man. Now, with Pat Neshek down, the Twins are looking for help bridging the starters to closer gap. Hawkins just might be the answer.

While multiple teams are said to have interest, one of his other former  teams, the Rockies, aren’t among them. Colorado’s GM, Dan O’Dowd said bringing Hawkins back is not in his current plans.

With the Wizards in their inaugural season of 1993, Hawkins put together what may be the best individual season performance in the team’s history. Hawkins still holds Wizards records in ERA (2.06), wins (15), complete games (4), shutouts (2), strikeouts in a season (179) and strikeouts in a game (15). Even more impressive is the fact that Hawkins accomplished these totals during the first Wizards season and they still stand more than a decade later.

Photo courtesy of the Fort Wayne Wizards

Note: This article also appears at DugoutCentral.

In my fantasy draft, I selected Yankees’ pitcher Joba Chamberlain knowing that he might or might not split time between reliever and starter this season. I am in a league that has a holds category, so I was delighted when he started the season in the bullpen. But now that the Yankees have announced he is joining the starting rotation, I am scrambling to figure out who will fill the very large void that it creates in the set-up spot.

The current depth chart in the bullpen boasts of the youthful Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras, the recently recalled Chris Britton, the unpredictable Kyle Farnsworth and the experienced LaTroy Hawkins. Most of what I have read and heard suggests that Farnsworth will get first crack at the spot because of his supposed resurgent season (and possibly his personal relationship with skipper Joe Girardi). I’ve also heard one analyst suggest that Ramirez will ultimately win the role. But of all the relievers, only Latroy Hawkins has a valid case. Sure, he has had some struggles over the last couple years but that should not disqualify his earlier track record and experience.

He signed with the Chicago Cubs in 2004 as a free agent and was coming off an impressive stint with the Minnesota Twins that saw him dominate as one of the most reliable set-up men in all of Major League Baseball. At the time, it was no secret that Hawkins’ preference was to remain a setup man. The Cubs obliged and put him in that role where he did quite well as the eighth inning bridge to then-closer Joe Borowski.

“Joe is the closer here in Chicago,” Hawkins said at the time of his signing. “I came in to help him accomplish that. I came in to get the ball to Joe. That’s my job. “

With the Cubs in 2004, Hawkins was 5-4 with a 2.63 ERA and 25 saves over 82 innings pitched. That year, he gave up 24 runs and struck out 69. The year before, with the Twins, he had a 9-3 record and a 1.86 ERA while giving up just 16 earned runs over 77.1 innings pitched.

But, when Borowski went down, Hawkins was the in-house option to take over. He was converted to a closer late in 2004 and began 2005 as the Cubs’ only option. Hawkins struggled and the Cubs faithful turned on him – as they have on so many quality players. The right hander has never been quite the same. Hawkins was traded to the Baltimore Orioles where he played the 2006 season before signing with Colorado.

With the Rockies, he went 2-5 with a 3.42 ERA. He had five post-season appearances in which he allowed just one run and one hit over five innings. After Colorado declined their 2008 option, Hawkins signed with the Yankees where he is off to a rough start. In the 2008 campaign, Hawkins is 1-1 with a 6.75 earned run average over 24 innings in 20 games. He’s given up 18 runs on 25 hits and 11 walks while striking out 15. He also blew his only save opportunity.

In addition to his gruesome stats, he’s experienced other on-field drama. He was suspended for three games and fined $2,000 by Major League Baseball, who claims that he intentionally threw at Baltimore’s Luke Scott in the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium on May 20th. He is currently appealing it through the MLB Players Association.

However, what most fans see is the “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” statistics. Hawkins is an experienced set-up man who has shown he is capable of dominating hitters. He’s just never been given the chance to truly return to the spot where he is most comfortable.

Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1991, he played all of the 1993 season in Fort Wayne of the Midwest League and compiled a dominant season that saw him post crazy numbers. With the Wizards, Hawkins went 15-5 with a 2.06 ERA and 179 strikeouts (including 15 in one game) over 157.1 innings pitched. He also tossed 2 shutouts and 4 complete games. The ERA, wins, complete games, shutouts, strikeouts in a season and game are all still Fort Wayne Wizards’ records to this day.

In route to his MLB debut season in 1995, Hawkins continued to produce solid numbers. But it was with the Twins that he earned recognition as one of the best set-up men in the game. By the time he earned free agency and joined the Cubs, he was highly sought by several teams – including the Yankess.

In 2002 and 2003, he went 15-3 with a 2.00 ERA in 139 with the twins. 2003 saw him tie for third in the majors with 28 holds and didn’t allow a run from July 31 to Sept. 14, which spanned 20 games.

Sure, he’s had a few bumps in the road as of late, but Hawkins has a proven track record that he is capable of being the type of pitcher who can step into the eighth and get the ball to Mariano Rivera for the Yankees. Since he left Minnesota and the Cubs set him up to fail, he really has not been given a chance to return to his comfort zone as the set-up guy. Will he get the chance with the Yankees this season?

If not, it may be closing time for a career that has gone largely unappreciated and undervalued.