GaryMrMets
03-08-2004, 02:12 AM
http://www.nj.com/mets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1078650932128640.xml
Mets: More than ever, Trachsel has his head in the game
Sunday, March 07, 2004
BY DAVID WALDSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The self-deprecating griping and good-natured complaining have finally paid off. After three years of being practically ignored -- 2 1/2 of which he was the Mets' best pitcher -- and after being overlooked every time there was a promotional video or a giveaway, after seeing every other highly paid flop depicted on a bobblehead doll or shown on the pocket schedule, Steve Trachsel will finally get his day.
The forgotten man in the Mets rotation and arguably the most underrated pitcher in baseball over the last couple of seasons, the 33-year-old right-hander will be honored this year with a limited edition Steve Trachsel bobblehead doll.
"The head should bob very, very s-l-o-w-l-y," Trachsel said, nodding his head up and down methodically to demonstrate.
There's the self-deprecating side. Trachsel has a reputation for being the most deliberate pitcher in baseball, one of two labels he has been tagged with that he doesn't like. But he's still able to joke about it. Becoming the first Met to throw two one-hitters in the same season, and winning a career-high 16 games last year will allow for some levity.
Even though the Mets are planning to issue the first-ever Steve Trachsel bobblehead doll, it was a last-minute minute idea, almost the punch line to an organizational inside joke. Because there isn't sufficient time to manufacture enough for the whole stadium, the doll will be a limited edition, handed out to a "lucky row," every time he pitches at home.
Al Leiter was the driving force behind the doll, going to vice president of corporate sales and services Paul Danforth, if only to shut Trachsel up.
"Oh, he's always griping," Al Leiter said, needling his friend. "I mean it affectionately and with a sense of humor, but he's always been a guy who, you know, finds the negative in things. I got sick of hearing about how he's never had a bobblehead doll, and they never show him on the Jumbotron. Every time they show some video on the screen, he sits on the bench and goes, 'See, Of course, I'm not on it.' So I called Paul Danforth and said, 'Please, give the guy a bobblehead doll or a Matchbox car. Something. Anything."
Trachsel, half-jokingly, says he was stunned to hear the Mets will finally honor him, implicitly acknowledging for the first time that he is a marketable member of the team.
"It's the first time ever. Ever," he said. "I was on a Mets lunchbox with about 10 other guys on it once. They stuck me on the bottom of it, somewhere."
Trachsel is also a big wine aficionado, so he tried to think of something grape-related that would make a nice giveaway. But handing out Steve Trachsel corkscrews didn't sound like a good idea. And 50,000 bottles of a 2000 Chateau Margaux at $400 a bottle seemed a bit extravagant.
"Then the fans would have loved me," he said.
But Mets fans should love him, anyway, even without a wine buzz. He may never have been marketed, but Trachsel, who led the team in ERA the past two seasons with a 3.37 and 3.78, has been the Mets most impressive performer during a most unimpressive period, finally making good on that other comparison.
When Trachsel was coming up in the Cubs organization, he was labeled "The next Greg Maddux." Both were talented right-handers and both wore Cubs uniforms, but after that there were few similarities. They had different builds, different stuff and different results. While Maddux went on to win four Cy Young awards on his way to a likely Hall of Fame candidacy, Trachsel failed to live up to the comparisons. Until now.
Over the past 2 1/2 years Trachsel has been the equal of Maddux. Since the All-Star break in 2001, when a beleaguered Trachsel was sent down to the minors to get his head and body fixed, he has gone 36-24 (.600) with a 3.42 earned run average.
During the same span, Maddux has an identical ERA with a slightly better record of 39-23 (.629). But Maddux was winning those games for a playoff team, while Trachsel was winning them with for an atrociously bad last-place team.
The biggest difference between them now is that Maddux made $14.5 million last year, while Trachsel made $5 million.
"There's no question you can make the comparison," said Tom Glavine, a teammate of both pitchers. "A lot of it has to do with the exposure the different teams get. When you do well on a winning team a lot more attention gets paid to you. Unfortunately for Trax, he's been doing it for a team that hasn't been good."
It was one thing to be compared to Maddux when they were in the same organization. But after Maddux won the Cy Young Award in 1992 and left to become a Brave, the pressure mounted on Trachsel, who made his major-league debut the next year.
"There was a little bit of pressure with that," Trachsel acknowledged. "Actually, a lot of pressure, for a 23-year-old. Those are tough shoes to fill. We were both right-handed, and both had good control. He had a changeup and I had a split (split-finger fastball). Oh, and he had a Cy Young Award and I had a Triple-A championship."
Trachsel muddled inconsistently through the next several years, winning 15 games in 1998 but losing 18 the following year. But ever since he went down to Norfolk in the middle of 2001, the day after he allowed four home runs in one inning, he finally attained that elusive consistency. He spent hours in his Norfolk hotel room on the phone with noted sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, who helped him push the distractions out of his head, while he concentrated on throwing the most important pitch of his career -- the next one.
That is part of the reason Trachsel has a reputation for being slow. Almost like famed vintners Ernest and Julio Gallo, Trachsel will throw no pitch before its time, and the lengthy pauses can bother hitters.
"I always hated facing him," said Cliff Floyd, who is 5-for-27 off him, all singles). "He takes too damn long," Floyd said.
It is fitting that wine is his favorite diversion, too, for Trachsel is an acquired taste. And like a fine wine that takes years to ferment and open up -- and must also be allowed to breathe before drinking, Trachsel took years to reach his current consistency. And as Floyd will attest, he must be allowed to breathe, too. Even his bobblehead doll will be moved slowly through the season.
Mets: More than ever, Trachsel has his head in the game
Sunday, March 07, 2004
BY DAVID WALDSTEIN
Star-Ledger Staff
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The self-deprecating griping and good-natured complaining have finally paid off. After three years of being practically ignored -- 2 1/2 of which he was the Mets' best pitcher -- and after being overlooked every time there was a promotional video or a giveaway, after seeing every other highly paid flop depicted on a bobblehead doll or shown on the pocket schedule, Steve Trachsel will finally get his day.
The forgotten man in the Mets rotation and arguably the most underrated pitcher in baseball over the last couple of seasons, the 33-year-old right-hander will be honored this year with a limited edition Steve Trachsel bobblehead doll.
"The head should bob very, very s-l-o-w-l-y," Trachsel said, nodding his head up and down methodically to demonstrate.
There's the self-deprecating side. Trachsel has a reputation for being the most deliberate pitcher in baseball, one of two labels he has been tagged with that he doesn't like. But he's still able to joke about it. Becoming the first Met to throw two one-hitters in the same season, and winning a career-high 16 games last year will allow for some levity.
Even though the Mets are planning to issue the first-ever Steve Trachsel bobblehead doll, it was a last-minute minute idea, almost the punch line to an organizational inside joke. Because there isn't sufficient time to manufacture enough for the whole stadium, the doll will be a limited edition, handed out to a "lucky row," every time he pitches at home.
Al Leiter was the driving force behind the doll, going to vice president of corporate sales and services Paul Danforth, if only to shut Trachsel up.
"Oh, he's always griping," Al Leiter said, needling his friend. "I mean it affectionately and with a sense of humor, but he's always been a guy who, you know, finds the negative in things. I got sick of hearing about how he's never had a bobblehead doll, and they never show him on the Jumbotron. Every time they show some video on the screen, he sits on the bench and goes, 'See, Of course, I'm not on it.' So I called Paul Danforth and said, 'Please, give the guy a bobblehead doll or a Matchbox car. Something. Anything."
Trachsel, half-jokingly, says he was stunned to hear the Mets will finally honor him, implicitly acknowledging for the first time that he is a marketable member of the team.
"It's the first time ever. Ever," he said. "I was on a Mets lunchbox with about 10 other guys on it once. They stuck me on the bottom of it, somewhere."
Trachsel is also a big wine aficionado, so he tried to think of something grape-related that would make a nice giveaway. But handing out Steve Trachsel corkscrews didn't sound like a good idea. And 50,000 bottles of a 2000 Chateau Margaux at $400 a bottle seemed a bit extravagant.
"Then the fans would have loved me," he said.
But Mets fans should love him, anyway, even without a wine buzz. He may never have been marketed, but Trachsel, who led the team in ERA the past two seasons with a 3.37 and 3.78, has been the Mets most impressive performer during a most unimpressive period, finally making good on that other comparison.
When Trachsel was coming up in the Cubs organization, he was labeled "The next Greg Maddux." Both were talented right-handers and both wore Cubs uniforms, but after that there were few similarities. They had different builds, different stuff and different results. While Maddux went on to win four Cy Young awards on his way to a likely Hall of Fame candidacy, Trachsel failed to live up to the comparisons. Until now.
Over the past 2 1/2 years Trachsel has been the equal of Maddux. Since the All-Star break in 2001, when a beleaguered Trachsel was sent down to the minors to get his head and body fixed, he has gone 36-24 (.600) with a 3.42 earned run average.
During the same span, Maddux has an identical ERA with a slightly better record of 39-23 (.629). But Maddux was winning those games for a playoff team, while Trachsel was winning them with for an atrociously bad last-place team.
The biggest difference between them now is that Maddux made $14.5 million last year, while Trachsel made $5 million.
"There's no question you can make the comparison," said Tom Glavine, a teammate of both pitchers. "A lot of it has to do with the exposure the different teams get. When you do well on a winning team a lot more attention gets paid to you. Unfortunately for Trax, he's been doing it for a team that hasn't been good."
It was one thing to be compared to Maddux when they were in the same organization. But after Maddux won the Cy Young Award in 1992 and left to become a Brave, the pressure mounted on Trachsel, who made his major-league debut the next year.
"There was a little bit of pressure with that," Trachsel acknowledged. "Actually, a lot of pressure, for a 23-year-old. Those are tough shoes to fill. We were both right-handed, and both had good control. He had a changeup and I had a split (split-finger fastball). Oh, and he had a Cy Young Award and I had a Triple-A championship."
Trachsel muddled inconsistently through the next several years, winning 15 games in 1998 but losing 18 the following year. But ever since he went down to Norfolk in the middle of 2001, the day after he allowed four home runs in one inning, he finally attained that elusive consistency. He spent hours in his Norfolk hotel room on the phone with noted sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman, who helped him push the distractions out of his head, while he concentrated on throwing the most important pitch of his career -- the next one.
That is part of the reason Trachsel has a reputation for being slow. Almost like famed vintners Ernest and Julio Gallo, Trachsel will throw no pitch before its time, and the lengthy pauses can bother hitters.
"I always hated facing him," said Cliff Floyd, who is 5-for-27 off him, all singles). "He takes too damn long," Floyd said.
It is fitting that wine is his favorite diversion, too, for Trachsel is an acquired taste. And like a fine wine that takes years to ferment and open up -- and must also be allowed to breathe before drinking, Trachsel took years to reach his current consistency. And as Floyd will attest, he must be allowed to breathe, too. Even his bobblehead doll will be moved slowly through the season.