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2007 Still crazy after all these years, Tavarez earned a 10-day suspension for sucker-punching Joey Gathright after landing on him in a close play at home plate--in a spring training game. Scored upon in 18 of his first 33 appearances, Tavarez trudged through an unhappy summer, but in an Alamo moment in late August, the Sox inserted him into the rotation. The results were compelling, if not revelatory; as a starter he posted a 4.01 ERA in 33.2 IP, generated a ton of groundballs, and yielded only two homers. He also won over a hostile Fenway crowd that had booed him lustily all season long, paving the way for a return for Year Two of his $6.7-million deal and perhaps a job as a back-end starter or swingman, a role in which his salary might suddenly seem like a bargain. 2006 His volatility on the mound has decreased somewhat in recent years, but while Tavarez has settled in as a quality bullpen guy, he`s still not the marryin` kind. He`s played for six teams in seven years, leaving a trail of bewildered pitching coaches, teammates, and fans behind him. The two-year contract he signed with St. Louis worked out well for both parties: Tavarez pitched 130 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA, which can cause all sorts of Sins of Perception. His performance, and his agent, have allowed him to make a serious case for a four-year deal. His increased K rates and tendency to throw groundballs make him a reasonable risk, but he had to settle for two years with Boston. 2005 The psycho reliever du jour put together the best season of his career since '95. What's also impressive is that Tavarez has coughed up exactly two home runs in his last 148 innings. If you're that stingy with dingers, there's that much room for error. There's no reason he can't an effective, if mercurial, middle man for the next few seasons. 2003 Ugly peripherals, bad results, with a gift for saying dumb stuff around reporters, and you wonder why the line to sign this guy isn’t miles long? Tavarez did perform better after he got over a self-inflicted sore shoulder (he made an emergency start on three days’ rest without telling anyone his shoulder hurt), but he’s a back-of-the-rotation option at best. 2002 Tavarez has never been consistent enough as a reliever to be as useful in the pen as he is at the bottom of a rotation. To the Cubs’ credit, they signed him to be the #4 starter. He did not wear down during the season and was throwing in the mid-90s in September. He’s simply a five-inning starter. If you accept him as a good fifth starter with some anger-management issues, you won’t be disappointed. Even with Tapani’s departure, Tavarez might get squeezed out of the rotation by July. 2001 Courtesy of his outstanding sinker, Julian Tavarez gets a ton of ground-ball outs. In small parks like Coors or Wrigley Field (now that he’s signed with the Cubs), that’s handy. But don’t expect great things. Although he’s physically mature and entering a good age range to build on last year’s success as a starter, his peripheral numbers aren’t so hot, and the Cubs are a significantly worse defensive team than the Rockies. Given his headhunter reputation, maybe he’s being brought in as a mentor for Ben Christensen. 2000 Never as good as his reputation, Tavarez remains nothing more than the Jose Bautista of the second half of the decade. For his first two seasons with the Giants, he blinded fans with his 90-mph fastball, so much that they didn't notice his poor peripherals. Last season it all caught up with him. He's still young and throws hard, so he'll find someone else he can blind. 1999 What's to like? Tavarez throws in the 90s and gets into "hot streaks," two items which make him a fan favorite. But at the end of the season, his numbers are no different than the Jose Bautistas of the world that Tavarez is supposed to be an improvement upon. Its hard to think that there are overrated middle relivers, but Tavarez is the poster boy for the concept. 1998 Tavarez threw harder than anyone on the team, which made him a fan favorite. He had 24 straight appearances in mid-season without allowing an earned run, which made him a fan favorite. He made 89 appearances, which made him a fan favorite. And when he was done, his numbers were barely distinguishable from a normal Jose Bautista season, who wasn’t a fan favorite. No matter how hard he throws, he doesn’t strike anyone out, which suggests a very uneventful career. 1997 Tavarez was probably doomed in the AL after his run-in with an umpire during a brawl in Milwaukee. The Giants apparently plan to keep him in the bullpen, which is a good idea for a few more years at least, since there are major concerns over whether Tavarez’ slight build can hold up to regular rotation work. What he has to work on changing is finding a breaking pitch that works against left-handed batters; good times or bad, Tavarez has real problems against them (they’ve hit .329/.383/.514 against him on his career). 1996 The best prospect in the organization, Tavarez is a rail-thin 6'2", 165-pounder who had always worked as a starter before being used as a setup man for Mesa this year. The Indians are, reasonably enough, concerned about his stamina as a starter, and may try to use him in relief until he fills out.
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