Posts tagged OmarVizquel at FanHouse

I understand that temperatures were at record highs this weekend. So, taking some time off of work or finding the shade was a good thing for everyone. But that doesn't make the Giants needing time off to rest their old bones any less humorous.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy will likely give some of his veterans a rest for Sunday's afternoon game with the Nationals since Washington's extreme heat and humidity will be a factor.

[...]Bochy said it's likely that Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham will sit while Burriss and Travis Denker should get a shot at starting while the older guys take a break.

By all means, sit them down. The last thing we need is someone collapsing on the lawn at AT&T. Still, when you consider Brian Sabean's penchant for inking veterans, it becomes pretty hysterical that his team has to sit several players because it's too hot for baseball. Which is played every year ... in the summer.

(Karmic aside: I should probably mention that the air conditioner just broke in my office. But you're still old, Giants.)

San Francisco Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel isn't playing in that many games this season, as he's only partaken in 14 of the Giants 51 games on the year. This after playing in no less than 144 games in the last 13 years (save for 2003 when injuries limited Omar to 64 games). It says a lot about Omar that he's been able to play in that many games throughout his career, and after playing on Sunday, there's nobody in the history of Major League baseball that can say they've played in more games at shortstop than Vizquel.

On Sunday, the 41-year-old established a new record when he played in his 2,584th contest, surpassing fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio for most MLB games ever played by a shortstop. Aparicio's record dates back to 1973.

"This is truly big and amazing," Vizquel said. "I'm proud of my accomplishment, considering that it was done against all odds. No one believed that I would play for so long, perhaps because I'm so short, or maybe because I didn't have a good throw, or simply because my offensive performance was not up to expectations. Today, however, we are here talking about records and history, which makes me feel truly proud of myself."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Giants Blog, "The Splash" is reporting that the club is making a big deal out of Omar Vizquel approaching the all time record for games played at shortstop. If they are -- and I can't see any evidence on the team's website, in any of the six front page slides -- that's a good thing.

Vizquel deserves some recognition for playing as long as he has. Although he apparently does not particularly care for it.

'Right now I don't see the importance of the breaking the record,' he said. 'I know it's an amazing feat and everything, but I don't really find it that exciting. I think the fact that my knee is still a little bit not 100 percent is probably why I'm not paying attention much to the record. I'm more worried about the knee and the things I need to do and get better.'

Sheesh. What a Debbie Downer, huh? It's his party, so he can say what he wants, but you gotta embrace that record a little more wholeheartedly. Sure, his time in the bigs is probably coming to an end, but that doesn't mean he has to take it so hard. After all, San Fran has treated most of the old timers with respect on their way out in recent years, so he should be good to go.

One of the few chinks in the armor of the Red Sox is Julio Lugo. His bat is prone to long stretches of invisibility, see June 2007, and his glove can undermine the best work of any pitcher. They have taken a look at Jed Lowrie this season but he might not be ready for an everyday job just yet and Alex Cora is best suited to a reserve infielder role.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe floats an idea today about a potential replacement.

Omar Vizquel is an intriguing name floated by ESPN's Peter Gammons for helping solve Boston's shortstop problem if Julio Lugo's defense doesn't settle down. Vizquel is quite fond of Boston but would be interested only if he were a starter. He has a close relationship with Manny Ramírez from their Cleveland days. Vizquel still has a terrific glove and can hit.

I'd take a bit of an issue with the notion that Vizquel "can hit." Sure he can but he doesn't, his OPS has been south of 700 in three of the past five seasons. Fenway would probably goose his numbers but if there's a reason to think about this deal it's the improvement he'd bring to the defense.

Vizquel just made his season debut on May 10 so you'd probably like a bit more assurance about his health but if Lugo remains, well, Lugo, it's a deal well worth considering for Boston.

You saw a glimpse of it earlier, thanks to Will's posting of Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple-play on Monday, but that's not the only play Cabrera has made for the Indians in the field this season. His defense, be it at second base or at shortstop, has been hard not to notice. Particularly the last few days when Asdrubal filled in for the struggling Jhonny Peralta at short.

The difference between Cabrera and Peralta in the field is hard to miss. Asdrubal has more range to his left and right, and this was evident on quite a few plays over the weekend, and he's also garnered comparisons to former Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel. As a result, some people are wondering how much longer Jhonny has as the Indians shortstop.

"Asdrubal has a knack for getting big hits late in games, and his defense at short was outstanding," manager Eric Wedge said.

Wedge said the decision to play Cabrera a second consecutive game at short was due more to the Indians playing a doubleheader than to anything else.

Of course, when Wedge was flat out asked if Cabrera would be getting more time at shortstop, he only said that he'll continue to "mix him in."

Peralta's defense isn't the only thing hurting him, because it wasn't exactly his defense that the Indians originally fell in love with, it was his bat. A bat that has been hitting .208/.267/.383 this season, and just .130 in May. Peralta is also failing to drive in runs, as he's only hitting .143 with runners in scoring posiiton.

I don't expect Peralta to lose his job yet, as I'm not sure the Indians are ready to make Jamey Carroll their everyday second baseman. Still, after this season, who knows?

Remember how Carlos Guillen said he wasn't ready to make a full-time move to first base next season? Yeah, scratch that: he met with Jim Leyland last week and came away with a brand-new perspective. From Booth Newspaper's Danny Knobler (via DTW):

Leyland has already spoken with Guillen, and Guillen said he had no problem with playing first base, if that's what the Tigers want him to do.

``I know they'll bring in a good (shortstop),'' Guillen said. ``I know it's going to be a good one. I don't know who it's going to be, but I know it's going to be a good one.''

Who might the Tigers consider? The Detroit News notes that Omar Vizquel and David Ecstein (ugh) are free agents and Edgar Renteria might be available in a trade. I'm not sure the first two will be an improvement at all, but Renteria (who's hit .332 with an .860 OPS for Atlanta this year) is awfully intriguing. His lone season in the American League, with Boston in 2005, was a down year for him, but he has enough upside both offensively and defensively that he'd probably be worth it -- depending, of course, on what the Braves demand in return.

Guillen's offensive contributions aren't quite as remarkable as a corner infielder, but they'll still be an improvement over Sean Casey, who nearly hit .300 but also managed just four home runs all season long. As long as the new shortstop is no worse an offensive player than Casey (which rules out internal replacement like Ramon Santiago or a trade for Jack Wilson), it'll be a net gain for Detroit.

The Giants needed to get rid of Barry Bonds.

It probably would have been the best thing for the health of the Giants franchise to get rid of Barry Bonds a few seasons earlier, but you can't expect the Giants to turn away millions in revenue connected to Bonds' chase for Hank Aaron's record. In the efforts to win in the present while Bonds was still an active part of the club, the Giants brought in a lot of older help in the forms of guys like Omar Vizquel, Ryan Klesko, Dave Roberts, Mike Matheny, Moises Alou, Steve Finley, Jeff Fassero, Benito Santiago and Andres Galarraga. Over the years, signings like those were probably in lieu of better, younger signings because the money that Bonds was making ate up a large percentage of their payroll.

The problem was that Bonds would frequently be pulled after the seventh inning for pinch runners to save his health. So you have $15 million dedicated to a guy who isn't going to be around past seven innings to potentially win ballgames, forcing the Giants to depend on some overvalued talent to carry the team the rest of the way.

Well, not only does $15 million come off the books with Bonds, but they also lose the salaries of Vizquel ($5.1 million), Pedro Feliz ($5 million), Klesko ($1.75 million) and Matheny. Nobody should be surprised if the Giants also get rid of guys like Rich Aurilia (.245) and Ray Durham (.215) who combined are making $10.5 million. And perhaps, as correctly noted by a comment here (thank you for the correction), the Giants could find a way to trade Roberts, who was signed to a three year $18 million deal before the season began. That would be a shade over $40 million to spend to make an old roster younger and energetic, and perhaps get some younger legs with some range to support guys like Barry Zito, Matt Cain, and Tim Lincecum. This is probably the first opportunity since 1993 for the Giants to remake their roster in a significant way, instead of putting band-aids on problems just to give Bonds some patchwork support.

Or, they could go get Alex Rodriguez, because you know that if he opts out of his contract, that speculation is going to start. A-Rod did say how much he loved San Francisco, didn't he? If the Giants want to keep their ballpark full, that would be the way to go. And that $40 million just might be enough to get him (he is, after all, a Scott Boras client). But to me, the smart money is to fortify their roster with fresh prospects and bullpen help to surround their starting rotation. The key for the Giants is to not let the bottom fall out for a few more seasons just because Bonds is leaving. If they're smart, it doesn't have to be that way.

Previously on FanHouse:
Barry Bonds is Leaving San Francisco
Alex Rodriguez Loves San Francisco

Not that he's looking to get dealt -- Omar Vizquel says he prefers to play everyday rather than ride the pine on a contender -- but he'd be willing to entertain a potential trade. And why not? With that 1997 American League Championship Ring fresh in hand, he should have no desire to go from the cellar to first place, right?

"I've already been on teams that have been in World Series and playoffs," Vizquel said Friday. "It's not like I'm missing that part of the game that much. I feel comfortable here with the Giants. I don't have any problems with anybody, and if I'm going to go to a team where I'm sitting on the bench watching the game, it's not going to be as good as if I'm playing every day. I just want to play."

However, he said, "If I have a chance where a team is missing a shortstop, where he gets hurt, and there is nobody there, that would be a different situation. But there is no guarantee of that."

Considering Vizquel's contract is up at the end of the year, and that his offense is rapidly declining, the Hall of Fame bound shortstop would be wise to make a transition to a contender. Who knows, with the way Julio Lugo is playing, he could find himself in Boston -- or any other playoff contender whose shortstop gets hurt. Say the Giants could grab a Double-A or Triple-A prospect in return for Omar, I have to figure they'd do it. They're in last place, out of the playoff race, and they need to stock up their farm system. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vizquel in a different uniform come August.

No joke. I mean, they say you can do anything and own anything when you're a professional athlete, and apparently Omar Vizquel is no exception. The potential Hall of Famer (he's a lock if I had a vote), has one of the sickest collections of animals I've ever heard of. In fact, as MLB.com tells it, he put his zoo on display for This Week in Baseball recently:

Vizquel's zoo includes chinchillas, llamas and wallaroos (a combination of a kangaroo and wallaby). The wallaroos were hopping around as the cameras rolled.

That's pretty flipping sweet if you ask me. I've always dreamed of having tigers in my backyard, and dolphins in my swimming pool, and here's Omar Vizquel rolling up with chinchillas and freaking llamas. I wonder how hard it was for him to secure a few wallaroos. I have to figure there aren't too many of those around. And when I called Omar Vizquel one of the all-time greats a while ago, this is not what I had in mind, but it only cements his place in history.

Previously at FanHouse:
Recognize Omar Vizquel as One of the All-Time Greats

In serious style -- they're having margaritas in the clubhouse before the game, along with chips and bean dip. Pedro Feliz will be on the tacos, Bengie Molina's making the guacamole, Zito's got the horchata, and Lamar's bringing the pinata. OK, that's probably not happening -- except for the margaritas -- but the Giants will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo today. Check it out:

The Giants will wear their "Gigantes" jersey today as part of their Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Heritage Night festivities.

Evidently convinced that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans still use the Aztec calendar, the Giants will give a Giants-Aztec calendar T-shirt to those who purchase a Mexican Heritage Night ticket.

Sounds good to me, I'm soooo there. But apparently the Giants are somewhat culturally insensitive.

The first 20,000 fans to enter the park will receive a poster of Omar Vizquel, who is Venezuelan.

Last time I checked, Cinco de Mayo was a Mexican holiday. But who am I to get nit-picky here? I guess you gotta make do with what you got. Details, schmeetails. Next thing you know, the Red Sox will honor Dice K with Chinese Cultural Night. Man, I would love to know who plans these events.