I’ve been trying to figure out how to honor this guy, Julian Tavarez.
Rather than being crazy — remember him punching a baserunner at homeplate during his first Spring Training here in March of 2006? — he has been probably the most stable member of Red Sox Nation.
There are so many stars on this team and so many players, particularly pitchers, who are having All-Star caliber seasons that Tavarez’s contributions could easily get lost in the shuffle.
But not here. I believe this guy is the most underrated on the team. First of all, for the first three months of the season he made that No. 5 spot in the rotation a coin flip. And that’s a good thing. Mind you Tavarez was going against a bevy of No. 1-caliber pitchers (Juan Vasquez, Kevin Millwood, Roy Halladay, Johan Santana & Co.) and live to tell about it.
Rather than go 5-15, which is really what was expected, he has been hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season and four of his seven wins have come after Red Sox losses.
Rather than whine about the impending placement of Jon Lester in the rotation, Tavarez instead said he was ready, willing and able to heat up Lester’s seat in the rotation until his return. When there was talk about acquiring another starter, he said Lester is worth the wait.
On the bench and in the club house, Tavarez gets an A+ for conduct. He has been a confidant of Dice-K and has been a good baby-sitter for Manny Ramirez.
But back to the original concept here: Tavarez has been one heck of a pitcher. If he had struggled mightily there is no doubt the Sox would have traded some of their younger talent. But it never happened because of Tavarez.
Yesterday was not a big game. The Sox didn’t necessarily need the win in Chicago. But Tavarez showed the moxie this team needs and has been missing. He went for the jugular and had one of his best performances of the year.
This, is my mind, is a gimme. My guess is the fans/voters of NESN will agree.
Your thoughts?
