News
A's not wavered by Wuertz's rough spring
Oakland wastes no time getting new reliever into action
Michael Wuertz struck out two in a perfect seventh inning on Opening Day. (AP)
By Mychael Urban / MLB.com
04/08/09 12:10 AM ET
ANAHEIM -- In his first Spring Training with the A's, Michael Wuertz posted an 8.18 ERA in 11 appearances, and opponents batted .319 against him. Andrew Bailey posted a 0.66 ERA in 12 outings this spring, allowing an opponents' batting average of .191. In which right-handed reliever did Oakland's coaches have more faith on Opening Night? That would be Wuertz. Nothing against Bailey, but Wuertz is 30 years old and has a big league track record. Acquired in an offseason trade with the Cubs, he'd made 265 career appearances in the Majors entering the 2009 season. Bailey, 24, had never pitched above Double-A ball before Monday. Plus, Wuertz relies heavily on his slider, and sliders typically don't have the same bite in Arizona as they do elsewhere. "We have a lot of faith in both of them," A's pitching coach Curt Young. "But Wuertz has been here before, we've seen what he can do at this level, and we all know what happens to breaking balls in that desert air. "This is Andrew's first time up here, so he's a little bit of an unknown." Both pitched a perfect inning Monday, Wuertz striking out two in the seventh, and Bailey striking out one in the eighth. "I think I figured out some things when I was warming up last night," Wuertz said of his slider on Tuesday before batting practice at Angel Stadium. "Grip, arm angle, everything. I wasn't really worried this spring because I know sliders aren't as sharp down there, but I still had some things to work out, and I feel like I'm there now. "Now, it's just a matter of finding that consistency and throwing every pitch with conviction." For Bailey, who throws what scouts call a "heavy" fastball that sits in the 90-94-mph range but has been clocked as high as 96, it wasn't a matter of consistency or conviction. It was a matter of getting from the bullpen to the mound without incident. "I wasn't nervous; I was numb," said Bailey, whose parents flew in from his native New Jersey for the series. "It was like I was just floating out to the mound -- at 100 miles an hour. It was the longest run of my life." It led to just another short outing for Bailey, who wasn't converted into a reliever until midway through the 2008 season, which he spent at Double-A Midland. Before the switch, Bailey was 1-8 with a 6.18 ERA in 15 starts. After it, he was 4-1 with a 0.92 ERA in 22 appearances out of the bullpen. "Having an ERA under 1.00 at any level, that's significant," Geren said. "That's some pitching." Young and Geren don't see Bailey starting again anytime soon. For now he's near the bottom of the bullpen's ladder of responsibility, but that's where Chad Gaudin was early in the 2006 season with Oakland, and Gaudin ended up being one of the team's top relievers by the end of the year. "There's some similarities there," Young conceded. "They both have multiple pitches, they're both hard-throwing righties, they're both aggressive guys out there." Geren went as far as suggesting that Bailey could be a closer some day, and Bailey said that's not the first time he's heard it. "My college coach told me, 'I could see you making it as a reliever,'" Bailey said of Mike Litterio, the head man at Wagner College in New York. "I did some closing in college and I've done a little since then, but I mostly saw myself as a starter because that's what I did all through the Minors until last year." A sixth-round pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, Bailey is all for the idea of staying in the bullpen -- especially if it keeps him in the big leagues. "I'm still just getting used to the idea of being here at all," he said. "Whenever and however they want to use me, it's all fine with me."Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
