Javy Vazquez has insisted that he wanted to prove manager Ozzie Guillen wrong and show the White Sox skipper that he is a big-game pitcher, but it now seems as if he won't get that chance.
The Sun-Times first reported Oct. 30 that the right-hander was being shopped, and that seemed to be the case during the recent GM meetings in California. "That's a terrible, terrible label to put on someone," White Sox GM Ken Williams said of what Guillen said about Vazquez. "He took the ball every four days, not five, at the end to try to get us to the playoffs. He didn't pitch like he wanted to; we were hoping for a little bit more. But I'm going to choose to acknowledge the fact that he agreed to take the ball a day earlier than he's used to taking it for the sake of the team.
"So I refuse to put that label on a guy who took the ball and competed like that. I'm not going to do it."
That didn't stop Guillen from telling reporters before the late-September showdown series at the Metrodome: "He hasn't been (a big-game pitcher), that's the bottom line."
The question the Sox face now is whether Vazquez ever can pitch for Guillen again. Williams deftly danced around the idea that Vazquez won't be wearing a Sox uniform on Opening Day 2009.
"Right now, Javy Vazquez is a member of the Chicago White Sox," Williams said. "I'm not going to do anything different than what I've always done, which is to listen to overtures for all of our players and make the determination whether there is something that makes sense for us to move forward on and do it with the mind-set that it can improve the ballclub.
"Now, there is also the added portion that if you believe that you are no worse than you were and you can improve your young core, then you also have an obligation to listen to those types of overtures because it extends that window. I call it trying to sustain some success."
That said, if the Sox could get a big-name player such as Baltimore Orioles leadoff hitter Brian Roberts for Vazquez, they would pull the trigger.
Vazquez, 32, has two years and $23 million left on his contract that includes limited no-trade language that blocks any trades to teams from the West Division of each league. He went 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA last season. In his last four starts, including one outing in the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Rays, he failed to reach five innings each time, going 0-4 with a 13.22 ERA.
