Damaso Marte Article

[DBAHO]

From da Cubune,

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- What we have here is your basic failure to communicate.

 

Not to mention a mea culpa.

 

One of my goals this spring was to learn a few things about Damaso Marte. After all, he's on the short list of Chicago's best pitchers. He deserves mention with, say, the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano and the White Sox's Jon Garland, if not the likes of Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Mark Buehrle.

 

But about all I know after watching him for two seasons is that he has an above-average fastball and a slider that's meaner than a bully in need of lunch money. He has the dry hands necessary to work tough situations. And he doesn't seem to care if other guys get the attention.

 

Marte, a 29-year-old survivor from Santo Domingo, the capitol city of the Dominican Republic, apparently is satisfied to have established himself as one of the best relievers in the American League. It doesn't seem to bother him that very few of the best White Sox fans would recognize him out of uniform, while friendly (and English-speaking) teammate Kelly Wunsch is a media darling even though he is in awe of Marte's talent.

 

Just how big could Marte be if his name were Donald Martin? How popular could he be if he were a chatterbox like Mitch Williams? How could he benefit if his locker were a regular stopping point for the reporters who cover his team?

 

"I've thought about that a little bit," said Sox catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., a native Puerto Rican. "He doesn't get much publicity. With how well he did last year, you should hear his name more. If he keeps pitching like he is, that will take care of itself."

 

Marte has appeared in 139 of a possible 324 games for the White Sox the last two years. He has worked 140 innings, going 5-3 with 21 saves (tops on the staff in 2002-03 combined) and a 2.12 earned-run average, including a 1.58 mark last year. He has struck out 10.2 hitters per nine innings.

 

Outside of Eddie Guardado, is there a left-handed reliever in the American League you would rather have than Marte? Oakland gave Arthur Rhodes a three-year deal last winter, but his career ERA is 4.33. Minnesota's J.C. Romero was a force in 2002 but got knocked around last year. The pickings are so thin that the Yankees, of all teams, have settled for Cubs castoff Felix Heredia.

 

Every team in the majors would love to have Marte. Yet when general manager Ken Williams traded for him at the end of spring training in 2002, I criticized the deal because Williams sent minor-league right-hander Matt Guerrier to Pittsburgh.

 

Guerrier, then 23, had won 18 games in the high minors the year before. Because of a lack of control, Marte had failed to beat out Joe Beimel for the last spot in the Pirates' bullpen.

 

But give Williams and his scouts credit for seeing Marte as a diamond in the rough. Something clicked after he joined the Sox, his fourth organization. He threw strikes, got outs and his confidence began to grow. He gained the respect of his teammates almost immediately.

 

"Marte's very durable," Alomar said. "He can pitch two innings, an inning and a half, and he's almost always ready the next day. I don't see many people in bullpens who are as durable as he is."

 

Nor can many pitchers blow away hitters as easily as he does when he's on. He held batters to a .185 average last season, down from .204 in 2002. In his two years with the White Sox, left-handed batters have hit .159 with a home run every 75 at-bats.

 

No wonder there's talk about him as Plan B if Billy Koch doesn't nail down 80 percent of his ninth-inning leads.

 

Wunsch, then recovering from shoulder surgery, was on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte when he saw Marte pitch for the first time. The White Sox were facing the New York Yankees.

 

"We were up in Syracuse (N.Y.) and they had the YES network," Wunsch recalled. "He comes in there and the first couple pitches he threw were 95, 96 [m.p.h.]. I'm like, 'Holy smokes, this guy's bringing the noise.' Then he snapped off a few sliders and I told myself I better get healthy in a hurry or he'll take my job. I definitely have to respect his abilities."

 

Whether Marte remains in a set-up role or takes over as the closer, there's no question that the White Sox respect him. As spring training was getting underway, assistant general manager Rick Hahn got him to sign a three-year, $5-million deal that included option years in 2007 and '08, at the bargain price of $3 million per year.

 

That was a terrific deal from the club's perspective. It locks him up for five years at a relative pittance given the talent Marte has shown.

 

It's about time we get to know the guy. He seems to be a mystery off the field even to the White Sox, who do not list any personal information about him in their media guide.

 

Perhaps our knowledge of the man lags behind because of the language barrier. Maybe it's the fact he has toiled in an anonymous role. But the bet here is that we'll all know a lot more about Marte when the 2004 season ends.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Nice to see Marte gettin some love. Those numbers over the last couple years speak for themselves. Hopefully he'll start gettin a lilttle bit more national love this year..If not, oh well. He'll still dominate...

[southsider2k5]

Class act by Phil Rogers to admit he was wrong. Some other writers in this town could learn from his example.

[SoxAce]

He is the only man in that bullpen that I would feel comfortable with every single time he takes the ball. Go Damaso!!

[UofIChiSox]

Damaso is awesome, and locking him up for that long is a great deal for the Sox. It's weird that he doesn't get much pub, but I guess among Latino Sox fans there are plenty of other higher profile latinos to look up to.

[southsider2k5]

Damaso is awesome, and locking him up for that long is a great deal for the Sox.  It's weird that he doesn't get much pub, but I guess among Latino Sox fans there are plenty of other higher profile latinos to look up to.

Dam is a low key guy. He doesn't mug for cameras, like some people in this town. He goes about his business, and when he gets a big K, he acts like he has done it before.

[Stocking]

Anyone see the profile for damaso on yahoo sports. Cites that Ozzie might use him in the ninth if two lefthanded batter are up. Is he in line to close if Boch fails?

[SoxFan562004]

Great article. Even though the Sox didn't bring in any outside players, I really liked the extensions for MB, Lee, and Marte. They're all decent extenstions, they avoid the ugliness of arbitration, and they don't criple the Sox payroll like the PK extension.

 

I really enjoy watching Marte pitch, he has some filthy movement and location. When he locates that backdoor pitch to righties it's basically unhittable. I heard Bruce Levine in the off-season say that a lot of teams were calling about Marte for a trade and KW wouldn't even listen. So KW knows his value.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

It's really nice to see Marte get some props from the Chicago media.

[greasywheels121]

That's really why I like Mags and Marte. They're really modest for how successful they are in the bigs.

[witesoxfan]

Class act by Phil Rogers to admit he was wrong. Some other writers in this town could learn from his example.

 

Dam is a low key guy. He doesn't mug for cameras, like some people in this town.

 

Damn, SS2k4 is just being so unclear on this thread. I have absolutely no idea who he is talking about.

 

 

 

And I agree with the article, however, I question one part of it. In it, Phil mentions something like "other then Eddie Guardado, is there any other lefty in the AL you would want more?" I completely disagree with that, because he seems to be implying that Guardado is better then Marte, when this is simply not true. I personally feel Marte blows Guardado out of the water, and the only lefty who is better then him in the majors is Billy Wagner.

[Gene Honda Civic]

And I agree with the article, however, I question one part of it.  In it, Phil mentions something like "other then Eddie Guardado, is there any other lefty in the AL you would want more?"  I completely disagree with that, because he seems to be implying that Guardado is better then Marte, when this is simply not true.  I personally feel Marte blows Guardado out of the water, and the only lefty who is better then him in the majors is Billy Wagner.

 

You Are correct, Sir.

[southsider2k5]

Damn, SS2k4 is just being so unclear on this thread.  I have absolutely no idea who he is talking about. 

 

 

 

And I agree with the article, however, I question one part of it.  In it, Phil mentions something like "other then Eddie Guardado, is there any other lefty in the AL you would want more?"  I completely disagree with that, because he seems to be implying that Guardado is better then Marte, when this is simply not true.  I personally feel Marte blows Guardado out of the water, and the only lefty who is better then him in the majors is Billy Wagner.

yeah I guess I have to work harder on expressing my feelings