#CardCorner: 2002 Topps Javier Vázquez

One of the most durable pitchers of his generation, Javier Vázquez worked 14 seasons in the big leagues, winning at least 10 games in each of his final 12 campaigns.

No Puerto Rican-born pitcher has more victories, more games started, more innings pitched and more strikeouts than the 6-foot-2 right-hander who still ranks near the top of many Expos/Nationals all-time lists.

Born July 25, 1976, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Javier Carlos Vázquez starred in both basketball and baseball at Colegio Ponceño High School. He was selected in the fifth round of the 1994 MLB Draft by the Expos with the 140th overall pick. None of the 139 players picked in front of him finished with a higher career Wins Above Replacement figure than Vázquez’s 45.6, with only Nomar Garciaparra (taken by the Red Sox with the 12th overall pick) even close to that figure (44.3).

Assigned to the Expos Gulf Coast League team following the draft, Vázquez went 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA in 67.2 innings. Promoted to the South Atlantic League in 1995 when he was just 18, Vázquez struggled against much older competition and went 6-6 with a 5.08 ERA in 102.2 innings. But when he returned to the South Atlantic League in 1996 with Delmarva, Vázquez was dominant – going 14-3 and striking out 173 batters in 164.1 innings.

“A lot of guys can learn from Vázquez because of his location,” Delmarva manager Doug Sisson told the Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., “and that he puts the ball wherever he wants it.”

Vázquez moved up the Class A ladder to West Palm Beach of the Florida State League in 1997, going 6-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 19 starts before moving on to Double-A Harrisburg, where he was 4-0 with a 1.07 ERA in six starts. Now one of the top prospects in the pitching-rich Expos organization, Vázquez was named Montreal’s minor league pitcher of the year in both 1996 and 1997.

In his final regular season start of the season for Harrisburg, Vázquez pitched six perfect innings against Reading before being removed from the game.

“Javier is a young buck who’s a big-time prospect in this organization,” Harrisburg manager Rick Sofield told the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa. “The people in this organization are more important than a perfect game.”

The Expos brought Vázquez to Spring Training in 1998, and with ace Pedro Martínez traded to the Red Sox following his Cy Young Award-winning 1997 campaign, Montreal was looking for its young pitchers to fill the void. Vázquez earned a spot in the rotation and started the Expos’ third game of the season, enduring the expected hard knocks that come for pitchers who skip Triple-A. Vázquez won his first game on May 1 against the Diamondbacks but was 1-6 with a 6.25 ERA at the end of May.

He did not notch his first road victory of the season until Aug. 18 – again versus the expansion Diamondbacks.

Vázquez finished the season with a 5-15 record and 6.06 ERA, allowing 31 home runs in 172.1 innings.

“The majority (of his home runs) have been careless home runs like that,” Expos manager Felipe Alou told the Montreal Gazette after Vázquez surrendered a two-run home run to the Mets’ Brian McRae on July 12 that turned a 2-1 Montreal lead into a 3-2 New York lead. “You take a lead like that (Montreal had taken a 2-1 lead in the previous half inning), with a man on base, you don’t serve up a cookie like that. You have to know the value of a one-run lead around the sixth inning. To me, it’s a big lead; for a kid like that, it’s not.”

Vazquez, however, was using his rookie season as a learning opportunity.

“I just need to concentrate when I’m ahead,” Vázquez told the Gazette. “It’s not that I’m not concentrating; I’m trying to do too much.”

Vázquez began the 1999 season as the Expos’ No. 3 starter once again – and again struggled. This time – after going 2-4 with a 6.63 ERA in 11 starts – Vázquez was sent to Triple-A Ottawa. He made seven starts before returning to the Expos in July, coming back on July 18 against New York at Yankee Stadium. Vázquez allowed six runs over seven innings as David Cone pitched a perfect game.

But in his next two starts, Vázquez began putting things together. He threw two complete games, allowing a total of seven hits and two earned runs while striking out 14 against the Pirates and Cubs. A change-up and a revised slider gave Vázquez new weapons on the mound.

“Right now, he’s in command of four pitches, and you don’t need that,” Alou told the Gazette. “A couple or three is enough.”

Vázquez tossed his third complete game of the season on Sept. 14 against the Dodgers, allowing just Mark Grudzielanek’s fourth-inning single and a walk to Gary Sheffield while striking out 10. He finished the year with a 9-8 record and a 5.00 ERA, setting the stage for him to become one of the most dependable pitchers in the game.

Vázquez began the 2000 season 6-1 and made 33 starts, finishing 11-9 with a 4.05 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 217.2 innings. In 2001, Vázquez made his first Opening Day start and found his best stuff starting in late June when he won 11 of his next 13 decisions, including six in a row in late August and early September. The streak was seemingly set to continue when Vázquez authored five shutout innings against the Marlins on Sept. 17 – the first game back after the layoff following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But in the bottom of the fifth inning, a Ryan Dempster pitch hit Vázquez on the front of his batting helmet, fracturing his right eye socket and sidelining him for the rest of the season.

“I’m fine. Just where the ball hit me, it hurts a little bit,” Vázquez told the Canadian Press. “I didn’t see (the pitch). I really didn’t.”

The Expos scored six times in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-0 lead and put Vázquez in line for the victory, but the Marlins rallied against the Montreal bullpen to win 10-6. Vázquez – who many thought had a shot at 20 wins – finished the year 16-11 with a 3.42 ERA and an NL-best three shutouts, fanning 208 batters in 223.2 innings.

“One of the things that was motivating me to come back (after the Sept. 11 attacks) was helping (Vázquez) win 20 games,” Expos catcher Michael Barrett told the Canadian Press about a season where the Expos lost 94 games. “Now we eliminate that, and we have to put our hope elsewhere.”

In 2002, Vázquez agreed to a one-year deal worth $4.725 million – a significant piece of the payroll for the Expos. He struggled to a 10-13 record and 3.91 ERA, striking out 179 batters over 230.1 innings – fourth in the NL – but allowing a league-worst 243 hits. He also got into a public feud with Montreal Gazette columnist Jack Todd.

As a result, Vázquez’s name was bandied about in trade talks following the season. Then he and the team could not agree on a salary figure and entered into a bitter arbitration battle, with the arbitrator eventually choosing the Expos’ $6 million offer over Vázquez’s request for $7.15 million.

“How can you say you’re happy,” Expos general manager Omar Minaya told Florida Today. “Hopefully we can move on now and concentrate on the season.”

 Vázquez delivered on his contract in 2003, striking out 241 batters over 230.2 innings while going 13-12 with a 3.24 ERA. But the Expos – who at the time were owned by the other 29 MLB teams – drew a little more than one million fans while winning 83 games, and with Vázquez expected to command almost $10 million in his final year of arbitration, a trade was a virtual certainty.

On Dec. 16, the Yankees sent Randy Choate, Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera to Montreal in exchange for Vázquez.

“It’s tough to give up a pitcher like Javier Vázquez,” Minaya told the National Post. “But I do believe that by acquiring those three players, we gave ourselves a little more flexibility in putting together our team for next year.”

The 2004 Expos would lose 95 games then move to Washington to become the Nationals. Vázquez, meanwhile, signed a new four-year deal worth a reported $43.5 million. He started the Yankees home opener and had a 10-5 record at the 2004 All-Star break when he was selected to the All-Star Game.

“We expected that we were getting a lot, and we’ve gotten a lot,” Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told the New York Daily News. “He’s been tremendous.”

But Vázquez went 4-5 with a 6.92 ERA in the second half and allowed five runs over five innings in his start against the Twins in the ALDS. He was moved to the bullpen for the ALCS vs. Boston, picking up a win in relief in New York’s 19-8 victory in Game 3. But in Game 7, Vázquez came out of the bullpen in relief of Kevin Brown with the bases loaded and one out in the second – and proceeded to allow a grand slam to Johnny Damon that all but ended the Yankees’ hopes. Boston went on to win 10-3 and advance to the World Series.

Vázquez finished the regular season with a 14-10 record and 4.91 ERA over 198 innings – the only time from 2000 through 2009 that Vázquez did not top the 200-innings mark.

On Jan. 11, 2005, the Yankees and Diamondbacks finalized a deal that sent Vázquez, Brad Halsey, Dioner Navarro and $9 million to Arizona in exchange for five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson.

Vázquez went 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA for an 85-loss Diamondbacks team in 2005, then asked to be traded to a team in the eastern half of the United States in order to be closer to his home in Puerto Rico. The Diamondbacks found a trade partner in the new World Series champions in Chicago, acquiring Orlando Hernández, Luis Vizcaíno and Chris Young from the White Sox in exchange for Vázquez on Dec. 20, 2005.

Vázquez was 11-12 with a 4.84 ERA in 2006 as the White Sox won 90 games but failed to make the postseason. Then in the spring of 2007, Vázquez and the White Sox agreed to a three-year, $34.5 million extension that would keep him under contract through the 2010 season.

Chicago lost 90 games in 2007 but Vázquez was nearly at the top of his form, going 15-8 with a 3.74 ERA while striking out 213 batters in 216.2 innings. Then in 2008, Vázquez was 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA as the White Sox won the AL Central before falling to Tampa Bay in the ALDS. Vázquez appeared in his final postseason game in that series, drawing the Game 1 start but allowing six runs over 4.1 innings in a 6-4 loss.

On Dec. 4, 2008, the White Sox sent Vázquez and Boone Logan to the Braves in a deal for Tyler Flowers, Brent Lillibridge and two minor leaguers.

“I’ve been kind of a power pitcher for most of my career, a fly ball pitcher,” Vázquez told the Associated Press after the trade. “Coming to a stadium like Atlanta, which plays fair, is a little bit better ballpark to pitch in than Chicago. I think that’s going to probably help me.”

Vázquez proved to be correct, posting a career-low 2.87 ERA over 219.1 innings while going 15-10 with 238 strikeouts and finishing fourth in the NL Cy Young voting – the first time in his career that Vázquez was named on a Cy Young ballot. But with the Braves looking to upgrade their offense, they traded Vázquez – after finding no takers for starter Derek Lowe – to the Yankees along with Logan for Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaíno on Dec. 22, 2009.

“Everybody knows I didn’t want to leave here the first time around,” Vázquez told the New York media after the trade. “I’m glad I’m back.”

But Vázquez’s second time in New York proved no more effective than his 2004 stint. He lost four of his first six starts and his fastball velocity was noticeably slower than in 2009. By the end of the season, Vázquez was 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA in 157.1 innings, his lowest total since 1999. Forty-five percent of the 155 hits Vázquez surrendered in 2010 went for extra bases.

With his contract expired, Vázquez became a free agent and signed a one-year deal with the Marlins worth a reported $7 million on Dec. 2, 2010. The deal also included a no-trade clause, assuring Vázquez that he would pitch most of his games as close to Puerto Rico as possible.

“The biggest thing when you think of Javier Vázquez,” Marlins general manager Michael Hill told the South Florida Sun Sentinel, “is just a true professional on and off the field.”

Vázquez turned in a solid effort for the Marlins in 2011, going 13-11 with a 3.69 ERA over 192.2 innings. In September, Vázquez posted a team-record 29 straight scoreless innings and won his final start on Sept. 27 when he worked a complete game, five-hitter against the Nationals. The Marlins won on a walk-off home run by Bryan Petersen in a game that Vázquez hinted would be his last.

“I’ve been blessed being in the big leagues for 14 years,” Vázquez said. “I feel it’s time.”

Vázquez followed through on his prediction, retiring to spend more time with his family. He finished with a record of 165-160, a 4.22 ERA and 2,536 strikeouts in 2,840 innings, including 443 starts.

Among pitchers born outside the United States, only Bert Blyleven, Fergie Jenkins and Pedro Martínez have more strikeouts. Among pitchers in the 2000s, only Mark Buehrle matched Vázquez with nine seasons with at least 200 innings pitched.

“They can count on me to go seven, eight or nine innings,” Vázquez told the Palm Beach Post in the spring of 2002. “Every five days you go out there and give your team innings. That’s what I like. When I pitch, that’s what I want to do.”

Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum