SARASOTA, Fla. -Danny Graves is finally getting over his one-year fling in the rotation.
Yes, it's taken a long time -much longer than anyone expected.
The most accomplished closer in Cincinnati Reds history figured there would be no harm in trying his hand at something different during the 2003 season, helping a team that was desperately short on starters.
Not surprisingly, he wasn't very good. To his amazement, the one-year experiment had a long-lasting impact. He went back into the bullpen last year, but wasn't himself.
His fastball was slower. His body was worn down. His routine was out of whack.
I created a lot of bad habits when I was a starter
Graves said yesterday.
Finally this spring, everything is back in place. His fastball and his comfort level are back to where they used to be before he agreed to help out the team by moving into the rotation -a totally foreign place.
The right-hander had never been a starter and didn't know what to do. Even the simple stuff -figuring out what to do between starts -was a challenge because he had no experience at it.
His unfamiliarity and his unease showed in the results -a 4-15 record and 5.33 earned run average. It quickly became obvious that he belonged back in the bullpen.
There was not one thing from starting that helped me except for the fact that I knew I was never ever going to do it again
Graves said. They're too different. The mentality is too different. The way you pitch is too different. I don't think there's anything common in the two. It's a whole different story
like night and day.
Graves pitched a career-high 169 innings as a starter, roughly the same number of innings as in the two previous years combined. He lost a few miles per hour off his fastball as the season went along.
When he went back to the bullpen last year, he wasn't the same.
He had his second All-Star season as a closer, converting 41 of 50 save chances even though he never felt right. He had an excellent first half, reaching 30 saves faster than anyone in major league history. Then, he wore down.
Back spasms forced him onto the disabled list in August, when he was leading the majors with 37 saves. Later, he came down with strep throat, forcing him to miss the last 12 games and costing him a shot at the franchise's saves record. He finished three shy of Jeff Brantley's mark.
Toward the end of the season
I had the back problems and got sick and all of the innings started adding up
and I was still recovering from all of the innings I threw as a starter
he said. Coming into this year
I want the work load.
Graves isn't the prototypical closer. Even at its peak, his fastball isn't overpowering. His best pitch is a sinker, and hitters usually make contact, making for dramatic ninth innings.
His easygoing personality has allowed him to endure the drama in a role that can burn out a pitcher quickly. Graves is the Reds' career saves leader with 172 -he moved ahead of John Franco last season.
Since 1999, Graves has saved 164 games, the 11th-highest total over that span. He would most likely be in the Top 5 if he hadn't spent that one year in the rotation.
None of that matters very much to Graves, who has come close to the postseason only once, when the Reds lost a one-game playoff to the Mets for the 1999 NL wild card.
He turns 32 in August, when he'll be finishing off the final year on his contract. The club expects 22-year-old Ryan Wagner to develop into a closer in the next few years.
The uncertainty has increased Graves' urgency to get the Reds back into contention this season.
I don't want '99 to be the last time I get the chance to experience that
he said.
