Oft-traded Creek grad Aardsma intrigues Boston

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, February 25, 2008

Brita Meng Outzen / Associated Press

Red Sox reliever David Aardsma gains some insight from pitching coach John Ferrell.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The trades have been stunningly frequent, leading reliever David Aardsma to blaze a bizarre here-today-gone-tomorrow path in his brief time in the big leagues.

For the fourth consecutive spring training, Aardsma, 26, is in camp with a different team. This time, the change was not surprising. On Jan. 22, the Chicago White Sox designated Aardsma, who went to Cherry Creek High School, for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster after signing reliever Octavio Dotel.

That meant the White Sox had 10 days to dispose of Aardsma's contract, and they did so Jan. 28 by trading him to Boston for two pitchers who were in the low minors last year and were not considered prospects by the Red Sox.

"When I actually got the phone call it was the Red Sox, I was very surprised," Aardsma said. "I think it was the last team I expected to be traded to. The world champions, you think their team is just completely stacked and set."

Aardsma is vying for one opening in the Boston bullpen and is out of minor league options. He is a hard-throwing flier, a no-risk, possible-reward acquisition for the Red Sox who is seeking some semblance of permanence after going 6-1 with a 5.16 ERA in 81 games for three other teams.

"There were things we liked about him from the scouting standpoint," Boston general manager Theo Epstein said. "I was calling them 'consistently intriguing' scouting reports about him, including last year.

"Then, from a statistical standpoint, he shows the most important thing a reliever can do besides throw strikes and that's strike people out. He's shown the consistent ability to do that."

Aardsma has 90 strikeouts in 96 career innings but also has 55 walks.

He has shown the ability to be utterly dazzling, such as last year, when he went 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA in his first 14 appearances with the White Sox and had 26 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.

But Aardsma careened off course, spent most of June at Triple-A Charlotte (N.C.) and the balance of the season there after a July 4 appearance for the White Sox.

Aardsma has a full complement of pitches to go with a mid-90 mph fastball. Boston pitching coach John Ferrell said Aardsma has "plenty of stuff to be a successful major league pitcher." What has been lacking are consistency, command and the ability to snuff out a big inning.

"His personality is the type where he tries to do a little bit too much at times, and his delivery then gets spread out," said Ferrell, who unsuccessfully recruited Aardsma out of Cherry Creek for Oklahoma State, where Ferrell was the pitching coach.

As a result, Aardsma's fastball command and location suffers.

"The more we can slow the game down for him from a mental standpoint and really focus on some simple checkpoints to keep that consistency in play - he's got all the physical ability to be a successful reliever," Ferrell said.

A swift major league current has carried Aardsma from place to place, giving him a skewed perspective on this time of year. After patiently signing autographs for 25 minutes for the daily throng in Boston's camp following a recent workout, Aardsma said, "It's weird. I've been with so many teams so far, so quickly, that it's normal to be with a different team and a different organization in spring training."

Aardsma was in the major leagues before pitching in Triple-A. And in keeping with the unusual course he has charted, Aardsma saw the latter level in 2004 before pitching at Double-A in 2005.

San Francisco drafted Aardsma out of Rice with the 22nd pick in the 2003 draft. He began his professional career in the high-Single-A California League, going 1-1 with eight saves and a 1.96 ERA in 18 1/3 innings and making the leap to the Giants' Opening Day roster in 2004.

"In the big leagues, you have to be consistent," Aardsma said. "In the minor leagues, you can be flashy. And I was very flashy in the minor leagues, throwing as hard as I can, throwing it by guys."

The Giants traded Aardsma and another pitcher on May 28, 2005, to the Chicago Cubs for reliever LaTroy Hawkins, a member of the Rockies bullpen last season.

The Cubs sent Aardsma and a minor league pitcher to the White Sox on Nov. 16, 2006, for left-handed reliever Neal Cotts. Aardsma's impressive start with the White Sox last year was by no means his only extraordinary stretch in the majors.

In his final 16 games for the Cubs in 2006, Aardsma allowed three runs, 11 hits, 11 walks and struck out 25 in 22 2/3 innings.

To date, Aardsma is best known for supplanting Hank Aaron first alphabetically among major league players and for his oddly itinerant career. Aardsma realizes the Red Sox could be the ideal place to finally find a niche and, for a while anyway, put an end to his travels. It's a possibility the Red Sox have also glimpsed.

"He's clearly a talented guy," Epstein said. "There's some volatility of performance with relievers, especially finding their way through their early 20s. Maybe this is the landing spot where it clicks for him or maybe not. We have to make a quick decision in spring training (because the Red Sox have to set their Opening Day roster before beginning the regular season March 25 in Tokyo). Aardsma's a guy who, with a little bit of refinement, used the right way, it may click."