Saturday, August 27, 2011

Unknown Heroes Pt. 20: Julian Tavarez

To say Julian Tavarez was a little crazy was a complete understatement. Well-known for his volatile temper, and some downright quirky behavior, you never knew quite what to expect next from Tavarez.

Tavarez was brought to the Red Sox as a free agent prior to the 2006 season to help solidify the bullpen. His stats were never terribly impressive. In his first year, he put up a 4.47 ERA and a 1.561 WHIP. The next year, he was a starter and a long man in the bullpen for the World Series Champion Red Sox. He had a bad record and bad stats, but he remained entertaining. Tavarez was released after nine games in 2008. He never had much success with the Red Sox. But that's not why he was so interesting.

Tavarez was suspended for the first ten games of the 2006 season after he got into a fistfight with Joey Gathright of Tampa Bay. Tavarez placed a tag on Gathright when he was covering home on a relay and then before Gathright could get, Tavarez was punching him. Tavarez was also known for rolling the ball to first base on occasion.

Tavarez was not much of a player, but he was a hell of an entertaining player.

No comments:

Post a Comment