BRADENTON, Fla. -- Movement has become the norm for Shawn Chacon.

He's in spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates, histhird camp in three years. And there's a good possibility Chacon,a potential free agent after this season, will be with anotherclub next spring training.

That might not be all bad. Chacon might have pitched his way into a multiyear contract and ended the blowing-like-tumbleweed phase of his career that began when he left the Rockies.

That journey began with Chacon contributing significantly to the New York Yankees. He helped solidify their frayed rotation in the second half of 2005 and pitched well in the postseason. Now he's vying to become the fifth starter for the Pirates, working in a portion of the baseball world where the spotlight barely shines.

"It kind of hurts your feelings, to be honest with you," Chacon said. "That's just your pride being hurt when you get traded from the Yankees. And it doesn't matter where you go (in a deal). Then you realize, 'You're still in the big leagues.'

"I look back and realize, 'Nobody to blame but myself anyway because I really didn't pitch good.' "

The Pirates traded Craig Wilson, a free agent they were going to lose after last season, for Chacon on July 31. That was 369 days after the Rockies, with whom Chacon began his career in 1996 after his graduation from Greeley Central High School, traded him to New York.

He put together a streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings in August for the Yankees and allowed one earned run in his final three starts covering 22 2/3 innings.

The seasons with the Rockies that inevitably fizzled suddenly were gone. Chacon was on a team of marquee players whose sights were trained on late October, nothing less. It seemed too good to be true, and it was.

Chance for security

"Once you get traded, it tends to snowball and you keep moving, but for me, this is a year where I can set myself up a little bit to maybe be in a place for a little while," Chacon said.

That's because after this season Chacon, 29, can be a free agent, which means possibly reaping his first multiyear contract. Free agency and potential financial windfalls mean little now to Chacon. His focus is narrower - winning the final spot in the Pirates rotation.

Chacon came to spring training in very good shape, his weight 220 to 223 pounds, he said, down from 230 to 235 last year. Competing against Tony Armas Jr. for the final spot in the youthful rotation, Chacon has embarked upon a crucial spring training, followed by a season with huge implications.

"The way I look at it going out every day, I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on myself," Chacon said. "You can't play like that; you definitely can't have fun like that. I'm going to work hard and go out there and, obviously, try to execute and do what I do. Hopefully, that'll be good enough in the end."

There are reasons to think that could happen. Pirates pitching coach Jim Colborn guided Chacon through a series of mechanical changes last year. Toward the end of the season, the results were startling at times.

"It's one of the more amazing cases that I've run into," Colborn said. "What happened was a guy whose velocity was 88-89 (mph) went to 93-95 (mph). He'd go through spells of four or five innings where there were no balls hit hard. It was domination in spells."

It was Feb. 1 when the Pirates, seeking pitching depth, announced the signing of Armas, 28, who went 9-12 with a 5.03 ERA in 30 starts last year for Washington. Chacon was 2-3 with a 5.48 ERA in nine starts with Pittsburgh after going 5-3 with a 7.00 ERA in 11 starts and six relief appearances for the Yankees.

Uncertainty nothing new

Chacon's $3,825,000 contract isn't guaranteed. So the Pirates would only owe one-sixth of that amount if they cut him by March 14 and one-quarter if they cut him by March 28. Chances are, Chacon would end up in a long relief role if he misses out as the fifth starter.

"Other than maybe going into last spring training, and I say 'maybe,' there hasn't been a year as a starting pitcher that I've had the job guaranteed," Chacon said. "That's the way I look at it every year. So, as a starter, I've been there before, and it's a matter of worrying about yourself and whatever decisions they make, make it hard for them, regardless of what it is. I don't know what'll happen, but we'll see."

Chacon had no idea of what to expect with the Yankees in 2005 after leaving the Rockies, who traded him for pitchers Ramon Ramirez and Eduardo Sierra when Chacon was 1-7 with a 4.09 ERA and making $2.35 million with his third year of arbitration looming.

He initially seized his opportunity in New York, going 7-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 14 games, including 12 starts. In a must-win Game 4 of an American League Division Series against the Angels, Chacon allowed two runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. He left trailing 2-1, but the Yankees won 3-2.

Chacon was 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA last season before he suffered a left shin contusion after getting hit with a line drive and went on the disabled list from May 17 to June 11.

Upon returning, Chacon said he was "very average at the beginning, and then just never could find my rhythm."

After getting knocked out in the second inning July 4 at Cleveland, Chacon went to the bullpen, where he mostly sat.

He didn't pitch again until July 21, a stretch of inactivity that included the All-Star break and left Chacon to assume he would somehow be taken off the Yankees roster.

With the July 31 trade deadline minutes away, Chacon learned the Yankees had dealt him to Pittsburgh.

Pirates building young staff

The Pirates have endured 14 consecutive losing seasons, two short of tying the all-time record. But the worst was behind them last year when Chacon joined the team. Pittsburgh went 37-35 in the second half and finished 67-95.

"The coaching staff is great," Chacon said. "It's like, 'OK, I'm getting another life here.' I kind of look at it like that. Finishing up the year the way we did helped a lot, too, because it could've been a lot worse."

The Pirates expect to build on that second half, their strength resting in a young, improving rotation. That mix includes left-handers Zach Duke, 24 next month, Paul Maholm, 24, and Tom Gorzelanny, 24, and right-hander Ian Snell, 25.

Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said the team's next wave of pitchers includes left-hander Sean Burnett, Bryan Bullington, John Van Benschoten and Cuban defector Yoslan Herrera, all thought to be close to reaching the majors.

While Littlefield said he's "always open-minded" to signing a veteran such as Chacon to a multiyear contract after this season, the club's current plan would not be to do so.

Nonetheless, in the pricey market for pitching that developed during the offseason, Chacon is a valuable commodity to the Pirates because he's signed for one year. Staying longer is appealing, although Chacon realizes that decision hinges on some down-the- road matters.

"I think it all depends on really how good I am and what kind of year they have," Chacon said. "Even with the market and how young they are here, I think there's still going to be a need of a veteran in the staff, and I think I could see myself fitting that role here.

"Moneywise - how the market was this year, there's no telling how it's going to be after the season. I don't close any (future) opportunities. They've given me an opportunity here, so it's not anything like first chance to get out, I'm gone or anything like that. It's just a matter of what both sides are thinking."

Pitching mechanics

Shawn Chacon said he has "more of a whip with my arm" after Pirates pitching coach Jim Colborn made adjustments to his mechanics.

• The problem: Chacon was leading with his head and hips. His alignment was toward the right-handed batters box, Colborn said, forcing Chacon to make a quick rotating move that resulted in his dropping the arm and throwing across his body.

• The fix: Colborn made a series of related mechanical adjustments, beginning with having Chacon straighten his back leg and put more weight on the heel of his back foot. Colborn likened his work with Chacon to an auto mechanic working to get the motor running right on a car that has been put up on blocks. "With an experienced guy, you seldom have so many things (to address)," Colborn said.

• The result: Chacon's velocity increased, the break on his curve became sharper and the changes began to pay off in his final three starts. On Sept. 13, he allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings against Milwaukee. One week later, Chacon held the Los Angeles Dodgers to four runs (two earned) and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. And one week later against Houston, he allowed one run and four hits in five innings before getting knocked out in the sixth. Walks have plagued Chacon, but in those three starts, totaling 19 innings, he walked four and struck out 10.

• The outlook: Carrying those improved mechanics into Grapefruit League games will be key. But the early signs have been promising. "It looks like it's there," Colborn said. "But the positive thing is we both know (what to do). His body has done it enough to have it be familiar, and I know it enough to be able to identify what he has to do. So he should be good to go and continue that kind of pitching."

Chacon's view

• On potentially being the savvy veteran in a rotation with four starters 25 or younger after he began last season in a Yankees rotation headed by graybeards Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina:

"It's tough to look at myself that way. Coming from that (Yankees) situation to here, now you're considered one of the veterans. I still have trouble labeling myself that. But it's real, it's true, so it's one of those things you have to grasp and take advantage of."

• On exercises he is doing to offset arthritis in his right knee, which has undergone two surgeries:

"Maybe in the past I wasn't so focused on my quads. Now that's going to be an important thing, making sure I keep my quads and my buttocks strong. Last year, it kind of bothered me for a while. But once I started focusing on keeping the leg strong and doing a lot of maintenance stuff for the muscles around it, it started to feel better. That's turned out to be the key."

Fitting in

134 starts and 825 innings combined for four young starters in Pittsburgh's rotation. Shawn Chacon, bidding for the fifth spot, has 115 starts and 740 1/3 innings.

etkinj@RockyMountainNews.com

Back to Top