“We didn’t say long term, short term,” Cooper said. “He’s in the ‘pen. I would think probably as a late guy, seventh inning on. That’s what we talked about. That’s what he did last year, primarily. He was pretty doggone good at it.” Link
Other than his tribute to George Carlin, Chacon had this to say about the move,
“I’ll handle it like I’m going to handle it,” said Chacon, McTaggart notes Chacon saved 35 games for the Colorado Rockies in 2004. Link
and elsewhere
Out of his 269 career appearances, 134 have been starts and 135 have been in relief.
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But, it wasn’t what he intended when he signed for less money with the Astros
Wade made the offer to Chacon a little over a week ago, and for a while, it appeared the right-hander was leaning toward signing with another club that had presented a better monetary offer. The Astros thought the deal was dead over the past weekend, but on Monday, assistant general manager Dave Gottfried received a call from Chacon’s agent informing him the pitcher opted for a better chance to win over a more rewarding financial deal.
“[Chacon has] closed, he’s started, he’s been an effective setup guy,” Wade said. “One of the beauties of getting this deal done is this time of Spring Training, you don’t find a lot of healthy, veteran arms still available.”
Chacon said. “I’m excited about the competition. I don’t want anything handed to me. My main thing was wanting to start and I’m getting that opportunity here.”
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“He’s going to be in the mix,” Cooper said. “He’ll just be a starter. At this point in time, that’s the way we’re looking at it.”
“Shawn gives us another experienced arm to add to our mix,” Wade said. “I know that he had better financial packages out there, but Shawn thinks we can win, and he wants to be part of what we have here. We’ll put him into the competition for a spot in the rotation and let him battle it out.”
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“The team looks pretty good offensively, and as a pitcher that’s pretty enticing,” Chacon said. “And I’m excited to play for Coop and a black manager. It’s not like I would only play for a black manager, obviously, but to me it’s exciting.”
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However, he did say during spring training,
“I’m not worried about it,” said Chacon, who gave up four hits and two runs in three innings Friday. “I’m worried about getting in shape for the season, making sure that when March 31 comes I’m ready to go whatever role I’m in.”
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