55.046 – Felix Vidaca Happy in Stopper Role

[RonCo]

Byline: Max Offen Sichtlich

Off Topic

Starter Finding Fresh Motivation

August 31, 2055

Upon taking over the controls in Sacramento, General Manager Ron Collins looked around at the pitching heavy Mad Pope roster and said to himself: “Self, we clearly need another starting pitcher.” This, of course, was asinine. Sacramento’s rotation of Vazquez, Flores, Turner, King, Hanson is arguably among the top two or three rotations in existence—if not the top one. But that did not stop Collins from dealing a couple solid guys to Atlantic City for the apparently muck-mired, one-time Portland ace Felix Vidaca….who we just spelled Vicada, but who the hell cares, right?

Baseball insiders wondered how the 32-year-old Vidaca would be handled, and whether he would be inserted into the rotation at the expense of one of the others. At one point, odds were being taken on whether the club would go with a 6-man rotation.

But club had a discussion with the hurler that included the word “Stopper,” and Vidaca seemed happy enough to try it (though, really, anything that got Felix out of Atlantic City and into a pennant chase probably sounded good at the time.

Regardless, he hasn’t looked back.

Some numbers:

Team	G	GS	W	L	SV	IP	ERA	ERA+	FIP	WAR	HR	BB	K	WHIP	BABIP
ATC	15	15	4	5	0	77.1	4.54	98	3.81	1.6	5	22	44	1.24	0.275
SAC	30	0	5	2	5	59.2	1.66	258	2.95	1.4	3	16	52	0.79	0.189

Maybe it’s the defense? Maybe it’s the park? Whatever, Vidaca doesn’t seem to mind.

“I like the feeling that I can pitch every day, you know?” he said. “I signed that sweet-sweet multi-year deal to get out of Portland, so I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from, and I can just pitch and pitch. Who could complain?”

Not Pope fans, that’s for sure.

POS	Player Name	Age	B	T	OVR	POT	Stu	Stu P	Mov	Mov P	Con	Con P
RP	Felix Vidaca	29	0	R	50	50	12	12	9	9	8	8
	Source		Ht	Wt	BABIP - P	HR-P	Velo	Sta	Hold	GB/FB	#Pitches	#Pit-6+
	Trade		6'1"	195	7	9	101	4	6	GB	4	3