Erubiel, Where Have You Gone?

A year without the prototypical slugger Erubiel Durazo has been long enough for most to forget him. As a 24-year-old in 1999, Durazo was exciting fantasy players with his potential. He slugged 11 HRs in 155 at bats, with a .329 average. For the next three years in Arizona, Durazo was one of the most feared pinch-hitters in the league. His Slugging% was .537 in 2001 and increased to .550 in 2002. Not only could he hit the longball, but his OBP lingered between .375 and .400. He was possibly the most complete hitter who was not in a starting lineup.

In 2003, Durazo got the chance he had been waiting for. The high OBP attracted Oakland Athletics' GM Billy Beane. As part of a four-team trade, Oakland parted ways with Jason Arnold to acquire Durazo, a cheap price tag. Durazo did not dissapoint. Given the opportunity to start, Durazo racked up over 500 at bats in both 2003 and 2004. His production declined somewhat in his new role. Durazo lost a considerable amount of power in his first season in the American League. His Slugging% dropped from .550 to .430 and he hit 21 HRs, only 5 more than he hit as a part-time player the year before.

2004 saw a return to his high rate stats. His SLG jumped back up to .523 and he was getting on base at a higher clip: .396. If you dig deeper, however, this season was largely due to luck. All throughout his career, Durazo walked nearly twice as often as an average player. In 2004, he was marginally more "patient" than an average player. Even with the decrease in walks, his OBP had gone up. This seems counterintuitive. The reason? His batting average rose to .321, compared to a career average of .281. The reason for this? His Batting Average on Balls In Play was .369, leaps and bounds above his average of .318.

Subsequently, Durazo crashed in 2005 before needing Tommy John Surgery. In 152 at bats, Durazo hit .237/ .305/ .368.

Durazo spent 2006 starting his comeback. He spent time in the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, and Minnesota Twins AAA minor league systems. In approximately 200 at bats between the three systems, Durazo showed flashes of his former self.

In August of 2006, Durazo was released by the Twins. The A's invited him to Spring Training this season, but cut him from the final roster. Tommy John Surgery is an operation hitters have been able to come back from in the past. At only 33-years-old, someone should be willing to take a chance on this guy. If Yuniesky Betancourt can find a major league job, why not Durazo?

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

956 days ago

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Being from Arizona, I have a bit more insight on our local team, especially behind the scenes.

First, the reason he was signed. He's Mexican. When the Dbacks franchise first started, they had opened a training academy in Monterrey, Mexico. They had also made it a point to either sign or draft players with Mexican heritage, (Karim Garcia, Elmer Dessens, Armando Reynoso, etc). For an expansion team just starting out, any marketing strategy is good, but after awhile, some things just don't work out, and this was one of those strategies. Durazo was undrafted both out of high school and junior college, both in Tucson. So, right off the bat, he is a big risk. When he was first called up in '99, it was not to take someone's spot on the roster, it was actually to be traded. The Dbacks and Dodgers had agreed on a trade which would have sent Durazo and Brian Anderson to LA for Darren Dreifort. Thankfully, Dreifort flunked his physical and the trade was called off. Ironically, the same day, Travis Lee hurt his shoulder on a slide into second base and went on the disabled list. The next day Durazo was in the lineup in Philadelphia and homered off Curt Schilling and the rest is history. As far as Durazo goes as a player, quite frankly, he is awful. First, he has the shortest arms I've ever seen on a man as tall. He can't reach outside pitches. Once teams stopped throwing fastballs and started keeping the ball away, his value as a hitter plummeted. He is also, next to Mike Piazza, possibly the slowest runner in the game. He was a base clogger big time. He was known to be on second and stop at third on doubles! Seriously. He was a horrible defender, and was so bad the Dbacks tried to make an outfielder out of him. Thinking he was established in the majors, he actually refused to play the outfield the following year in spring training, thinking he was the regular first baseman. Now, to the reason why he left. The Dbacks previous regime, which is the same group which owns the Suns, made it known as part of the organizational philosophy, that off the field transgretions would be dealt with severely. (See Jason Kidd). I don't know this to be 100% true, but I have heard from reliable sources the reason Durazo, (and David Dellucci) were sent packing was due to steriod use.

He was in spring training this season with Oakland and was in a battle with Dan Johnson for the lefty pinchhitting job which he apparently lost. He was released by Oakland on March 31st and is currently unemployed.

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