TUCSON — If not for the bright red shoelaces in his brown athletic shoes, reliever Luis Vizcaino might have gone unnoticed when he arrived Sunday morning.
It was a snapshot of a career. For someone who has been remarkably important to five teams, he’s almost famous, the other guy in monster trades. He has been in swaps involving Justin Duchscherer, Carlos Lee, Randy Johnson and Javier Vazquez.
As a Rockie, however, Vizcaino is already historically significant. His two-year, $7.5 million contract is the most Colorado has given a reliever since Gabe White’s $6.875 million deal before the 2001 season. Vizcaino will be counted on to stabilize the back of the bullpen, serving as a critical setup man for closer Manny Corpas.
“There’s no pressure. It’s just baseball,” Vizcaino said. “Last year I saw the team play. I was happy to be going to (a team that was in the World Series). They played hard.”
The Rockies’ pursuit of Vizcaino as a free agent took shape quickly. After failing to lure back LaTroy Hawkins on a one-year deal in December, Colorado revisited its strategy. Believing a veteran was essential for the bullpen, the Rockies admittedly overextended for Vizcaino.
His contract vests for a third year — he would be first at that length since White — with 135 appearances over the next two seasons or 68 games in 2009.
So why set precedent with Vizcaino?
“It was a little more than we wanted, but we did a ton of background work on this guy,” Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd said. “The strikeout ability is there. We know that at times the base on balls and deep counts will drive us crazy, but the ability to get a strikeout is huge. We also feel he’s the type of guy who is going to fit into the culture of our clubhouse. There are no concerns.”
That isn’t entirely true. There is one.
The Rockies want to maximize his impact without maximizing his use. Vizcaino has appeared in at least 70 games in five of the past six seasons. He set a career high with 77 last season for the Yankees, and admittedly was gassed last September when he posted a 10.13 ERA.
“I pitched too much,” said Vizcaino, who has a knack for performing his best with runners on base.
Brian Fuentes will ease Vizcaino’s burden in Colorado. Both will work predominantly in the seventh and eighth innings, a role that Taylor Buchholz could eventually graduate to, given his ability to miss bats. Therein lies the key, O’Dowd said, to the entire relief corps.
“We want to have as many interchangeable parts as we can,” O’Dowd explained. “When (Hawkins) struggled early on last year and when guys got hurt, we really had trouble piecing it together. With the amount of bodies we have this year, we hope to avoid that.”
Vizcaino is not just all power and glower. He reaches 95 mph on his four-seam fastball, and also throws a nasty slider and uses his changeup effectively against left-handers. That he’s a Rockie now has a lot to do with his success in Denver. Over the past two years with the Diamondbacks and Yankees, he pitched 8 1/3 innings at Coors Field, allowing just three hits while recording 10 strikeouts.
“He can get that big groundball and keep damage to a minimum,” pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. “I know (Arizona manager) Bob Melvin said when we got Luis that he wished we hadn’t. That tells you volumes what the National League thinks of him. This was a very, very big pickup for us.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
