Dravecky’s a Role Player Who’s Never Sure Where He’ll Be Cast

On a typical New Year’s Eve, a time for wistful reflections and wishful projections, Dave Dravecky just might find himself a bit bewildered.

What would the coming year have in store for him?

He is, by occupation, a pitcher. However, this is a rather specialized occupation. Such people are known as starters or relievers, and the latter can be further broken down into long relief and short relief.

Dravecky, 31, a left-hander employed by the Padres, has never settled into one niche. He can go to training camp expecting to start and end up in the bullpen. He can come out of training camp expecting to relieve and end up starting. He can be cast in one role one week and the other the next.

As livelihoods go, this “dilemma” may not seem quite as confusing as selling insurance one week and driving a bus the next. It’s not as if he doesn’t know how he’s supposed to dress for work.

Dravecky is a little bit like the guy whose wife asked him to take a look at the dishwasher--and made the mistake of fixing it. Now she expects him to fix the stove, too.

When Dravecky arrived in San Diego in 1982, the Padres put him in the bullpen and he was 1-1 with a 1.95 earned-run average in 21 appearances.

“You want to try starting?” they asked.

“Sure,” he said.

And he was 4-2 with a 2.91 ERA in 10 starts.

Since then, Dravecky hasn’t really been sure what he is. Not that it has made much difference. He has a 3.12 ERA as a starter and a 2.68 ERA as a reliever.

It might have seemed logical to assume that he would be a starter this year, especially since all his 1986 appearances were starts and the ERA was 3.07.

Wrong.

Dravecky is in the bullpen this year.

Many guys would consider this to be an unfair exile, particularly since Craig Lefferts gets the “glory” of being the left-handed closer. You wonder what Dravecky has done to deserve such a banishment--maybe something like beating the manager in a game of golf.

“Starting or relieving makes no difference to me,” Dravecky said. “All I want to do is contribute in a positive role. I just feel fortunate to be able to play here at this level.”

Attitude, more than aptitude, has made this pitcher such a versatile talent.

“No matter which job you’re asked to do,” pitching coach Galen Cisco said, “you have to want to do it. He takes either job as a challenge, and he’s had success both ways.”

Dravecky has had to pay a price for his success as a starter. He packs a solid 200 pounds on his 6-foot, 1-inch frame, but his left arm and shoulder have shown the strain of pitching so many innings.

So he is being preserved rather than wasted in the bullpen.

“His arm hasn’t been that strong,” Manager Larry Bowa said, “so we’d like to keep him under 150 innings. That seems to be where he starts having problems.”

There have been two seasons in which Dravecky made all of his appearances as a starter. The first was 1983, when he was 12-6 for the first half of the season and made the National League All-Star team. Shoulder problems beset him, and he did not pitch after Aug. 28. The second, of course, was last year, when he was 7-7 with a 2.62 ERA at the halfway mark . . . and did not pitch after Aug. 26 because of arm problems.

Just as a starter must pace himself through a game, Dravecky must pace himself through a season--at least if he wants to be on the mound rather than on the disabled list by September.

It’s a matter of taking a lesson from history. Consider Dravecky’s first four full seasons in the major leagues. His first-half record is 32-21 with 436 innings and a 2.64 ERA. His second-half record is 13-19 with 310 innings and a 3.51 ERA. Dravecky is like a tank of gas, capable of more mileage when not driven as fast and hard.

Asked about his priorities in baseball, Dravecky listed his health as No. 1. Not too much else falls into place without it.

Significantly, Dravecky’s best year was 1984. He pitched close to an equal number of innings as a starter and reliever and almost an equal number of innings each half of the season. Not only did he make it to and through September, but he was fresh enough to pitch 10 shutout innings in the National League Championship Series and the World Series.

“That was a very consistent year,” Dravecky said, “and I was able to combine both starting and relieving.”

Thus, it would seem that only one man can come out of the bullpen to give Dave Dravecky the relief he needs to stay strong for the duration.

Dave Dravecky.