At 38, Fassero Gives Gives Cubs Quick Start and Closer

Jeff Fassero’s hair is peppered with gray, his arm surprisingly resilient and his perspective on pitching at age 38 refreshed.

He’s making the starter-to-closer transition look easy.

Icing his left arm down or coating it with some burning liniment or salve is not part of his ritual. There are no potions for what he’s doing, no “how-to” textbooks on how to end baseball games after years of starting them off.

“There is nothing on my arm. I don’t put anything on there. No ice, no nothing. I haven’t done it and don’t want to, either,” Fassero says.

“I like to throw a lot anyway and I don’t think the throwing I’m doing is going to affect it.”

When the Chicago Cubs signed Fassero as a free agent, they hoped they were getting an experienced left-hander to help out a bullpen that was inept last season, blowing 29 saves and running up a 5.19 ERA.

But projected closer Tom “Flash” Gordon injured a shoulder muscle during spring training in his comeback from elbow surgery. So Fassero went to manager Don Baylor and volunteered for the job.

Early in the season, Baylor and Fassero are glad they had the conversation.

The Cubs won 10 of their first 15 games, matching their best start since 1995, and Fassero saved eight of the victories in nine chances.

When Gordon returns, who knows what will happen. Fassero wouldn’t mind keeping the job.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s a challenge, a different challenge than I’ve faced at any time really in my career, knowing that in the ninth inning right now Don is calling on me.

“I did it sporadically my first year with Montreal, but nothing like what I’m doing right now.”

Fassero, who began his career as a reliever with the Expos in 1991, got a chance to start two years later.

For the next five seasons that’s all he did, starting 152 games for Montreal and Seattle from 1994-98.

He was the Mariners’ opening-day starter in 1999. But after struggling, he was traded to the Rangers and ended up last season in Boston, starting 23 games before spending the final month in the Red Sox bullpen.

“He’s been around the block enough to know how to do things and make adjustments,” Cubs catcher Joe Giardi said.

“It’s remarkable what he’s done so far. We wouldn’t be where we are if not for him. He’s had a lot of roles and he’s played on teams that have been to the playoffs and he understands pressure.”

Fassero was 6-for-6 in saves this season when he was called upon to close a game last Monday against Philadelphia.

On a blustery day with the wind chill at 16, a short-sleeved, numb-fingered Fassero walked the bases loaded--his first walks all season--and gave up four ninth-inning runs, ballooning his ERA.

Baylor promised to get him back out the next day, and did he ever.

He called on Fassero to save both ends of a doubleheader. In the second game, with temperatures dropping, Fassero wore a long sleeve shirt. That’s how fast he learned.

“I knew I was asking a lot of him,” Baylor said. “It’s like when he came to me and asked to be a closer.”

Fassero appreciates the closer’s role from his days in the rotation. He’s started 217 major league games and entered this season with 100 victories, but only 10 saves, the last one in 1993.

“I face it like going out in the first and trying to get a 1-2-3 inning. That’s what I’m trying to do out there in the ninth,” he said.

“I know what it’s like to be a starter and watch games fall away late, and I don’t want that to happen to the starters we have.”

Besides his own contributions on the field, Fassero has given a pep talk to his younger, fellow relievers. His message: Throw the ball over the plate and don’t overthrow.

“I’m not surprised by his success because if you look at his career, he’s had a good one,” reliever Todd Van Poppel said. “He’s got the experience and he knows what works.”

Fassero knows he won’t be pitching forever, and that’s why being a reliever appeals to him.

“It would add years if I got down there closing or even setting up,” he said. “When you are 38, you start thinking about how much longer you want to play.”

It’s way to early to make assessments, but Fassero has given the Cubs an early boost as they try to end a stretch of horrendous baseball. They’ve lost at least 90 games three of the last four years.

“He’s done a great job,” said Kevin Tapani, who at 37 has started 3-0. “He’s older than I am and able to bounce back and throw every day.

“He’s inspiring.”