Among Juan Pierre’s concerns after his trade from Florida to the Cubs was how best friend and former teammate Dontrelle Willis would negotiate the coming season.
Not only must Willis try to reprise his Cy Young Award runner-up finish with a less established supporting cast, he will be asked to aid in the development of those players.
That he is still a month from his 24th birthday notwithstanding, Willis doesn’t mind the idea of having to answer more questions than he asks.
“I’m about five minutes older than some of these guys, so I’m not going to sit here and use that service-time gig,” Willis said. “I’m just going to be like, `This is our method, this is how we were successful, playing defense and throwing strikes, and this is how we’re going to continue to be.”‘
Along with Brian Moehler, Willis likely will be one of the Marlins’ most seasoned pitchers. He will almost certainly be the highest paid. Though a multiyear deal is unlikely, the arbitration-eligible Willis and the Marlins have begun discussing a one-year contract. The left-hander should command a salary in the $4 million range.
New manager Joe Girardi has no qualms about asking Willis to assume a leadership role. Achieving a more elevated position in the clubhouse shouldn’t require much of a conscious effort.
With less than three full seasons in the big leagues, he already has an impressive list of accomplishments. It includes a Rookie of the Year Award and his second-place finish to Chris Carpenter in last season’s Cy Young race.
“My expectation of him is to be a leader, and from everything I know about him, talking to him, he already is a leader,” Girardi said. “So that point is not going to change, the way he works, the way he carries himself. He’s a leader. You talk about makeup, he’s a 10, so I just want him to be himself. It’s my job to make sure he doesn’t get away from what he does and who he is.”
Who Willis has become professionally to a minor extent is a product of the players who have surrounded him. He points to guys like Derrek Lee, Ivan Rodriguez and Braden Looper as helping him with the transition to the majors. That list extends to Pierre and some of the others dealt this off-season.
“It’s been tough because with so many transactions in so little time I had no grieving period,” Willis said with a laugh. “That’s the one thing that’s tough about being on this family-oriented team since I’ve been called up. To see these guys go, I don’t want to sound mushy, but it’s like a piece of me is gone.
“All of them say the same thing–keep working and don’t stop doing what you’re doing and being the player you want to be, especially [Pierre]. That’s the one thing he was kind of concerned about, being my little big brother. I think he’s just worried about leaving me in the nest.”
