I can't think of Amaury Telemaco without hearing his name in Harry Caray's voice. Throughout this article, just know that I will only be hearing it in my head as Amaury TeleMAco. Without doing anything else, Telemaco will be endearing to me simply based off of that pronunciation. But he didn't just have a fun name as he actually had some effective performances for the Cubs.
1998 was a blessed year for the Cubs, and it was no different for Telemaco who had by far his best season, with a 3.93 ERA in 148.2 innings. That is an incredibly valuable pitcher, and you are probably wondering why he isn't even higher on this list. That is a GREAT question. Unfortunately, the answer makes me so angry that I can barely put it into words.
Telemaco started the year in the bullpen, filling the role of a long reliever for the team. Although it was not high leverage, he was effective as he posted a 3.90 ERA while pitching two or more innings in the majority of his appearances through May 8, The most the same date that Telemaco got his first win of the season, and the last day he would pitch for the Cubs.
The most logical explanation is that he suffered an injury and had to miss the remainder of the season. The next most logical conclusion is that the Cubs traded him for a fair return in Barry Bonds, but I think I would remember if Bonds played in Chicago. But neither of those explanations are correct.
Instead the Cubs put him on waivers where he was snatched up by the Arizona Diamondbacks. I've been trying to find the right words to explain why the Cubs put him on waivers. I have already written about 15 different relievers, all of whom performed incredibly poorly, and honestly made me question how the Cubs even had a successful season in 1998. So instead of me telling you why the Cubs got rid of Telemaco, I'm going to let Jim Riggleman do it for me.
"We just had a little excess there and we had to move someone to make way for Foster, who hopefully will join us in the not-so-distant future."Yep, the Cubs got rid of Telemaco, because they had TOO MUCH great relief pitching on their staff. Of course, right after the Diamondbacks took Telemaco off the Cubs' hands, nearly everyone in their bullpen imploded. Seriously, the entire article is one of the saddest things I have ever read. He would go on to have a 3.94 ERA in 121 innings for the Diamondbacks after being released. The Cubs definitely could have used that.
He then lost it, not posting an ERA below 5.54 in any of the next three years. In 2002, he didn't even make the major leagues. But he somehow bounced back to give the Philadelphia Phillies three years of solid relief work before calling it quits after the 2005 season.
Amaury TeleMAco.
In case you missed it:
Introduction
#47 - Matt Karchner
#46 - Jose Nieves
#45 - Rodney Myers
#44 - Justin Speier
#43 - Tony Fossas
#42 - Kennie Steenstra
#41 - Chris Haney
#40 - Bob Patterson
#39 - Pedro Valdes
#38 - Derrick White
#37 - Ben Van Ryn
#36 - Terrell Lowery
#35 - Don Wengert
#34 - Kurt Miller
#33 - Jason Maxwell
#32 - Kevin Foster
#31 - Mike Morgan
#30 - Felix Heredia
#29 - Jeff Blauser
#28 - Jason Hardtke
#27 - Dave Stevens
#26 - Manny Alexander
#25 - Marc Pisciotta
#24 - Kevin Orie
#23 - Sandy Martinez
#22 - Terry Adams
#21 - Matt Mieske
Agreed re: hearing Harry Caray saying his name.
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