Astros sign Pedro Feliz to one-year contract

Posted on December 10, 2009

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pedro Feliz makes a play against the Cincinnati Reds at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA on August 26, 2006. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

For many years around the ballpark in San Francisco there were many jokes between my photographer friends and myself about one San Francisco Giant who continually broke my heart with his flashes of brilliance and ineptitude. All anyone had to do was mention the name Pedro Feliz to me and I would go crazy. Now the third baseman who drove me crazy for so many years at AT&T Park will be driving the Houston Astros fans crazy at Minute Maid Park as they just signed the right-handed hitting Feliz to a one-year contract worth $4.5 million.

The 34-year-old Feliz played the last two seasons in Philadelphia playing the hot corner for the Phillies, where he helped them win the 2008 World Series. Not only did he get a ring last year but he actually drove in the winning run in Game 5 of the Series against the Tampa Bay Rays! I could not believe it!

Feliz first became a regular member of the Giants in 2001 (see above) when he was a back up infielder with a pretty swing and a canon arm who hit .227 in 220 at bats. I never thought much of Feliz as he quickly became the one guy on the team who drove me nuts. He could swing and miss at the breaking ball low and away in the dirt with the best of them.

The thing that always upset me so much about Feliz was the beautiful opposite field stroke that he showed us all to infrequently. Every once in awhile Feliz would take an outside pitch and lace it to right-center field just like Roberto Clemente used to. It was a thing of beauty. Many times the ball would go over the fence and I would wonder where this stroke had been all season. I would also wonder if he would ever be able to replicate this swing again.

Feliz put his best year for the Giants together in 2006 when he hit 22 homers and knocked in 98 runs while hitting .244. For the most part Feliz was always the guy who drove me crazy because he appeared to have so much talent but seemed to not take advantage of it. He was the one player on the Giants under manager Felipe Alou who caused KNBR radio talk show host Larry Krueger to be fired after a personal rant against the Giants on his radio show in 2005. During his rant he criticized the Giants for having a line up full of  “brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly.” The publicly-vented frustration shown by Krueger was felt by Giants fans all over the Bay Area.

In 2008 Feliz signed a two year contract with the Phillies and became their unlikely World Series hero that October. I was in Philadelphia photographing the Series and about fell over while shooting the game from first base when he got the game-winning hit in Game 5.

It will be interesting to see how Feliz does in Houston next year. The 34-year-old hit .266 with 12 homers and 82 RBIs last season for the Phillies. He should love hitting in Minute Maid Park and will hit many balls into the Crawford Boxes in short left field for easy home runs. He will play a nice third base and show off his fine arm. He will also drive Astros fans all over the great state of Texas CRAZY. I can promise you that.