Agent's role in convincing Valdez to sign before closing

To get César Valdez into the Orioles organization and eventually their bullpen and anoint him the closer based on his usage moreso than spoken words, he first had to be convinced to leave Mexico and trust the people closest to him. To regain his love of pitching in the majors, or at least the idea of it, rather than view the possibility through a skeptical lens.

Valdez's success story entertains because of the dead-fish changeup that's just one separator from the traditional closers. There's also the journey. From his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2010 to his return with the Athletics and Blue Jays seven years later. To elite status in winter ball that tempted him to stay there.

To Camden Yards after his agent, Francis Marquez, insisted on making the journey with him. Riding shotgun and tuning out the people who questioned why he bothered.

How Marquez partnered with Valdez, now 36, is a story in itself, an odd coincidence leading to a rock-solid friendship that borders on family.

Marquez, 42, launched his own firm, MAS+, in 2018. He left Magnus - the entertainment and sports agency founded by international music star Marc Anthony - which happened to employ a woman who also worked for Licey in the Dominican Winter League.

"(Valdez) was good friends with this person and she was kind of the mutual connection, and he was looking for new representation and she suggested that we talk and we immediately hit it off," Marquez recalled. "Right away, we hit it off. I don't know if there was a specific reason. Sometimes personalities just click. I think he and I share some similar traits in the sense that we're very serious and straightforward and forthright and I think he appreciated that from me and I did from him."

Next came the convincing. Valdez was out of the majors again after 2017 and growing more discouraged. Before digging his heels into Mexican and Dominican Winter League soil, he was ready to walk away from the sport.

"I didn't sense it, I know so. I know that," Marquez said.

"I know that he had a lot of instances in which he really questioned what direction his career was going, because you have to understand before he ends up in the Mexican League he was in the big leagues the year before. He was with the A's, he was in the big leagues with the Blue Jays, he gets taken off the roster. And he did not have a lack of interest from teams that following offseason. The problem was there were health concerns with him and the health concerns weren't necessarily ...

"He could pitch, he could throw, he knew he could. But when teams saw the state of his elbow, they couldn't believe that a guy like that was still pitching. Teams shied away. So teams did call the offseason before the 2018 season and they were interested and they would ask for access to his medical records, and as soon as they saw the medicals, they would say 'No.' I want to say there were a half-dozen teams that did that. They passed because they weren't able to get medical clearance to sign him."

The elbow didn't require a surgical procedure, but the calcifications were alarming. And puzzling, because Valdez kept taking the ball and getting outs.

"There were enough concerns that people thought physically he wasn't going to be able to hold up," Marquez said. "He had to start on this path to show that he was healthy."

The Orioles signed Valdez to a minor league contract in January 2020 and did so quietly. There was no announcement made via social media. It simply appeared in the Major League Baseball transactions.

Mike Snyder, the Orioles' director of pro scouting, was involved in the negotiations. Marquez jokes that he "basically badgered Mike Snyder for a year and a half."

"Every month, especially during the offseason, I'd say, 'Give this guy a shot, I really believe in this guy,' " Marquez said. "And to his credit, he stayed on top of César, he followed César during that entire time. And eventually, the offseason before last year, he said, 'Yeah, we're going to give him a shot.' And it was late."

The Orioles didn't shy away from Valdez, didn't care about his age, below-average fastball or medicals, a fairly bold statement for an organization known for its stringent physicals and U-turns.

"Given the performance, we knew we were going to get somebody with real talent," Snyder said. "We could see the performance, we could see the ability. Just real strike-throwing ability and had a track record. He had been durable, so with his ability to start or relieve, not to mention his resilience, it just seemed like a smart gamble for us.

"Hesitance? I wouldn't say so. It was sort of something where we had been talking. We keep in close contact with agents year-round and Francis is one of the best. He always has good players. He believes in his guys, he works hard for them. We have a nice relationship with him and that can definitely go a long way. So we'd been talking about César off and on and when it became clear that we'd have a legitimate opportunity for him to earn a spot and that we'd be able to give him some legitimate innings in big league spring training to earn his way onto the team, we made an offer, signed him up."

There was one hitch before Valdez put pen to paper.

"The crazy thing is, César was going to go back to Mexico at that time, where he had just won the equivalent of their Cy Young the year before," Marquez said. "When I called him and said, 'We've got this opportunity with the Orioles,' I expected him to be jumping for joy. He wasn't. He actually started questioning whether he wanted to sign back with an MLB club because of how well things in Mexico were going and he was earning good money over there, and what kind of situation was he going to walk into.

"Was he going to walk into a situation where he doesn't pitch well and then he gets released and every opportunity in Mexico goes by the wayside? So I had to convince him there for a minute and I had to get on his (butt), had to verbally smack him and say, 'You need to snap out of this and you need to realize this is the opportunity that we've been waiting two years for. You are taking this.' I spoke to him as if he were like a younger brother. And he said, 'You know, Francis, you're right and I trust you. You've haven't abandoned me these past couple years, I know you have my best interests in heart. Let's do it.' "

Valdez lifted those heels out of the dirt. A pitcher who appears to be injured only on his medical chart was convinced by the people closest to him that he wouldn't be hurt again by the rejection of another team.

"Francis is one of two people who are the most important and most influential in my life. The other person is my wife (Heidy)," Valdez said via Ramón Alarcón, the Orioles' coordinator of Latin Amarican operations. "Francis Marquis is a friend and a very important person in my life and in my career. He's a close friend. And especially the last two years, he's someone that I've developed a strong relationship with.

"I was fine with what I was doing prior to joining the Orioles. I was comfortable with my work in Mexico. It took me about a week to make a decision whether to join the team or not. There was a lot of going back and forth with Francis, a lot of discussions about this. Eventually what I did was talk to my wife and she also convinced me to make the decision and accept the offer to go back to the states."

Any regrets?

"No," Valdez said, smiling, his response coming fast and without assistance.

Becoming the primary closer wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't the reason why the Orioles wanted him. Valdez could start or work in bulk relief. He could get important outs or consume chunks of innings. But the ninth inning wasn't expected to be handed to him.

The role became available because of Cole Sulser's control issues and a staff that lacked anyone with a track record of doing it. Valdez earned three saves last summer and allowed two earned runs in 14 1/3 innings, and he's eight-for-11 this season with four walks and 21 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Valdez ventured into a rough patch with the blown save at Citi Field, three ground balls and a fly ball costing him, and a meaningless run allowed in his next outing. He loaded the bases yesterday in the eighth inning, but struck out Ji-Man Choi - the bat flying out of the first baseman's hands while flailing at a changeup - and lowered his ERA to 2.65.

A scoreless appearance out of a bullpen that's showing cracks from heavy usage.

"I give him all the credit in the world for the perseverance, the ability to continue reinventing himself. It's incredibly admirable what he's accomplished and he's just such an easy guy to root for," Snyder said.

"Seeing him, first, he understood the importance of strike one. Second, he just got a tremendous amount of uncomfortable swings and awkward misses, and we see that every night now. And upsetting hitters' timing is such a big part of pitching and he is a master at that. He had pitched in playoff atmospheres in Mexico and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, the Caribbean Series, so we knew he wasn't going to be intimidated. So, honestly, closer? No, but it didn't take a large leap of faith to see how all of that can lead to positive results to some extent."

"I think he's like anyone in his position," Marquez said. "He is happy to be there and will do whatever he needs to do. But he's really taken to the reliever role and I think if you were to ask him and he'd give you an honest answer, he would say that he likes this role that he's in right now. More so than starting. I think they've put him in the best position possible for him to be a contributor there."

Pitching coach Chris Holt offered former closer Doug Jones as a comparison, but any suggestion feels like a stretch.

"I don't think that there's a perfect comp for Valdez because I don't think there's anyone else really doing what he's doing right now," Snyder said. "There are some other guys who don't throw hard, but in the scout seats in spring training we were joking about how 97 mph is the new 92, right? All the guys coming back fresh with new training methods, but not everybody knows where it's going. When you have someone who gets ahead, changes speeds, pitches quick innings and, to borrow, I think, Ben McDonald's term, he does it with a Ronald Reagan mid-80s fastball. It's just so much fun to watch.

"I don't know if there's a real perfect comp anywhere in the league right now, but people who succeed with non-traditional ways and give a different look while throwing strikes, sign me up."

"He's an amazing pitcher," Holt said. "I know the changeup gets a lot of notoriety because it's such a unique thing that he's doing, but he really does understand how to change speeds, how to locate, how to mix his stuff versus both lefties and righties. Trying to appeal to that side of him is really interesting when we do speak because he has a lot of experience and he's seen a lot of really good hitters over the course of his career and he has a lot more to offer than just the 83 percent changeups that everyone's making a big deal out of. Certainly that has been the storyline, but there's more there than just a changeup."

There's also the leadership, with teammates calling him "Chief," and an infectious personality.

"I think first and foremost it's who he is on the mound, because he could be the best guy in the world, but if he didn't deliver he wouldn't get the opportunity," said Marquez, who also represents Orioles outfielder Austin Hays. "There are a lot of great personalities that could never get a second chance that he's gotten, but I think where that comes into the fold is when you talk about how happy people are for him. And I think the reason people are so happy for how things are going is because of the fact that he's such a special person."

"He goes out there with a bulldog mentality," said Ryan Mountcastle. "He's a great teammate and great player."

"I can't say enough about Valdez," said reliever Shawn Armstrong. "There's a reason why we call him 'Chief.' His presence in the bullpen. You want him to start, he'll start. You want him to go three innings, he'll go three innings. You want him to close, he'll close. And I think that gives all of us a respect factor, along with his age.

"He's been doing this a long time, he's thrown a lot of innings between winter ball, professional baseball. The way he goes about his business as a closer and taking any role that we ask him to do as a team, he does it. I can't say enough about him as a player and as a leader in that bullpen."

Valdez impressed last spring when summoned to pitch in exhibition games, was invited to the summer training camp at Camden Yards after the shutdown and came close to making the opening day roster. He threw at the secondary site in Bowie and finally walked onto a major league field, for real, in late August.

"I can tell you that when he got the call that he was going up to the big leagues with the Orioles, he cried. And I'm not saying his eyes watered, he bawled," Marquez said.

"He was really, really emotional because of the fact that he was able to get back to the big leagues and how grueling a road it was to get to that point."

The conversation again reinforced how close they've become, with Valdez expressing his gratitude as if it's on a loop.

"He does that quite often, actually," Marquez said. "That's one thing I appreciate from him a lot. I've been doing this for 18 years and there are guys who are more appreciative than others for the work that you do for them, and César is one who every time he can he tells me ... he says I'm his second father and he trusts me blindly, that he'll go wherever I tell him to go and he'll do whatever I tell him to do because he trusts my judgement. And that's something that I really appreciate and I think it's worked out.

"I think our relationship isn't necessarily that we've had interests outside of baseball in common. It's that we've been on a common path. We decided to work together and join forces on this path to, first, try to get him to the big leagues, which was initially what we were working for, then surviving these couple years when he was in Mexican League purgatory and trying to get him into pro ball and back into the big leagues. It's been a journey we've shared. So maybe before the journey we didn't have much in common, but it's been the same journey where we've had the same highs and lows, we've shared those experiences, and I think that transcends even a player-agent relationship.

"You're talking about two people in life who are having impactful moments that they're sharing together."

And still enjoying the ride. With all of its twists and bumps and apparent dead ends.

"To say it's fun is just an understatement," Marquez said. "Every so often I will text with (executive vice president/general manager) Mike Elias and we'll just gush over how well he's doing. I think both the Orioles and I feel like in this case our trust in the individual was vindicated, where a lot of people questioned me - I can tell you for a fact - that I would continue to represent and to push and to believe in a guy who's throwing 85 mph.

"I'm sure the Orioles probably had some people raise their eyebrows when they decided to sign him. So I think we do feel vindicated that our belief in the individual has worked out and it just kind of gets better and better."