Start him up: Dempster a man on a mission

MESA, Ariz. -- The words "Ryan Dempster" and "dead serious" don't often appear in the same sentence.

Dempster is one of the more affable players in baseball and one not above a practical joke now and then in the clubhouse, even if the laugh is on him.

On Monday, he paraded out the door in garish black-and-white golf pants straight out of the 1970s.

But the 30-year-old right-hander has been all business and then some on the mound this spring. There's a noticeable pop on Dempster's fastball, and after he gets through throwing, he will linger on the mound a few more minutes to iron out a kink or two.

"I think he's on a mission, I really do," marveled Cubs manager Lou Piniella on Monday.

Dempster's mission is trying to become one of the few pitchers in the game to go from being a starting pitcher to a successful closer back to a starter.

"I worked really hard this winter," he said. "I continue to work hard right now. My whole thing is, A, it's not going to be easy, and, B, I don't want to go at it (halfway) and go through the motions.

"I want to come back and be better than the starter I was before. Youth's not on my side anymore. Hopefully, experience is. I'm gearing up for a big year. It's going to be a big year for us as a team and a big year for me individually. I want to do my part to be able to help us."

Pitchers left and right make the transition from starter to closer, but not many at this level go the other way. Think of it as trying to go up the "down" escalator.

John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves is on a Hall of Fame path having done it. With the Philadelphia Phillies obtaining closer Brad Lidge this winter, Brett Myers will be trying to reverse the flow by starting again.

Dempster began his big-league career in 1998 with the Florida Marlins. In 2000, he made the all-star team, going 14-10 with a 3.66 ERA. A year later, he won 15. Dempster was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2002, but his career was rudely interrupted in '03, when he underwent reconstructive surgery on his right elbow.

The Cubs took a chance, signing him as a free agent the following January, with the intention of making him a reliever. Dempster began the 2005 season in the starting rotation, going 1-3 with a 5.35 ERA before heading to the pen.

Early last year, talk surfaced of Dempster wanting to start again.

Why go back? Just call it unfinished business.

"I did it my whole life until having surgery," Dempster said of starting. "I just want that opportunity to do it again. I got fixed, and I would just like to go back out there and kind of recapture that.

"I'd just like to see how I would do over the course of the whole season with some of the knowledge I've gained about learning how to pitch. I might be better than I was when I was younger, when I kind of threw instead of pitched."

For all the heat Dempster took from some members of the public, his numbers as a closer are pretty impressive. His 87 saves in 101 chances as a Cub give him a success rate of 86.1 percent, second best in team history among regular closers behind Randy Myers' 86.8 percent.

"Sometimes I wasn't your conventional strike-out-the-side, throw-100 (mph) closer," Dempster said. "I like to think that most of the time, with the exception of a game here or there, I came in and did my job."

He said he didn't let it get to him when the fans would let him know about the occasional blown save.

"It comes with the territory," he said. "At times, it was a little tough to get used to because I never went in and asked to close. They asked me to do it, and I did it. I enjoyed it. At times, it gave me great success. It gave me recognition. Financially, it was great."

The knock on Dempster as a starter was that he walked too many people. He led the National League with 112 walks in 2001. Opposing batters had a .363 on-base percentage against Dempster when he was a starter compared with .337 as a reliever.

Coming out of the bullpen, Dempster was able to rely on his fastball and slider. Now, he will have to mix in his splitter.

"It'll be fun to be able to pitch inside again," he said. "You pitch inside in the ninth inning of a 1-run game and you hit somebody, that might be the tying run, so you tend to not do that.

"It's a different mind-set. You give up a leadoff double in the ninth inning of a 1-run game, you can't let that guy score. You give up a leadoff double in the second inning, yeah, get him over, get him in, it's 1 run. It's not going to be the game."

Dempster knows full well the "what if" questions are out there. What if the Cubs don't like Dempster as a starting candidate and move him back to the pen? Piniella said Dempster presents a "win-win situation" because of his success as a closer and his experience as a starter.

Dempster doesn't see it that way.

"I don't see it not working out," he said. "I've dedicated my off-season. I've worked as hard as I've ever worked in my entire life.

"I had a great experience. I had a chance to close. I had a chance to close for one of the big teams in baseball. I had an unbelievable experience to close at Wrigley. But at the same time, for me, I always missed that opportunity to go back and start for a full season again."