How They Got Here: The Story of the 2012 San Francisco Giants Part 4

How They Got Here: The San Francisco Giants is a one-by-one look at how each member of the 2012 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants found their way to the squad. We'll look at all of the players on the roster, as well as notable players who did not make the postseason roster for whatever reason and the coaching staff and general manager. Part four details the interesting journey of Guillermo Mota.

Guillermo Mota was born on July 25, 1973, in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic. He attended Jose Joaquin Perez High School, and at the age of 17, he was signed by the New York Mets to play third base and shortstop. Eddy Toledo was responsible for signing him. He spent another couple of years in his native country before coming to the United States, and he started his professional career here playing rookie ball with the Gulf Coast League Mets in 1993. He transitioned to another rookie level league in 1994, the Appalachian League, where he played for the Kingsport Mets of Kingsport, Tennessee. He also made one appearance with the St. Lucie Mets in the Class A Advanced Florida State League. He regressed a bit in 1995, going down to regular Class A to play with the Capital City Bombers of Columbia, South Carolina in the South Atlantic League. He returned to St. Lucie for 1996, but this would be his last year in the Mets organization. It was during the 1996 Rule 5 draft that he was picked up by the Montreal Expos. This is not a too-common occurrence for players of note, but it had a significant impact on his career. Throughout his time with the Mets, his batting average was usually around .240, and he had little power or run-producing abilities. The Expos converted Mota into a starting pitcher, beginning in 1997 with the Cape Fear Crocs of the Class A South Atlantic League. Mota was inconsistent with the Crocs, but was promoted to the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League in 1998, where he took on the role of a relief pitcher. He was very effective, and made a transition further up during the season to the Harrisburg Senators of the Eastern League. He continued to play well to close out the year. In 1999, he continued his progression and found himself playing for the Ottawa Lynx of the International League at the Class AAA level. His performance here earned him a spot on the big league roster for the Expos, and he was called up to the majors on May 2, 1999. Mota enjoyed success in his first stint with the Expos, including a scoreless inning in his debut. On June 1, he picked up his first major league win, and eight days later, he hit a three-run home run in his first at-bat in the major leagues. He also clinched the winningest month for the Expos by picking up a win on August 29th for their eighteenth win that month. Mota was dominant to begin his time in the big league, but faltered a bit late before recovering to end the year with a respectable 2.93 earned run average over 51 games. Mota failed to hold onto his roster spot for 2000, but was back with the team by May 20, 2000 after a strong stint with the Lynx. He struggled in his twelve appearances, and was sent back to Ottawa, beginning a cycle of shuttling between AAA and the big league team during the season. His major league statistics were not pretty, as he posted a 6.00 earned run average with the Expos, but he was his usual self down with the Lynx, keeping his earned run average in AAA under 2.50. In 2001, Mota started the year with Montreal, and his time during this season was very inconsistent. At times, he looked the part of a star, and at others he was very hittable. He suffered an injury on July 13, 2001, which resulted in his first stint on the disabled list. He could not correct his statistics when he returned in September, and at this point, the Expos decided they had had enough. During spring training in 2002, Mota was traded with outfielder Wilkin Ruan to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitcher Matt Herges and infielder Jorge Nunez. He had more excitement in his spring when he hit Mets catcher Mike Piazza with a pitch, resulting in a minor confrontation and four games of suspension for Mota. Mota began the year with the Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League at Class AAA, and he shuttled between Los Angeles and Las Vegas throughout the year. He was an average pitcher in the majors and strong in the minors for the season. He showed progress as he became more settled in with the Dodgers, earning a roster spot in 2003 right out of the gate. The season proved to be a highlight reel for Mota, including turning his first career save in a move that Jim Tracy made to give Dodgers closer Eric Gagne rest. On July 13, he hit his second career home run. His earned run average for the year was a minimal 1.97, the best of his career. Mota continued his run of success in 2004, earning the high-leverage setup role to the closer Gagne, and he excelled here as well, posting a 2.14 earned run average. However, his time with the Dodgers was over on July 30, 2004, as he was traded alongside Juan Encarnacion and Paul Lo Duca to the Florida Marlins, with Hee-seop Choi, Brad Penny (our first Crossing Paths moment of the series, as Penny spent time with the Giants in 2012 as well, also working out the bullpen), and Bill Murphy. South Florida was not as kind to Mota, but he stepped into the closer's role immediately after the trade. He only had one save before moving back to a setup role, and he struggled throughout the rest of the season, especially near the end. He started 2005 as the Marlins' closer, but he was not granted a lot of save chances, and was injured on May 1. He rejoined the team after having spent time with one of his old minor league teams, the Jupiter Hammerheads (who were affiliates of the Expos until 2001, at which time they jumped to the Marlins organization for 2002 through the present day), for injury rehab. He returned to his streaky style, pitching well at times and atrociously at others, and the Marlins shipped him up in a blockbuster deal to the Boston Red Sox on November 24. Also headed to Boston were Mike Lowell, a fan favorite, and Josh Beckett, a young pitcher. In return, the Marlins received Jesus Delgado, Harvey Garcia, eventual superstar Hanley Ramirez, and reliable pitcher Anibal Sanchez. His stay with the Red Sox was so short, it didn't even include playing time, as on January 27, 2006, Mota was on the move again to the Cleveland Indians. Andy Marte, catcher Kelly Shoppach, and a player to be named later (Kevin Newsom) also made the shift to Cleveland, while Boston received outfielder Coco Crisp, David Riske, and Josh Bard. The trade was delayed due to Mota failing a physical, but eventually the deal went through. Cleveland looked to be a good place for Mota, where he was very successful early, but eventually faltered and lost the setup role for Bob Wickman to a young reliever named Rafael Betancourt. His struggles continued, and on August 11th, he was designated for assignment. He was traded on August 20th to the New York Mets for his second stay with the organization that drafted him. He pitched well for the Mets, and he also made his first playoff appearances with the National League East champions. He did not have a successful postseason, and neither did the Mets, who were bounced out by the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games (a much-talked about series during this year's playoffs, especially in regards to the National League Championship Series in which the Giants mimicked the Cardinals' 2006 comeback, and then as they followed suit by beating the Detroit Tigers, as did the Cardinals previously as well. Mota's turbulent 2006 was not yet over though, and on November 1, 2006, he was suspended for fifty games for performance-enhancing drug use, the fifteenth player to receive a suspension and the first to lose fifty games. The Mets ignored this misstep and resigned him for two years. The abbreviated 2007 season (which began with a stint in Class AAA New Orleans, playing for the Pacific Coast League Zephyrs) was a typical one for Mota, and he struggled to pitch at a dominant level consistently. On November 20, 2007, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for Johnny Estrada. Here, he crossed paths again with Eric Gagne, and Mota's strong start to the season, combined with Gagne's faltering, led to manager Ned Yost calling a short-lived committee. Mota turned one save during this time, but the closer's role was given to Salomon Torres. The demotion negatively affected his play, but he rebounded to an average level in the second half of the season. He saw himself returning to the playoffs, as Milwaukee snapped a 26 year drought from postseason baseball. Mota didn't have a great postseason, appearing in just two games during the Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, and in the second game, he gave up a home run to Pat Burrell en route to a 6-2 loss for the Brewers. Mota would again move along for the 2009 season, and he found himself in a familiar place. He signed on January 29, 2009 with the Los Angeles Dodgers for his second stint with the Boys in Blue. It didn't start as well as the last time he played in Los Angeles, but he rattled off one of the more impressive runs of his career to balance the numbers out. They didn't stay that way for long, and the streaky Mota appeared to be returning to a typical on again, off again season. He also found himself in another controversy while playing with the Dodgers, after delivering a retaliation pitch to Prince Fielder for Chris Smith's plunking of Manny Ramirez. Fielder attempted to access the Dodgers clubhouse to confront Mota, but the players were held back by teammates, and both players were fined for their actions. He was placed on the disabled list on August 31, and despite returning in time for the playoffs, Mota would not join the Dodgers during their postseason run. For the 2010 season, Mota looked to be without a job before accepting a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training from the San Francisco Giants. He pitched well enough to earn the last spot in the Giants bullpen in 2010, and continued the strong efforts until about mid-June. By August 23, he was back on the disabled list, allowing eventual postseason hero Cody Ross to join the roster. He returned to the team on September 6, and this time he made the postseason roster for the Giants. He appeared in two games during the World Series against the Texas Rangers, and he kept a clean slate to help the Giants defeat the Rangers four games to one. This was his first World Series ring, and although he filed for free agency at the end of the season, he was back with the Giants for 2011 after signing another minor league contract with a spring training invitation. He again earned his way onto the roster, and for the 2011 season, he cut his earned run average down half a run. Mota again filed for free agency at the end of the year, but on December 17, 2011, he signed with the Giants for the 2012 season. His season was cut short drastically, as on May 7, 2012, he was suspended for one hundred games after Clenbuterol was found on a drug test. He was the first of two players for the Giants to be suspended for drug usage in the 2012 season (the other being Melky Cabrera), and also the second player to receive two suspensions for performance-enhancing drug usage. Regardless of that, he returned to the Giants after getting up to speed with the Arizona League Giants and the Fresno Grizzlies, in which he appeared in six games. Mota was again given a spot on the postseason roster, and he appeared in three games during the Giants' run this year, with very unsuccessful numbers. San Francisco was not severely hindered by his poor performance, and they got around the Cincinnati Reds (where he appeared in two games and gave up two runs), the St. Louis Cardinals (where he turned in less than an inning with another two runs surrendered) and the Detroit Tigers (where Mota was not used) to win the 2012 World Series. While Mota didn't have a memorable 2012, and his contributions to the Giants were mostly negative, he did as much as he could to earn his second World Series ring in three years.

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