Where is Wake?

The Sox have been quiet this off-season. Quiet to the point of being dull. I get that. They didn’t have a lot to do. They had six members of the line-up already under contract. They resigned Scutaro and Ortiz with very little fanfare. They seem perfectly content to go young in rightfield. Why not? They have a couple promising options. The pitching staff has holes, but options. I get that. I’m just wondering where Tim Wakefield is.

Isn’t he the perfect guy for the Sox? Currently the rotation has three solid dependable guys. After that, it’s a collection of maybes. The bullpen? It has lots of pitchers, some who have roles. It’s also losing some key members to the rotation, in theory. Isn’t Time Wakefield the perfect guy to have on hand to fill whatever role become available?

Bard, Miller, and Aceves figure to fill out the final two spots in the rotation. Personally, I see Bard back in the pen. But, he could find his way into the rotation after all is said and done. But, many people have mentioned that the Sox could use a nice solid veteran to take some of the pressure off. I’ve heard Roy Oswalt’s name tossed out as a nice example. But, Oswalt would only be a starter. Couldn’t Wake really do either?

What if the Sox tossed Wake a few million to fill a yet to be determined role. He’ll come to spring training along with the rest of them. Of Bard, Aceves, Wake, Miller, Doubront, Tazawa, and whoever else is on the list, two of them make the rotation and the others are set for the pen or minors. What’s the worst thing that happens? He takes the long relief role? He’s stuck as a set-up guy?

Do they think his attitude is that bad? Is the whole “the fans deserve to see me break the record” thing an actual issue? I know that I’ve said that one of the factors to last season’s poor showing was Wake’s chase for 200. The Sox changed the way they played in order to get him that win. Are they afraid of doing that again? I’d like to think they’ve learned from that. I like to think the contract proposal would include telling him flat out that any wins he gets would be accidental. He has to be prepared to end up one win short if that’s what the team’s flow dictates. I don’t know why he wouldn’t agree to that. He needs 7 wins? He got that many last year. Aceves got 10, mostly out of the pen. He has to jump at that chance, right? Doesn’t it make too much sense for both sides for this not to have happened already?

Or am I missing something?