Red Sox A-Z: W is for…

Wakefield, as in Tim.

When Dan Duquette sign Tim Wakefield to a contract, I wonder what he thought he was getting. Wakefield was the national Darling when he came up to the Pirates in 1992. He had gone 8-1 on the season, and earned MVP honors in that year’s NLCS. He was the talk of the town.  The next season? Not so good. He ended up with a 6-11 record, and spent a good portion of the season in the minor leagues. That is where he spent the entire 1004 season, posting a less than mediocre 5-15 record. Clearly, the bloom had come off his rose. Maybe his trick pitch was just a fluke after all. The future was not bright. It was with that background that Duquette signed Wakefield to a minor league contract just after the start of the 1995 season. What did he think Tim would be? A player to fill out the minor league roster? A fill in if the big club needed a spot starter? Was he hoping Tim would develop into a back of the rotation guy? A ace? What was the plan? No matter what the plan was, I’m assuming he didn’t think Tim would go out there in 1995 and lead the team in wins, earned run average, and innings pitched. I’m guessing a third place finish in the Cy Young voting wasn’t on the radar either. Not too shabby.

Of course, the story didn’t end there. Tim Wakefield is still on the team. He’s currently the longest tenured member of the team. He’s moving steadily up the ranks of all-time great Red Sox pitchers. Frankly, the only reason he’s not higher on just about every list is because the Sox keep changing his role. Imagine if he had just been a starter. Or, just a reliever. His career numbers would be even more impressive. As it stands, he’s the Red Sox career leader in games started and innings pitched. (Along with walks and losses…but we’ll ignore that) He’s second in strikeouts and games pitched, and third in wins. Not too shabby for a minor league free agent.

As a fan, I loved going to games where Wakefield was pitching. If I had a tickets to a game and it was a Pedro or Wakefield start, I was a happy camper. Pedro games meant total domination. Wakefield games? They guaranteed getting home at a reasonable time. He pitched like he had a bus to catch. It was fantastic.

My favorite Wakefield memory? There are, obviously, several. But, one has a clear-cut edge. I was able to be at Fenway when he pitched game one of the 2004 World Series. If Pedro couldn’t be on the mound, I couldn’t think of another Sox pitcher who deserved it more. He had certainly earned the right to be on the mound for the first Fenway World Series game in almost 20 years. It was also nice for me, since the day was cold and raw. The wind was blowing, and the drizzle was falling. If there was ever a time for a quick Wakefield game, it was that night. Of course, the game ended up going exactly four hours. Proof that even Wakefield can’t do it alone. But, as I sat there shivering, it was certainly comforting to see him toe the rubber in the first. It still annoys me that he couldn’t come away with the victory in a back and forth battle. But, I guess I can’t have everything.

So, as we approach the end of Tim Wakefield’s time with the Red Sox, he deserves a look back. He’s seen it all in Boston. And, we should all thank him for it.

W is for Wakefield, Tim.

Theology By: John Frascella

This book explores the life and career of Red Sox general manager

Theo Epstein. As most coverage of Theo, it focuses on his career, more than his life. But, the life story does supply important background into the man who holds the career. The book discusses Theo’s goals and views, and how they play out on the baseball field. The subtitle of the book, “How a Boy Wonder Led the Red Sox to the Promised Land” really tells you everything you need to know about what the book covers. It’s a detailed look into the general manage who brought the Red Sox 2 World Series titles in four years.

This book is mostly a collection of research assembled by the author. As such, it is not full of new information. It is, however, organized to give a great story to that research. The author takes a casual approach to his writing. He talks to the reader, which I found disarming at times. (It was weird that I felt that way, since I tend to talk to the reader a lot, right?) But, it certainly didn’t detract from the flow of the book. The casualness occasionally cut back on the quality a bit. It’s sometimes hard to take a paragraph seriously when there are little quips in it. But, again, those instances didn’t detract from the overall storyline. As such, this is a great book. It allows the reader to follow behind the scenes of the Red Sox. It allowed me to put events that I thought I remembered into their proper order and significance. I have read just about everything I can get my hands on when it comes to the world champion Red Sox, as I’m sure many of you have. So, it’s hard to surprise me at this point. But, this book was an enjoyable read.

Rating: 3 bases

List of 36: Things I was Thankful for from the 2010 Red Sox Season

1. Clay Buchholz’s all-star selection

2. Being at Fenway on Aug 31 for Lowrie’s walk-off HR

3. Lowrie pinch hitting for Nava pinch hitting for Navarro

4. Ortiz earning his option

5. Ryan Kalish’s sneak peek

6. Jon Lester’s continued progression

7. Adrian Beltre’s head rubs

8. Tim Wakefield doing whatever was asked of him

9. The solid play of Marco Scutaro

10. Adding Josh Hamilton to my “seen live” list

11. Terry Francona’s Wednesday interviews

12. Daniel Nava’s first pitch grand slam

13. The players never giving up

14. Being at Fenway to welcome Manny and the Dodgers

15. Beltre abusing the monster

16. Being at Fenway for Youkilis’s walk-off sac fly on July 17

17. Keeping score

18. Having room on my scorecard for “Saltalamacchia”

19. Darnell McDonald’s performance

20. Trade rumors

21. Adding Cliff Lee to my “seen live” list

22. Ice cream in a helmet cup

23. Terry Francona’s line-up creativity

24. John Lackey’s good starts

25. Being at Fenway to welcome Manny and the White Sox

26. AAA players on-call

27. Magnet schedule give-away

28. Red Sox grass seed mix

29. Being at Fenway for Pedroia’s walk-off single on June 19

30. Victor Martinez’s all-star selection

31. Adrian Beltre’s Silver Slugger

32. Tim Wakefield’s 200^th Fenway start

33. Beckett-Lester-Buchholz-Lackey-Matsuzaka

34. “Visitor’s Views”

35. Staying in the hunt

36. The potential for the 2011 Red Sox

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Please Tell me There’s More to the Story

Please tell me there’s a reason the Sox didn’t sign their top priority other than money. Please tell me it’s not just Theo showing off again. Please tell me there was a reason the Sox couldn’t add $8 million for the only guy they really needed to resign.

Please tell me its because they needed the money for Carl Crawford. Please tell me the Sox didn’t want to pay him the money to play a lot of first base because Adrian Gonzalez will be at first base for the next seven years. Please?

It’s weird. I never thought the Red Sox were going to get Victor Martinez. I knew they try to avoid those “albatross” contracts. I knew they wouldn’t give him the four years. So, I had sort of removed the idea of V-Mart from my head. So, I’m not sure which is worse. That they lost out over $8 million, or that they actually offered the fourth year, but still tried to cheap it out. Apparently it wasn’t that extra year that was the problem after all. They were just too cheap? Say it ain’t so Theo.

So, what happens now? Clearly the tandem of Tek and Salty will be handling the catching duties. Once again, Theo will try to show off and pay two cheap guys to do a job worse than the expensive guy would. They certainly better not spend any real money to grab another free agent catcher…assuming there are any. So, the Sox have a remaining hole in their line-up over at third. I will put myself in the “not Beltre” camp. His history of only performing in contract years is a little too consistent for my liking. I’d rather try the other corner. Obviously, a big gun in the “Fielder/Gonzalez/Pujols” area would be the ideal. But, I think the Sox could get away with a “steady” bat in that area. A Derek Lee/Lance Berkman type could fill in for a while. At least until the Sox get one of those other three at the deadline.

That really better be what the lack of V-Mart signing means. They need the $120 million plus to get one of those three. If waiting until the deadline cuts down on the prospects you need to give up, I’m OK with that. If you’re SURE you can sign one of them after the season, I’ll play along. For one year, I’ll take the batting line-up of Ellsbury-Pedroia-Ortiz-Youkilis-Drew-Cameron-Saltalamacchia-Lowrie-Scutaro. Really, when you pair that with the Lester-Buchholz-Beckett-Lackey-Matsuzaka rotation, that’s not so bad. Pretty good really…for a year. After that, the money needs to flow. Cliff Lee? Carl Crawford? Adrian Gonzalez? Prince Fielder? Albert Pujols? One of these guys needs to be squarely in the radar. They need to be practically signed and sealed with offers they can’t refuse.

Please tell me that’s the case.

In Case I Didn’t Feel Guilty Enough

I received yet another package from Adam at Thoughts and Sox. In my dealings with Adam, I have come to a couple conclusions. One, his generosity apparently knows no bounds. Two, he busts more wax than a team of beekeepers. He once again sent along a shipment of cards that took a good size bite out of my wantlists. I can’t even hope to do justice to the nearly 150 cards Adam sent along in this one post. But. I thought I’d mention a few examples of what he sent along.

The Jon Lester 2009 Topps Heritage is a nice card. It’s a good look at Lester, who never seems to smile. It also celebrates a wonderful event in Lester’s career. Yet another young Red Sox pitcher notched his first career no-hitter. A great card. The 2008 Stadium Club Youkilis card is from a lost set for me. I have always been a big Stadium Club fan. It’s hard not to be. But, I somehow “missed” the 2008 release. Obviously, I knew about it. But, I never really got any of them, or read much about it. It appears that all the cards have about 36 variations…including this “first day” version. The idea being that these cards were from the first day of printing of the set. Sort of stealing an idea from stamp collectors. It doesn’t do much for me, but it’s still a nice idea. The card itself is great. It’s shiny, without gong crazy. The photography is, as usual, fantastic. A very nice addition. The 2009 Topps Bard is another neat card. It’s a great photo. Nicely cropped. Maybe this is a chance for Jere to bring his detective skills out again. Bard is in his home whites…but that’s not Fenway he’s pitching in. I like the tongue though. As if pumping a ball in there at 100 mph is just a fun little activity. The Topps Heritage Billy Wagner is a great reminder of a pretty good move. The Sox acquired him on the cheap, hoping simply to get draft picks when he left town. The fact that he was dominating down the stretch was a fantastic bonus. While this card is nothing special, I do like the overall look of the set. The 2010 Bowman Ellsbury is one of my first cards from this set. It’s another great photo. Nicely cropped so nothing detracts from the action. The card itself is also quite simple. No crazy borders or graphics getting in the way of things. I can’t really say anything bad about it. The 2009 Allen & Ginter Rocco Baldelli is a great card, if for no other reason than to remind us that Baldelli was on the Sox. While I like the design of the A&G cards, I think they start to become too much of a good thing. One simple painting is a change of pace. One hundred simple paintings becomes a rut. The 2009 Bowman Daisuke Matsuzaka is a bit of a difficult card to see. Obviously, it was Matsuzaka’s performance in the WBC that supposedly led to his lost 2009 season. It was really too bad. The Topps Kids Mike Greenwell is a fun card. The set’s idea was to appeal to kids. Naturally, it was really to appeal to collectors who needed yet another Mike Greenwell card to their collection. The set had several design formats, of which this is one of my least favorites. But, it’s a fun way to spice up the collection. The Scott Hatteberg is another fun blast from the past. Remember when it was Hatteberg that was keeping Varitek from getting playing time? As we know, due to Varitek’s emergence, Hatteberg had to go elsewhere to make a name for himself and change positions to star in Moneyball. But he was certainly an up and comer in the Sox organization for a while.

As I said, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the goodness Adam sent over. As always, I urge you to check out his wantlists to see if you can help him out.

I’ll certainly be doing the same.