When you spend 19 seasons on major league rosters, you end up playing with a lot of big names. This list isn't complete, but check out some of his teammates...
Barry Bonds
Kirk Gibson
Doug Drabek
Mo Vaughn
Jose Canseco
Kevin Mitchell
Roger Clemens
Jason Varitek
Tom Gordon
Bret Saberhagen
Nomar Garciaparra
Pedro Martinez
Dante Bichette
Manny Ramirez
Johnny Damon
Rickey Henderson
Ellis Burks
David Ortiz
Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Mike Lowell
Dustin Pedroia
J.D. Drew
Jonathan Papelbon
Kevin Youkilis
Adrian Beltre
Victor Martinez
John Lackey
Jon Lester
Adrian Gonzalez
Carl Crawford
I'd say that's pretty good company.
Showing posts with label Tim Wakefield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tim Wakefield. Show all posts
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Wakefield Retires
Tim Wakefield, the 45 year-old knuckleballer, retired yesterday after 19 seasons, all but two of which he spent as a fan favorite for the Boston Red Sox. He goes out with exactly 200 wins on his ledger, and was the active leader in wins, losses, innings pitched, earned runs, home runs allowed, walks allowed, batters plunked, wild pitches, and batters faced at the time of his retirement. Wake made the right call. He'd been a below average pitcher over the past two seasons, finishing with losing records and an ERA over five in back to back seasons for the first time since his 1999-2000 campaigns. You could tell the Sox were letting him gun for that 200th career win, and unfortunately that display of sentimentality probably cost them a playoff berth since Wakefield ended 2011 with -1.2 bWAR, and Boston missed the postseason by one win.
There's no doubt Wakefield had a "unique" career path marked by a multitude of twists and turns, highs and lows. Such volatility is to be expected though, when one relies on a pitch that he can't control once it's in flight towards home plate. The Florida native was a slugging first baseman when the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him out of Florida Tech, but struggled in the minors and didn't seem to have much of a future in baseball. Then he developed the knuckleball, pitched well down on the farm, and earned a late summer promotion to the Show as a 25 year-old rookie. He made an immediate impact; debuting with a 146-pitch/ten strikeout complete game effort against the St. Louis Cardinals and going 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA over thirteen starts. His strong pitching down the stretch helped push the Barry Bonds-led Pirates into the playoffs, where Timmy twirled a pair of complete game victories against Tom Glavine in the NLCS. He was lined up to win series MVP honors, but Atlanta staged a dramatic comeback during the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game to steal the pennant from Pittsburgh. He won the Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year awardfinished third in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting behind Eric Karros and Moises Alou. Despite being on the older side for a freshman, he was entering his prime years and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.
But the league caught up with him next year. He pitched so poorly that he lost his rotation spot and was demoted to Double A, then spent all of the '94 season in the minors. On April 20, 1995, the Pirates released him, and Wakefield was out of a job. Six days later GM Dan Duquette scooped him up off waivers, and all Wake did that season was win 16 games, post a 2.95 ERA/165 ERA+, finish third in the Cy Young race and help the Red Sox win the AL East. Sporting News handed him AL Comeback Player of the Year to reward his resurgence.
That '95 season was probably the peak of his career, because his ERA and WHIP ballooned over the next three years as he entered his early 30s. He still pitched well enough and often enough to average fourteen victories and 210 innings per year, helping bridge the gap between Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. Starting in 1999, when he replaced an injured Tom Gordon as the team's closer and saved fifteen games, Wakefield began to see extensive action out of the bullpen. He still started around 16 games per year, but his days as a frontline starter appeared to be in the past. Then, following a superb 2002 season when went 11-5 with a 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+ and 1.05 WHIP, manager Grady Little stabilized a paper thin rotation by bringing the 36 year old back as a full time starter for the ill-fated '03 season. Wakefield set a career high with 169 strikeouts, and was poised to win the ALCS MVP honors before Pedro's eighth inning meltdown preceded Aaron Boone's infamous walk-off blast in Game 7.
A shell-shocked Wakefield walked off the mound in Yankee Stadium that night convinced he had become Bill Buckner. Fortunately for him, Red Sox Nation absolved him of any blame and turned their guns on Little instead, running him out of town for leaving a fatigued Martinez in too long. A year later, Wake was popping champagne with the rest of the Idiots in St. Louis. He wouldn't have the bear the burden of his mistake for all of eternity. He wanted to stay in Boston, and the front office did, too. On April 19, 2005, Wakefield agreed to a $4 million, one-year "rolling" contract extension that gave the Red Sox the ability to keep Wakefield for the rest of his career. That was the season he anchored the rotation in the wake of Martinez's free agent departure and Curt Schilling's recurrent ankle injuries. He won sixteen games and completed over 225 innings. Both he and the Sox struggled with injuries and disappointment the following year before returning to glory in 2007. Boston won its second World Series in four years while a 40 year old Wakefield won 17 games.
He made his first and only All-Star team in 2009, becoming the second oldest first-time All-Star behind Satchel Paige. Unfortunately Joe Maddon didn't use him, and he proceeded to miss six weeks with injuries to his lower back and calf. '09 marked his last season as a full time starting pitcher and as an above average baseball player. He shuffled in an out of the rotation in his final two years, stepping up when Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, and Clay Buchholz missed time with injuries. For 2012, Boston offered its longest-tenured player a minor league contract and an invitation to spring training, but Wakefield wisely turned them down and decided it was time to call it quits. He made his money, won his rings, etched his name in the history books. No need to go Jamie Moyer on us.
Jason Varitek, typically replaced by Doug Mirabelli on days when Wakefield pitched, should do the same. Two Red Sox fixtures going out together.
In the context of Wake's stranger than fiction career, I think that would be a pretty good ending.
There's no doubt Wakefield had a "unique" career path marked by a multitude of twists and turns, highs and lows. Such volatility is to be expected though, when one relies on a pitch that he can't control once it's in flight towards home plate. The Florida native was a slugging first baseman when the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him out of Florida Tech, but struggled in the minors and didn't seem to have much of a future in baseball. Then he developed the knuckleball, pitched well down on the farm, and earned a late summer promotion to the Show as a 25 year-old rookie. He made an immediate impact; debuting with a 146-pitch/ten strikeout complete game effort against the St. Louis Cardinals and going 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA over thirteen starts. His strong pitching down the stretch helped push the Barry Bonds-led Pirates into the playoffs, where Timmy twirled a pair of complete game victories against Tom Glavine in the NLCS. He was lined up to win series MVP honors, but Atlanta staged a dramatic comeback during the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game to steal the pennant from Pittsburgh. He won the Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year awardfinished third in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting behind Eric Karros and Moises Alou. Despite being on the older side for a freshman, he was entering his prime years and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.
But the league caught up with him next year. He pitched so poorly that he lost his rotation spot and was demoted to Double A, then spent all of the '94 season in the minors. On April 20, 1995, the Pirates released him, and Wakefield was out of a job. Six days later GM Dan Duquette scooped him up off waivers, and all Wake did that season was win 16 games, post a 2.95 ERA/165 ERA+, finish third in the Cy Young race and help the Red Sox win the AL East. Sporting News handed him AL Comeback Player of the Year to reward his resurgence.
That '95 season was probably the peak of his career, because his ERA and WHIP ballooned over the next three years as he entered his early 30s. He still pitched well enough and often enough to average fourteen victories and 210 innings per year, helping bridge the gap between Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. Starting in 1999, when he replaced an injured Tom Gordon as the team's closer and saved fifteen games, Wakefield began to see extensive action out of the bullpen. He still started around 16 games per year, but his days as a frontline starter appeared to be in the past. Then, following a superb 2002 season when went 11-5 with a 2.81 ERA, 162 ERA+ and 1.05 WHIP, manager Grady Little stabilized a paper thin rotation by bringing the 36 year old back as a full time starter for the ill-fated '03 season. Wakefield set a career high with 169 strikeouts, and was poised to win the ALCS MVP honors before Pedro's eighth inning meltdown preceded Aaron Boone's infamous walk-off blast in Game 7.
A shell-shocked Wakefield walked off the mound in Yankee Stadium that night convinced he had become Bill Buckner. Fortunately for him, Red Sox Nation absolved him of any blame and turned their guns on Little instead, running him out of town for leaving a fatigued Martinez in too long. A year later, Wake was popping champagne with the rest of the Idiots in St. Louis. He wouldn't have the bear the burden of his mistake for all of eternity. He wanted to stay in Boston, and the front office did, too. On April 19, 2005, Wakefield agreed to a $4 million, one-year "rolling" contract extension that gave the Red Sox the ability to keep Wakefield for the rest of his career. That was the season he anchored the rotation in the wake of Martinez's free agent departure and Curt Schilling's recurrent ankle injuries. He won sixteen games and completed over 225 innings. Both he and the Sox struggled with injuries and disappointment the following year before returning to glory in 2007. Boston won its second World Series in four years while a 40 year old Wakefield won 17 games.
He made his first and only All-Star team in 2009, becoming the second oldest first-time All-Star behind Satchel Paige. Unfortunately Joe Maddon didn't use him, and he proceeded to miss six weeks with injuries to his lower back and calf. '09 marked his last season as a full time starting pitcher and as an above average baseball player. He shuffled in an out of the rotation in his final two years, stepping up when Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, and Clay Buchholz missed time with injuries. For 2012, Boston offered its longest-tenured player a minor league contract and an invitation to spring training, but Wakefield wisely turned them down and decided it was time to call it quits. He made his money, won his rings, etched his name in the history books. No need to go Jamie Moyer on us.
Jason Varitek, typically replaced by Doug Mirabelli on days when Wakefield pitched, should do the same. Two Red Sox fixtures going out together.
In the context of Wake's stranger than fiction career, I think that would be a pretty good ending.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wake Wins 200th
It's been a big summer for baseball milestones, and tonight Tim Wakefield joined Derek Jeter, Jim Thome and Michael Young, three outstanding men who recently reached big round numbers. It has been more than seven weels since the rubber armed Iron Man walked off the mound in the seventh inning of a slugfest at Fenway to a standing ovation. He'd just served up a grand slam to light hitting Mariner shortstop Brendan Ryan, but luckily for him the Sox had lit up Rookie of the Year candidate Michael Pineda and Seattle's middle relievers for a dozen runs. So Wake got his 199th career win (and his 2,000th strikeout as a member of the Red Sox), even if his stat line (ten hits and seven earned runs over six and a third innings, known as a "distaster" start for allowing more earned runs than innings pitched) resembled a typical A.J. Burnett performance.
And then a funny thing happened. Timmy, for the life of him, just couldn't get that 200th win. He was the tough luck loser of a 3-1 pitcher's duel with Gavin Floyd in his final start of July, earned a pair of no-decisions in eventual Boston victories before going the distance against the Mariners, only to lose 5-3. In his next turn, he left in the sixth inning against the Royals and was slapped with another ND, then got rocked by the light-hitting A's at Fenway. After tossing four shutout innings during mop-up duty of a 10-0 Rangers blowout, his seventh try at the milestone qualified as cruel and unusual punishment; he departed after the fifth with the Sox up 8-5, then could do nothing but watch as Daniel Bard and the bullpen blew the lead and the ballgame. Boston scored ten runs and pounds out fourteen hits, and he still didn't get the win.
By all rights, he should have had his 200th win a few weeks ago, but baseball can be a funny sport. He gets knocked around by a AAA lineup and wins, then holds his opponents to four earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts and somehow can't buy one.
By all rights, he should have had his 200th win a few weeks ago, but baseball can be a funny sport. He gets knocked around by a AAA lineup and wins, then holds his opponents to four earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts and somehow can't buy one.
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| Wakefield rarely makes it look easy these days, but he can still get the job done |
But the 45 year-old knuckleballer finally got that elusive W in front of the supportive home crowd at Fenway tonight, and now we can all rest easy. Fittingly, number 200 was a classic Wakefield workmanlike effort; six innings, five earned runs and gopher balls to slugging catcher J.P. Arencibia and MVP contender Jose Bautista. This mediocre line was good enough on a night when the Red Sox crossed home plate 18 times against Brandon Morrow and the Blue Jays.
It's been one heck of a career for Tim. The oldest player in the game three years running leads all active pitchers in wins and innings pitched, but despite his impressive career totals he's only been a slightly above average pitcher throughout his 19 big league seasons. It's safe to say his overall statistics reflect longevity, endurance, and perseverance more than elite skill. He's had his fair share of highs and lows throughout his two-decade major league odyssey that originated in Pittsburgh with Barry Bonds. After a sensational debut and sophomore slump there, he was unceremoniously let go and the 28 year-old's career was in jeopardy (his timing was impeccable, though. He left the Pirates when the wheels fell off and arrived in Boston just as the team became perennial contenders). Boston GM Dan Duquette took a flier on him after Roger Clemens and Aaron Sele went down early in the '95 season, and Wake thanked him by resurrecting his career and becoming a fixture for the Old Towne Team over the next decade and a half. This guy played with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jon Lester. I see him as the team's pitching equivalent of Jason Varitek; long-tenured sources of production and leadership.
It's been one heck of a career for Tim. The oldest player in the game three years running leads all active pitchers in wins and innings pitched, but despite his impressive career totals he's only been a slightly above average pitcher throughout his 19 big league seasons. It's safe to say his overall statistics reflect longevity, endurance, and perseverance more than elite skill. He's had his fair share of highs and lows throughout his two-decade major league odyssey that originated in Pittsburgh with Barry Bonds. After a sensational debut and sophomore slump there, he was unceremoniously let go and the 28 year-old's career was in jeopardy (his timing was impeccable, though. He left the Pirates when the wheels fell off and arrived in Boston just as the team became perennial contenders). Boston GM Dan Duquette took a flier on him after Roger Clemens and Aaron Sele went down early in the '95 season, and Wake thanked him by resurrecting his career and becoming a fixture for the Old Towne Team over the next decade and a half. This guy played with Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Jon Lester. I see him as the team's pitching equivalent of Jason Varitek; long-tenured sources of production and leadership.
And like Varitek, Wakefield has shown time and time again that he's willing to do whatever's best for the team. After averaging fifteen wins a season for the first four years of his Boston career, he became the team's closer and saved fifteen games during the middle of the '99 season when Tom Gordon got hurt. Because of his late game success and versatility, Wakefield spent the next three years alternating between starter and reliever before becoming a permanent starter again late in the 2002 season. In the ALCS two years later he volunteered for mop-up duty in Game Three's 19-8 shellacking, sacrificing his Game Four start to help preserve the bullpen. He took a beating from the Yankee sluggers but unwittingly saved the season by keeping Boston's relievers fresh for the 26 combined innings of Games Four and Five. He's a mid-rotation innings eater (a job he has embraced by finishing more than 3,000 frames; most among active pitchers), and to top it off every offseason he signs a cheap one year contract and ends up being one of the best bargains in baseball. Ole Reliable is always ready and willing to fill a rotation slot when Daisuke Matsuzaka or Josh Beckett gets hurt.
Although he is once again splitting time between the bullpen and starting rotation, Wakefield continues to contribute even as he loses effectiveness and lobs the slowest fastball in The Show. As I took a look back at Wakefield's illustrious career, I decided it would be fun to remember some of his best moments as well as his rocky ones.
Highs
-Third place finish in 1992 NL Rookie of the Year balloting. Went 8-1 with four complete games and a sparkling 2.15 ERA over his first thirteen starts. The Sporting News named him NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year and he spun a pair of complete game victories in a losing effort against the Braves in the NLCS
-After Boston scooped him up, he earned his keep by finishing third in the 1995 AL Cy Young race on the strength of his sixteen wins and 2.95 ERA. Won Sporting News AL Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts
-Shut down New York in the 2003 ALCS and would have won series MVP if Grady Little hadn't forgot about his bullpen during Pedro Martinez's infamous meltdown in the eighth inning of Game Seven.
-Earned his first and only All-Star selection in 2009 at the age of 42, making him the second-oldest first-time All-Star ever behind only the immortal Satchel Paige
-Recipient of 2010 Roberto Clemente award, first Red Sox player to win it
-Is the oldest Red Sox pitcher to win a game and the oldest Red Sox player to appear in a game at Fenway
-Making the postseason ten (soon to be eleven) times and winning a pair World Series rings
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| Acknowledging the Fenway Faithful |
-Followed up stellar rookie campaign by struggling, losing rotation spot, and getting demoted to AA in 1993
-Spent all of '94 in the minors and was released by the Pirates on April 20, 1995
-Led the American League in losses with fifteen in 1997
-Struggled mightily in the '95, '98 and '99 playoffs by allowing nearly twice as many earned runs as innings pitched. He also surrendered the gopher ball to Aaron Boone that ended the 2003 ALCS and failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his only career World Series start against St. Louis in 2004. He has more losses than wins in his postseason career, not to mention an unsightly 6.75 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 1.42 K/BB ratio. Yikes
-Was left off the 2007 World Series roster because of a shoulder injury
-Hasn't finished a season with sub-four ERA since 2002 and has only four such seasons for his career
-A dozen seasons with double digit losses and more L's than any active pitcher.
But through it all, Wakefield has remained a class act and the ultimate team player. He's a consummate professional on the field and off, where he donates time and money to charities throughout New England. Tim Wakefield isn't a Hall of Fame pitcher, but more importantly is a Hall of Fame person.
Also-congratulations to Mariano Rivera on his 600th career save. Two more and he'll break Trevor Hoffman's record. Like Wakefield, Rivera is a class act and deserves all the praise he gets for this remarkable achievement.
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