Tag Archives: Tim Wakefield

November 16, 2011 · 10:43 PM

What’s Next?

So Papelbon has left the team and they still don’t have a manager. Their current free agents are as follows as well as my opinion on the guys:

Erik Bedard
Brought in as the starter they’d need down the stretch to help pitch them into the postseason. Well, coming off injury he didn’t go deep in his starts. He was shelved for a period and didn’t do what he was supposed to; win. So chalk it up to another Theo disaster and he won’t be back.

J.D. Drew
Speaking of Theo disaster/man crushes. Thanks for the grand slam in 2007, it was your only hit I remember in between countless trips to the DL and even more countless excuses from the front office and manager. Don’t let the door hit you where the good lord split you. Don’t really care what replacement is in right field, has to be better than this turd and his .200 average last season.

Conor Jackson
Bet you didn’t even know he was with the team. Quick, what position did he play? Exactly. He was a backup first baseman. Maybe they sign him to a Pawtucket deal if he’ll take it but I don’t think he’s a cog in the team’s plans going forward.

Trever Miller
Speaking of guys in AAA, that’s where this guy was after August 30th when the Sox snagged him of the waiver wire scrap heap. A 38 year old junk ball left hander, not really in the team’s plans.

David Ortiz
Ah, the first real free agent. I differ from other people’s opinions with this guy. In my head, the Sox are a fourth place team next year (with Toronto leap frogging them). I don’t think Ortiz is going to have another bounce back year like he did this past year. I don’t know if he was on HGH or what, but you can’t expect him to get better. Now, if the team is planning to deal Youkilis this off season, I’m OK with re-signing Ortiz. But Youk is going to need probably 30 games minimum at DH since his body can’t do a full season at third.

So to recap, trade Youk and re-sign Ortiz, I’m OK. Keep Youk, sign a third baseman and let Ortiz walk.

Jason Varitek
Bye. Thanks for your years of service, thanks for being the *ahem* captain, but you can follow JD Drew right out the door. We need to see what kind of catchers we have in the system and the only way we see if they’re the real deal is if they play. And they won’t play with Varitek still on the team. I view some (repeat some) of the pitching problems on and off the field on Varitek. A real captain steps in and holds them accountable. Just saying. Again, bye.

Tim Wakefield
A huge distraction last season as he STRUGGLED for his 200th career win. Not even his 200th in a Sox uniform. Let Roger Clemens and Cy Young stay tied at the top of the Sox leader board. Let Wakefield go back to the Pirates where he started and put a bow on his career. Thanks for your years of service, but you’re no longer needed. Just like Varitek, I want to see some of the young guys throwing. Let’s see if we have talent in the system or not.

Dan Wheeler
Seriously? I guess if you’re looking to have arms in the pen you bring him back but he’s Manny Delcarmen except not from Hyde Park. He’s your junk sixth inning we’re down five guy.

So far, I’ve resigned myself to the fourth place idea (no manager, no closer, broken rotation, bickering clubhouse, immovable contracts). Nothing on the free agent market has me excited pitching wise. Would I like a Mark Buerhle to eat innings, sure. But I think the roster really needs some shaking up. Trade Beckett and see what you can get for him. Trade Youk and bring in Aramis Ramirez (just throwing names). Or trade Beckett to the Mets and bring in David Wright. Not sure the Mets make that trade, but throw it out there anyways.

Bottom line in Cherington needs to earn our trust. The only way to do that after the embarrassing debacle of this past September is to take a page from Da Guy’s playbook and SHAKE IT UP!

Back tomorrow with football Friday.

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September 28, 2011 · 6:20 AM

Last Game?

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. The band played a gig in Foxwoods Monday night and I got home kind of late. I planned ahead and took Tuesday off and did exactly what you’re supposed to do on your day off; nothing. And it was glorious.

On to the news.

Hey stupid if you really want the Sox to meltdown, you're rooting for the Yanks to lose. Idiot.

The Sox have played 161 games. By all accounts, based on spring previews, the team should be something like 100-60 at this point or 99-61. Most everyone predicted a 100 win team. I never predicted that (I went back and checked) but I certainly predicted the Sox to win the East.

Tomorrow we’ll get into all the other predictions I really messed up in terms of trying to forecast the division winners. But for today we’ll concentrate on game 162. Because this year it counts.

Oh boy does it count.

The Sox in the midst of a collapse the likes of which no team has ever fallen, won last night. It was their 90th win of the season. 10 shy of the 100 the experts predicted. Their 7-19 record in September is an embarrassment we’re all well aware of but if they’d just played .500 ball in September they’d still be a 96 win team. That’s how pathetic the month has been.

The Yankees lost to the Rays last night as the Sox were celebrating their 90th win meaning both teams have 90 wins coming into tonight. The Yankees, sitting comfortably with a now seven game division lead have their rotation set for the post season. Tonight the Yankees will play their starting fielders but will likely throw a rookie in the fold to start the game. The Rays will counter with David Price who’s 12-13 mark this season has to be a huge disappointment.

The Sox meanwhile haven’t had the luxury of setting their rotation. Nope. They’ll start Jon Lester tonight who by all accounts would be your game one starter in the post season. They’ll also field a makeshift lineup as they did last night with Youkilis still out and it’s unclear if they’ll have Tek or Salty to catch for Lester.

What does this mean big picture? It means that should both teams (Rays and Sox) win tonight and there’s a one game playoff in St Pete tomorrow, the Sox would throw Tim Wakefield as they try for a playoff bid. That gives you confidence right? Your playoff hopes relying on a 45 year old knuckle ball pitcher that has one win in his last eight appearances. Didn’t think so.

Bottom line is that the playoffs start Friday. We’ll know after tonight much more in regards to the fate of the Sox.

A lot to take in yes. Hopefully it makes some sense.

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September 21, 2011 · 4:46 AM

Best Collapse Ever

I don’t know how everyone else feels about this Sox as the September collapse continues. The Sox dropped another one last night as Daniel Bard couldn’t do his job again. This marks his fourth loss in September as he’s seen his ERA jump more than a point and the entire fans base’s confidence in him all but disappear.

Curt Schilling chimed in yesterday on sports radio saying that he doesn’t want the team to make the playoffs because he doesn’t believe that they’ll go anywhere if they make it.

I couldn’t agree more.

This is a repeat of the 2005 season. The team on their World Series hangover, limped into the post season with a questionable rotation, patchwork lineup, and shaky bullpen. Sound familiar. Exactly. All the same problems that are plaguing the team at the moment.

Let’s wear the optimist glasses and say the team makes it into the playoffs. They’ll face off against the Rangers or Tigers as the Wild Card team. The way their rotation is set now Lester is set to pitch the last game of the season meaning you’d start the playoffs with Wakefield. He would be followed by Lackey. Then after the team was down 0-2 they’d come home with Beckett in game three and Lester in game four.

So basically you’d have a gassed bullpen after the first two games and likely would have given up somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to ten runs a game. They’d likely put up nothing if they’re facing Verlander in game one and maybe a single run in game two. In both scenarios there’s no chance they’re not down 0-2.

Again, if it’s the Tigers you’d have to wonder if Leyland would pitch Verlander in game four and just wrap the series in four games (assuming the Sox miraculously won game three).

If it’s the Rangers, you just have to picture their lineup mashing the crap out of the Sox starters in the first two games. Maybe the Sox take the two games at home but not likely when we’ve seen Texas beat up both Beckett and Lester this season.

Bottom line is Schilling is right. This team won’t do anything in the playoffs – 5-15 in September teams don’t tend to do so – and have no business being in the playoffs. So shut it down and play all the scrubs. Let Theo walk and take the Cubs job this off-season and let the implosion of the front office begin.

You wanted to be the Yankees and buy a championship? It’s blowing up in your face?

Good.

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September 14, 2011 · 6:18 AM

200, Finally

Before we get to Tim Wakefield finlly winning his 200th, we need to address the slide the Sox are on. They just wrapped a seven game road trip that saw them facing Toronto and Tampa Bay. They went 1-3 in Toronto and were swept in Tampa. 1-6 isn’t the way you should playing against those teams.

Their 1-6 road trip and five game losing streak saw their Wild Card lead shrink from 6.5 games last Saturday to 3.5 as they limped out of Tampa. The Rays won on Monday while the Sox were idle making it an even (or odd) three game lead for the Sox in the Wild Card heading into last night.

The Sox were up 10-5 when they pulled Wake from last night’s game. When they went to the pen and brought in Aceves I had flashbacks to Aceves “vultering” a win in one of Wake’s previous attempts. But Aceves was able to retire the side in order and we were just six outs away from Wakefield’s 200th win (finally).

The Sox added another run in the bottom of the seventh to give a little more cushion at 11-5. Aceves gave up a couple hits in the top of the eighth but was able to pitch out of it without giving up another run.

Then the floodgates opened. The Sox unleashed the fury on the Blue Jay’s bullpen adding another seven runs to their already big lead. Offensive highlights of the night were Pedroia’s two home runs and five RBI’s, Ellsbury hitting his 27th home run in a 4-5 night with four runs, as well as Gonzales and Crawford going 2-4, Gonzalez with a run and an RBI, Crawford with three runs scored.

The team called on Junichi Tazawa (remember him?) for the ninth and he gave up a run but that was it as the Sox tripled up the Jays and won the game 18-6.

Wakefield celebrated after the game with his teammates and the fans that hung around to congratulate him. It was his ninth game, eighth start, in which he could get his 200th. The magic number of course is 300 for pitchers so on a night that Mariano Rivera got his 600th save, I think Wake’s accomplishment may be overshadowed on the national stage.

Sox win and a Tampa loss has the Sox back up four in the Wild Card and down four in the division behind the Yankees. Needless to say, since the Sox put it in cruise control since mid-August, the last couple weeks of the season are going to be interesting. They brought this on themselves.

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September 8, 2011 · 6:14 AM

Still Waiting

As summer winds down and football season starts gearing up, many people have tuned the Red Sox out. I don’t blame them. When the playoffs are pretty much a foregone conclusion in early August, the next two months of baseball are pretty boring. You’re just waiting for the match ups to be finalized with who is playing who.

Lost in that two months of waiting of course are individual accomplishments. Like a few years ago when Ortiz was trying for the Sox team record in homers. Or will a guys on the team vie for the Cy Young, MVP, etc.

This year that individual accomplishment everyone is waiting on is Tim Wakefield’s 200th win. This has been a waiting game that has been on people’s radar since July. He won his career 199th game on July 24th and his 200th seemed to be an inevitability.

Well, we all know how that’s gone. He’s had seven starts since his 199th win and an 0-3 record with four no decisions. Last night was his eighth try. With an 8-5 lead, Wakefield left the game to the bullpen who absolutely imploded. Daniel Bard gave up a career high five runs walking in the tying run with the bases loaded when it can be argued Papelbon should have been brought in for a four out save.

So once again, Wakefield did not get his 200th win and the waiting game continues. It is unclear at this point if he’ll get his scheduled start next Tuesday at home against Toronto. At this point Francona should just get him a “vulture” win when the team is up 12-0 or something similar in the fourth and have Wake come in and steal the win. That way everyone can stop talking about it.

Maybe next time.

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