Wakefield Uber Alles

Last night, Tim Wakefield accomplished something no other pitcher ever has: he recorded his 8,329th out as a member of the Boston Red Sox. For those who are less than mathematically inclined (like myself), that's 2,776 and 1/3 innings, one out more than Roger Clemens recorded with a B on his cap. It's a useful moment with which to reflect on the astonishing career of Tim Wakefield, and on what he has given this team both on the field and off. The longest tenured member of the Red Sox (Wake arrived in Boston as a free agent during the first month of the 1995 season, two years before anyone had heard of Nomar Garciaparra), Wakefield has been as selfless a player as has ever worn a Sox uniform. That he can arrive at this record is a testament to his loyalty, selflessness, and love of this game.

Numbers

For whatever reason, I've been having a large number of conversations about retired numbers lately. From students trying to get me on a tangent by asking who they all are to discussions about whether Pedro Martinez' return on Opening Day was a play to get 45 on the facade, the frequency of the topic has gotten me thinking about what the next number retired would be. So, instead of the usual recriminations or wishful thoughts on the 2010 campaign, I wanted to run down the top 5 candidates in order of what I think is their likelihood of retirement. I don't expect everyone to agree, but it should spark some interesting conversation.

The current list stands at 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, and 27 (along with Jackie Robinson's 42). Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronin, Johnny Pesky, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk -- as good a rundown of Red Sox greats as you can get. Hall of Famers all, aside from Pesky, who represents a special case. The restrictions on retirement have been eased by current ownership, and the rules are now a bit fuzzy; it used to be that a player had to begin and finish a Hall of Fame career with the Sox. That seems to no longer be the case, despite a few acrobatic moves to get Fisk there. So, with that in mind, here is my list of five, along with their numbers, chances and qualifications.

Hope Springs Eternal

Right before spring training starts, the questions we've raised in the offseason taper off, and spring training battles slowly start to take shape. Major media outlets are trying to field any lagging fan questions, players without homes scramble for a job, or continue to pout and lament over their perceived value. One of the things I tend to do around this time of year is always go back to some of the reasons why I've worn this team like a red badge of courage for so long. In my short 31 years, I never suffered though the ultimate let down from the Impossible Dream, I never got to cheer the most famous fly ball ever to just stay fair, or got to give Bucky Dent a very special middle name.

All-Aughts Team of the Decade SP1: Pedro Martinez

Unsurprisingly, Pedro Martinez is the ace of the All-Aughts Team of the Decade. His 1999 and 2000 season were something to behold, and he is widely considered to be one of the top three Red Sox of all time. When Petey became a free agent following the World Series in 2004, I wrote an "Ode to Pedro" that I feel is an appropriate expression of what Pedro meant to myself and to Red Sox fans as a whole (although my writing could use a lot more polish). Rather then try to hack off a decent article on Pedro, I figured I would reprint part of the article -- the part that matters. After that, I'll wrap things up now that we have more perspective on Pedro. It is difficult to truly do Pedro justice in an article -- I don't think anyone will quite be able to capture how much he meant to the Red Sox Nation and how dominant he was on the field. It wasn't just his statistics. It was watching his pitches befuddle hitters. It was his strong attitude that batters took exception to. Pedro owned the park every time he took the mound. One might argue he still owns it: even if his stuff has disappeared, people still sit up and take notice when it's his turn to pitch.

Just for old times sake…

In 31 career starts against the Yanks, Pedro has a 3.03 ERA in the regular season. In 211 innings he has wiffed 257 Yankee hitters, while walking only 58. Pedro has a WHIP of 1.00. That is completely dominant. This is not only the most successful franchise in the history of the sport, but is also the most successful of the past 12 seasons as well, seasons in which Pedro has taken the mound against them.

How many Cy Youngs should Pedro have?

I know ERA+ wasn't used much then, but his 1.74 ERA was well over an earned run better than the next guy on the list. And Pedro did all this in a hitters park! A place where routine flyballs hit to left field turned into doubles.

When arguing who the greatest pitcher ever was, one should include that Pedro Martinez was the best pitcher in baseball four times, not three. And there was a fifth time, too, where it wasn't all that far-fetched to say that Pedro was the greatest pitcher alive.

My favorite Red Sox players

Pedro - drgandy

On Friday, the Boston Globe ran down the worst breakups in Red Sox history going around the diamond by position. It's a nice (and sobering) read.

It made me ask myself "who would be on my personal 'favorite Red Sox' team?" My list is here and includes famous names such as Pedro Martinez and obscure names such as Jeff Frye

The Next Bartolo Colon

From the likes of Wade Miller and Kyle Snyder to Bartolo Colon the Red Sox have often found value, or potential value in signing a veteran pitcher looking to right the ship after injury or at the end of their line to a one year deal and have them fill spots at the back of the rotation.

That type of insurance policy combined with an influx of youth at the tail end of your rotation has been invaluable in recent years where the Red Sox have needed their fair share of spot starts. I can remember more Julian Tavarez starts than I care to!

While the top of the rotation certainly is full of horses (Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka) and Wakefield and the young guns (Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson) provide a solid tail, injury is unpredictable. The 2008 New York Yankees are a great proof to the theorem that you can't have enough starting pitching.

Projections for 2009 Red Sox and others

Bill James has come out with his new handbook for 2009, and in the handbook are the early statistical projections for players next year. This may be especially significant in the case of the Red Sox, as James has a vast amount of knowledge of players in the Red Sox system due to being employed by the team.

TRIVIA: Pedro taped to pole

Our previous trivia question: Many of us know that Ted Williams sacrificed all or part of five major league seasons…