Aretha is speaking to N-G.

I just posted on the previously about how I no longer trusted Wake. You make some good points Allen and at $4mil per its still good value, however I have to go with RSN here. 20 starts, first half, I’m all fine with that.
I just can’t watch him in any high leverage situation. Those innings where he gives up the bb followed by the hbp, then followed by the inevitable 3 run homer, its just killing me.

I hear he likes to take aim at his critics.

He is an innings eater and would probably be paid twice what he makes if he were a FA. I know he’s frustrating to watch at times, but he’s also one of the more consistently good pitchers in the league. A league average pitcher is worth a lot these days, especially one that stays as healthy as Wake.

Wakefield: career ERA+ 108
Jack Morris (who some think belongs in the HOF): career ERA+ 105

guy wins games and eats innings at a cheap price. Whats not to love?

Wake is a rocker.

I’m a huge fan and have been since we got him. I only said I didn’t trust him in high leverage situations. I’m more than happy to see him eat up 180 innings at ERA+ 105…as long as none of it is in the playoffs….

We will miss him when he’s gone. All baseball will miss him when he’s gone.

Tim Wakefield is the coelacanth. He’s a living fossil, a fascinating relic of a previous era, relatively unchanged by the march of time.

But, like the coelacanth, you don’t want him pitching in the post-season.

Wake was great in 2003, also other than the rays had his number last year, how can you make a statement until we see how it is going? This guy is streaky. If is hot at the end, you ride it. Safer to leave him off the roster though….

you refuse to see the human process of aging as real. It is real, I assure you, and that is why your post is irrelevant at this moment in time. Wakefield has gotten too old to even be effective with his one pitch, which now is a slow melon that a five year old can hit. He will be soundly embarrassed right out of the box this year if he tries to become the next Benjamin Button!

I have nothing against celebrating his past performances along with many other pitchers who have moved on, but I do have a problem with ignoring the obvious age-related failed and embarrassing performances of late last year. Please use your diagnostic acumen in a team positive sense this time, please!

Is that you never know what you’re going to get when he takes the mound. If his knuckleball is dancing and diving, you can get 6 or 7 innings of shutdown pitching. The flip side is that sometimes the knuckleball doesn’t float well and Wake needs to be pulled after 3 innings. It’s fair to say that on a game-to-game basis his performances are unreliable. I wouldn’t want to use Wakefield in a must-win situation, but I think most teams would say the same thing about their 4th or 5th starters.

Despite the unpredictable nature of Tim’s knuckleball, it has sufficient non-action more often than not and over the course of the entire season (20+ starts), the good performances outweigh the bad. His production is enviable for a bottom-of-the-rotation starter.

Will Tim Wakefield continue to be effective at his advanced age? I don’t know. As a knuckleballer his shelf life should be longer than a power pitcher, and I think that he could certainly put together a few more effective seasons. But coming off shoulder surgery it’s easy to argue the other way. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

There’s no middle ground with him. However, he’s a great guy, he’s not expensive, he’s happy with his role and his averages are very solid. Hope he can stick around with us until he’s 50 or so.

The funny thing about Wakefield is that there is two perspectives to him. If your going to a game and realize it’s a Wake game, you are less than pleased because on a single game basis, he’s the most unpredictable pitcher. He could be lit up for 7 runs in 3 innnings or pitch a shut out. All you know is that you’re going to be worried the whole game.

But if zoomed out to a larger view, he’s actually the most predictable pitcher the Red Sox have. Over a season, he’s always good for a lot of innings, some very good starts, and a moderately sized DL trip. He’ll always be a Red Sox, it’s either that or retirement for him and he is without ego.

I personally love having him. I love his good days, and believe the Sox are more than capable of dealing with his bad days. And when his pitch is working, he is the only guy in the league who can make even the best hitters look like they’ve never played the sport.

Wait until Wake gives up 6 runs in an inning none of you will be saying any of this love BS.
And who the hell is going to catch for him this year think were going to have a another pass ball situation again. Wake is a cephalalgia to me.

I’m not going to complain about the personal catcher thing. Kenji Johjima on the Mariners catches everyone, including R.A. Dickey when he was there, and that 4-WP inning of Dickey’s this year IMO looked like it was more epic Johjima catching fail than a control issue. Johjima, like Tek and the Sox backups, can’t hit his way out of a paper bag although he may steal home more often. I’ll take the risk of watching Kottaras flail at pitching 1/5 of the time in order to see one of the cheapest and most effective innings-eaters in MLB pitch.