Chuck HRandom Two Cents On...Wakefield,Cassel,Gasquet
July 17th 2009 14:15
This week there's been much ado about Timmy 'Flutterboy' Wakefield not getting any facetime on the bump in St.Louis at the All Star Game. Please.... enough! Joe Maddon managed that game the exact way he's supposed to at this juncture---to win it. Like it or not, the Mid-Summer Classic isn't merely and exhibition game anymore. It's a game that you want to win to secure home field advantage for your league in the World Series. Is it a stupid, ridiculous, half assed way to decide home field for the championship of baseball? Yes. Yes in fact it is---but it's the way it is now---so you have to manage to win it more than you used to in the past. Ask the Red Sox or Dodgers who both have great won-loss records at home this year if they'd rather open up the Fall Classic at home or on the road. As far as Wakefield goes---it was a great story---him making the All Star team for the first time as a pitcher in his 40's. Awesome. I'm a big fan of Wake, but it was more of a lifetime achievement award than anything else. Yes, he had the wins to back up his selection but many other pitchers could've been selected over him who had much better numbers overall. I have no problem with the fact that he was selected over those other guys at all but let's get off of Joe Maddon and his decision to not use Wakefield in a tie game/one run game. If they had a lead of 2 or 3 runs, then give it a go, but they didn't. Boston fans should know how tough it is to catch the knuckleball. We've had 'specialty' catchers here for years to catch him. Doug Mirabelli owes Wake a nice steak dinner at Umbria Prime Steakhouse in Boston once a week for the rest of his life if you ask me---for extending his career. It's just flat out too risky throwing Wakefield in there under those circumstances---throwing to a catcher that has never caught him---not to mention potentially embarassing for an All Star catcher and his ego when he is made to look foolish by chasing a Bugs Bunny knuckleball to the backstop because he's never experienced catching #49.
Six years/ $60 milllion---with a $28 million signing bonus! Are we serious Kansas City? Is Scott Pioli smoking that special ghanja out there in Missouri? In all seriousness, I have nothing but great things to say about Matt Cassel for what he did here in New England last year when Tom Brady went down. He filled in unbelievably and he exceeded everyone's expectations while doing so, but that money is ridiculous for a guy who had one good season in the NFL. Not to mention he took over an offense that features Randy Moss and Wes Welker along with a good pass blocking offensive line. Ask Duante Culpepper what Randy Moss does for you as a QB---if you can find him. Matt Cassel is going to a team with an offensive line that has more holes than your best batch of swiss cheese down your local deli, and a group of wide receivers led by Dwayne Bowe. Bowe is young and talented but I will pay you if you can name some other receivers the Chiefs employ. Oh, and Tony Gonzalez said ba-bye as well. Larry Johnson isn't the player he once was at running back either, not even close. I hope Matt Cassel turns out to be the best pro athlete since George Brett for the city of Kansas City---I really do. He is a good QB---who now makes more money than the guy he used to back up in N.E.---future Hall of Famer, Tom Brady. Wow, one good year quarterbacking a team with immense offensive talent like New England had, gets you that type of cake? Hey, good for him. You take what you can get---and I wish him nothing but the best of luck.
Lastly I leave you with Richard Gasquet. This is awesome.. Good ole Dick convinced the independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine by playing 'tonsil hockey' with a pretty young lady that he had just met. I have now pretty much heard it all. That is awesome work. I don't know if Johnny Cochran could've done a better job of convincing people of something any better than Dick did. He failed his drug test and was supsended for 2 and a half months but he convinced the tribunal that it was from tongue kissing a girl. There's really nothing left to say. Great stuff!
(Josh Gans at Sports Fan 4 did a piece on his 9 Favorite Sports Blogs today and yours truly made the cut. Click here to check out the piece. Thanks a lot Josh.)
Chuck Hanf
Two Cents From Beantown
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Comment by DF
Comment by Chuck H
Two Cents From Beantown
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Comment by Josh Gans
With Cassel, I was also going to write a piece about his big contract, but you've gone and stolen my thunder. All I can say is that by actually breaking down the contract, he's in the middle of the pack getting about $10 M per year. KC gave him the contract to lock him up as a franchise QB because of what they gave up for him. I hope he's worth it for them, I wish him the best of luck, but they're in the AFC and when it comes down to it, I hope they lose.
Comment by Chuck H
Two Cents From Beantown
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Comment by The Baseball Demon
The Hall of Fame is for lifetime achievement, the All-Star game is for what you have done this season.
Catching Wakefield's knuckleball isn't an issue...Joe Mauer catches R.A. Dickey in Minnesota.
Winning the game for home field advantage isn't a viable reason to keep Wakefield out of the game either. Since 2003, the first year the game decided home field advantage, the A.L. has won all of the All-Star games and has gone 3-3 in the World Series.
If Maddon was afraid to use the knuckleballer in a tight or tie game, then he should have started Wakefield.
The man is in his 17th season, and his first All-Star caliber season (4 seasons with 15 or more wins out of his previous 16), and isn't likely to make another All-Star appearance.
Baseball etiquette should have taken precedence to anything else in this case.
Comment by Chuck H
Two Cents From Beantown
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