June 5, 2000

We all have our weaknesses. Some people are suckers for raspberry ice cream. Others can't resist double-cheese pizza. If you're a ballplayer, you may not be able to lay off those chin-high fastballs. (If you watched this weekend's disaster in Philadelphia, you know the Sox have a few of those, eh?)

Me, I can't help but fall for soft-tossing, junkballing right-handers. It's the result of 2 1/2 years of watching Mike Boddicker, who -- until Pedro came along -- may have been my favorite Red Sox starting pitcher of all time. Not the best, mind you, but my personal favorite. I was enthralled with the way he could so flummox major-league hitters and make them look absolutely foolish as they waited for A) and he delivered B). I suppose a large part of it was that my fastball couldn't rustle the leaves on a tree during my "playing" (if you want to call them that) days, and I wanted to think that I could have developed into Mike Boddicker if I'd worked hard enough.

Which is probably why, more than most, I've always been willing to give John Wasdin the benefit of the doubt. But, John, enough is enough.

You have no gripe here. None. It's not that you don't have the stuff to pitch in the major leagues. What you've yet to prove is that you can pitch in the major leagues when the game means anything. I hate to blame things on a player's mental state, and I hate people who do, but facts are facts:

-- With no one on base during your career with the Red Sox, you've held opponents to a .244 batting average, with a .287 on-base percentage and a .395 slugging percentage. With runners on, those numbers jump to .281/.337/.521. In the late innings of close games, they take another leap to .297/.350/.533. You retired only 8 of the 17 first batters you faced this year, and you allowed a rather remarkable 11 of your 15 inherited runners to score.

Maybe it is (lack of) ability, though people swear up and down that you have the stuff to get out major-league hitters. (You certainly seem to think so, judging by your reaction to your two most recent demotions.) But unless and until you can translate that talent into the ability to retire hitters with the game even remotely on the line, you're of little use to the Sox other than staff filler.

The bottom third of major-league pitching staffs are filled with interchangable swill, rotating from team to minors to another team to their minors to another team, ad naseum. In that context, Wasdin isn't so bad (and certainly isn't worthy of the venom he seems to be spawning in the Nation). He might be looked upon as just another Reggie Harris . . . and maybe he's even a little better than that, since he can coast unscathed upon for inning upon inning in blowout losses.

It's just that there was a time when we -- or at least I -- had higher hopes for John Wasdin. Which is why, John, that I'm just as disappointed about all this as you.

Copyright © 2001 The Providence Journal Company
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