October 25, 2009

Wakefield's Magic Number: 193

Tim Wakefield had back surgery (herniated disc) on Wednesday.
Everything was awesome. The whole procedure went as planned and even post-op, meeting with the surgeon, Dr. [Lawrence] Borges, everything went perfect. He didn't see any further damage in there. He made sure everything was cleaned up and ready to go. It went perfect and I should be ready to go by Spring Training.
The Red Sox have until five days after the World Series to pick up Wakefield's $4 million option for 2010. It would be his 16th season and he says retirement "never crossed my mind ...

I still feel like I can compete at the highest level. I want to continue to play as long as my body allows me and as long as the Red Sox want me around. ...

I do have some goals in mind. I obviously want to get to 200 wins [he has 189] and I want to try to become the all-time leader in wins in Red Sox history. I'm 18 away from that. Past that, I really can't tell you.
Pitcher        Wins       Years
Cy Young 192 1901-1908
Roger Clemens 192 1984-1996
Tim Wakefield 175 1995-2009
Wakefield already holds the franchise record for losses (150). Young (112) and Fat Billy (111) are 2nd and 3rd. Wake also hold the Red Sox record for the most games started, batters faced, HBPs, wild pitches, earned runs, hits, walks, and home runs.

And he could sit atop the innings pitched category next season. At 2,711.1, he's 17 behind Young (2,728.1) and 64.2 behind the TCM (2,776).

3 comments:

johngoldfine said...

FWIW, my little mixbreed Boca, a very winning dog, had disc surgery six weeks ago and is now definitely back in the old ball game, ready to pitch (though she prefers to retrieve) knucklers for the next twelve years or so.

So, there is hope.

Amy said...

I would love to see Tim break all those records and get another WS ring while he is at it!

Jay Cross said...

I'd like to see Wakefield break the all time modern record for hit-batsman (I think he's seventh). Unfortunately for that, his control looks like it's getting better as he ages.