I've often linked Wakefield with the Phillies' elder statesman, Jamie Moyer, and I'm not the only the one who has noticed the similarity, especially with how they both had been demoted from the rotation during the past two seasons.
SoxandPhils writer Scott Lauber had a nice piece the other day in which J-Moy commiserated with the knuckler:
Like Wakefield, Moyer is among the select few players in the majors' over-40 set. And for the final six weeks of last season, after the Philadelphia Phillies traded for Cliff Lee and signed Pedro Martinez, Moyer was relegated to being the team's long reliever and in-case-of-emergency starter.
And, like Wakefield, Moyer wasn't happy about it.
"I had been a starter my whole career, and it's where I feel like I can benefit the most," Moyer, the 47-year-old left-hander, recalled yesterday at Citizens Bank Park. "When I say it's where I can benefit the most, that's because it's where I feel like I can help the team the most."
I always forget that these two were teammates on the 1996 Red Sox. That was 14 years ago.
The other day I heard Buster Olney talking about covering Moyer in 1995 when he was demoted from the Orioles rotation. The upstanding lefty stood before reporters and told them he thought there were some mechanical adjustments he could make to improve his pitching.
Olney said the then-32-year-old sounded earnest but wasn't convincing anyone. "I was thinking, 'Jamie, you're a nice guy, but maybe you sound hang them up.'" Some 440 starts later, he's still not ready to hang them up.
I'm disappointed we didn't get to see these two crafty veterans match up this series. I hope it happens when they play in Fenway next month.
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