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Resorting to old pitchers isn't new and isn't smart

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Kevin Hench

An accomplished film and television writer, Kevin Hench's latest screenwriting credit is for The Hammer, which stars Adam Carolla. His podcast, Spider and the Henchman, is available every Friday on iTunes. MORE>>
Updated Aug 19, 2009 7:54 PM ET
     
 
"How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?" asked Cormac McCarthy in No Country for Old Men. If you're a big-league pitcher, the hitters will generally tell you when it's time to abandon the career part of your life. They will beat you into submission.
And the long, hot, daily grind of a pennant race is no country for old men. Just ask John Smoltz. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer was thrown into a steel cage by Theo Epstein, who apparently hadn't read the probability tables on 42-year-olds coming off arm surgery, going from the National League to the American League. It was an actuarial blueprint for disaster and a disaster it was. Smoltz went 2-5 with an 8.32 ERA. His first six starts were against teams with a combined record 88 games under .500 and the Red Sox went 1-5 in those games. (If Boston falls short in its wildcard tussle with the Rays and Rangers, the John Smoltz Experiment will almost certainly be the difference.) Smoltz is now heading back to the kinder, gentler National League to help the Cardinals down the stretch, though one wonders if escaping the DH will be enough for a pitcher who got roughed up by the Nationals in an interleague loss in his first start of the season. After releasing Smoltz, the Red Sox are now monitoring 43-year-old Tim Wakefield as he tries to fight his way back into the rotation from a low back injury that has spread to the calf of his left (plant) leg. (Does that sound like something that happens to a 26-year-old?) This marks the third season in the last four that Wakefield has been on the DL in August. From 2006-08 he has had a 5.55 ERA after the All-Star break. Wakefield was deemed not ready to return to the rotation after his first minor league tune-up and is scheduled for another rehab start on Friday. A pennant race can be a cruel place to find out your body just doesn't have what it takes anymore. But that will never stop desperate general managers from hoping they can wring one more run to glory out of a formerly great pitching geriatric. Enter Pedro Martinez. Martinez won his debut for the Phillies last week despite giving up seven hits and three runs in five innings. To watch the highlight shows — with Pedro hitting 93 on the gun — you'd think he was the Pedro of old. A long rain delay may have cost him a second win on Monday as he turned in three solid innings before being forced to depart by the delay. But how many more bullets can there possibly be in that surgically repaired shoulder? Pedro's arrival actually makes the Phillies' rotation younger, bumping the 46-year-old Jamie Moyer to the bullpen, where he got the win in relief of Pedro Monday night with six innings of two-hit shutout relief, a strong case that he belongs in the rotation. Moyer led the Phils with 10 wins upon his relegation to the pen, but the team apparently looked at that 5.47 ERA and feared it would balloon as Moyer neared his 47th birthday. The Martinez roll of the dice is the latest installment in the long tradition of taking a shot with a proven winner in the twilight — or possibly post-twilight — of his career. In 1986 the Red Sox tried to wring some more magic out of the 41-year-old arm of Tom Seaver, but he went 5-7, injured his knee in September and didn't pitch in the playoffs. The following year the Twins acquired 42-year-old Steve Carlton for the stretch run as they tried to hold off the Royals. The Twins, who won the division with an 85-77 record, did hold off Kansas City and went on to win the '87 World Series, no thanks to Lefty who posted an ugly 1-5, 6.70 line in nine appearances. In 1998, before he gave up a grand slam to Tino Martinez in his only World Series appearance, 38-year-old Mark Langston was precious little help in getting the Padres to the playoffs, going 4-6 with a 5.86 ERA. In 2006 the Padres acquired 43-year-old David Wells for the home stretch, but he won just once in five regular-season starts and lost his only playoff start. The precipitous, merciless, ugly decline phase is accelerated and magnified in a pennant race. Philly is hoping Pedro will be one of the rare exceptions, like Doyle Alexander who famously went 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA in the 1987 AL East pennant race as a soon-to-be-washed-up 36-year-old. (The Tigers' loss in the ALCS and Alexander's subsequent rapid return to earth would begin the 20-year sting of parting with John Smoltz in that trade.) While the Phillies have a comfortable working margin over the Marlins and Braves, lowering the risk of the Pedro signing, the White Sox are trying to reel in the Tigers, a task compromised by the appearance of geezer Jose Contreras on the hill every fifth day. Contreras, listed at 37 (but c'mon), is winless in his last six starts, going 0-4 with a 7.62 ERA. For White Sox fans, 28-year-old Jake Peavy — who was hit hard in his second rehab start for Charlotte Tuesday night — can't join the team soon enough. Of the geezers who have been in contenders' rotations all season, only 37-year-old Andy Pettitte is bucking the trend of either getting hit or getting hurt. After back-to-back shellackings in early July, Pettitte has allowed two or fewer earned runs in five of his last six starts. Pettitte does have one big advantage over his fellow old-timers — something Smoltz learned the hard way — in that he doesn't have to face the Yankees. But with a history of back spasms Pettitte is always just one awkward twitch away from excruciating, debilitating pain. One old dude who wasn't given a chance to prove he had anything left in the tank was 43-year-old Tom Glavine, released by the Braves despite posting a 2.25 ERA in 16 minor- league innings. Braves GM Frank Wren has been vindicated on two fronts: (1) there was no real interest in Glavine elsewhere and (2) 22-year-old Tommy Hanson has gone 8-2 in what would have been Glavine's spot in the rotation. Randy Johnson hopes to return from a rotator cuff tear by his 46th birthday (Sept. 10) to help the Giants in their playoff push. The Unit may have had a 7.36 ERA in July, but at 8-6 he is also the only San Francisco starter outside the double-barrel peril of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain with a winning record. The Giants' other starters are a combined 17-26. Still, it is unlikely the Unit will be able to contribute in any capacity besides relief if he makes it back at all. Here's hoping the five-time Cy Young-winning Big Unit, future Hall of Famer Smoltz, first-time All-Star Wakefield, 2005 playoff hero Contreras, four-time champ Pettitte and the once-dazzling Martinez, who reminded us after his first start of his three Cy Youngs at home, are all pitching in September. But bring the glucosamine and the 12-hour Aleve because a baseball pennant race can be brutal on old men.
Tagged: Tim Lincecum, Padres, Giants, Jose Contreras, Marlins, Red Sox, Rays, White Sox, Braves, Tim Wakefield, Twins, Yankees, Jake Peavy, Matt Cain, Phillies

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