He seems like a nice enough guy (especially for a baseball player) but am I honestly supposed to be upset that Ryan Dempster is apparently retiring? His one year in Boston was completely forgettable (8-9, 4.57 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 157 strikeouts) save for the time he hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch (his greatest contribution as a Red Sox) and oh by the way, the team won the World Series no thanks to his mediocrity.
Boston returns its entire rotation from last season: Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Felix Doubront and Jake Peavy. Plus, they have Brandon Workman and Henry Owens among other young arms on the cusp of joining said rotation should any of the previously listed guys get hurt or really struggle.
Spring Training-the most boring time of the year-officially began yesterday with pitchers and catchers reporting to Fort Myers, Florida for five months (or so it seems). The lazy Red Sox writers were surely thrilled to have their first real news item fall into their laps like this. I look forward to all the hot takes telling me how important Dempster really was on Yawkey Way. Haha yeah right.
Dempster (who will turn 37 in May) pitched parts of 16 MLB seasons with five different teams which is amazing when you consider his lack of stuff save for a decent fastball. Fittingly for a guy that I would describe as slightly above average, his career record is 132-133 with 87 saves. The highlights of his career had to be 2008 with the Cubs when he was an All-Star (after he converted back to starting from closing) and last season with Boston where he captured his first World Series crown.
The only part of this sappy story that interests me (hence why I bothered to blog about it) is that Dempster forfeited $13.25 million that he would have earned this season. The Red Sox are now free to use that in other ways. I'm guessing that Dempster (a proud Canadian) retired this week so that he could fully concentrate on what he really cares about: Team Canada hockey in the Sochi Olympics.
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