Diamond Deliberations: Some 2009 'What Ifs' for the Average Fan

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

What if the Cubs hadn’t overpaid early in the offseason for their coveted left-handed bat? The on-base-percentage-friendly Abreu would have enhanced their run production. The big bopping Donkey would have mashed at Wrigley. The quiet and underappreciated Ibanez would, needless to say, have changed the landscape of the NL Central drastically.

The North Side boys swung and missed on this one, and because of it the Cubs' offense just doesn’t add up this year.

4.   What if Joe Maddon stepped outside of the norm and, much like with his All-Star coaching appointments of Seattle’s Don Wakamatsu and Kansas City’s Trey Hillman, wrote in Boston’s Tim Wakefield for his first ever All-Star appearance?

Hear me out on this one.

Wakey has been around longer than hangovers. The guy is a pure baseball vet, a player Boston fans appreciate but don’t quite cherish entirely, and a legitimate professional.

And in case you think this would be a total charity move that ignored actual on-field production, consider these statistics:

• Wakefield is 19 wins away from passing Cy Young and Roger Clemens as No. 1 on Boston's all-time career wins list. Yes, you read that correctly. If he stays healthy for 2009 and 2010 and is given the ball every fifth day, he will be the winningest pitcher for one of the most storied, successful organizations in baseball history.

• In 2009, Wakefield has posted above-average numbers regardless of his age and knuckleball specialty. Dan Haren, Chad Billingsley, and Josh Johnson lead the majors with 13 quality starts (six innings or more, three runs or less). Wakefield has a very respectable nine, while his nine wins are second in baseball, trailing Doc Halladay and Kevin Slowey, who have 10 apiece.

• While not as spectacular or talented as Josh Beckett or Jon Lester, Wakefield has actually been the rock of Boston’s dynamite staff to this point. Beckett and Lester had atrocious starts to the year, Matsuzaka has been a disaster, and Brad Penny was a five-inning depiction of mediocrity earlier in the year. Wake has held it all together.

• Only two active pitchers have 130 or more career wins but have never been elected to participate in an All-Star game: Jeff Suppan and Wakefield.

What if the 43-year-old class act could soak in the All-Star festivities from field level and be able to claim he was once an all-star caliber player in the eyes of his competitors?

What if indeed.

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