Ryan Dempster will not pitch in 2014

[VA Sox Fan]

Still trying to convince me? Not too many walk away during the biggest paying years of their career --- just the jackasses or all time greats that don't want to ruin their legacies. No one is going to confuse Dumbster with an all time great.

 

None of us have any idea what is going on in his life. Not even you. You continually call him dumb and a jackass without knowing anything behind his reasons for opting out this year.

 

It's just like fred and his anti-Drew rants. You are beating a dead horse. We all get your opinion and most of us don't agree with it.

[reYoukilis]

None of us have any idea what is going on in his life. Not even you. You continually call him dumb and a jackass without knowing anything behind his reasons for opting out this year.

 

It's just like fred and his anti-Drew rants. You are beating a dead horse. We all get your opinion and most of us don't agree with it.

Yeah, I dont see why people call him dumb when hes freeing up money for us. Hes doing us a favor and people call him dumb. To me it sounds pretty darn selfless.

[mvp 78]

Just a classy move by Dempster.

[seabeachfred]

None of us have any idea what is going on in his life. Not even you. You continually call him dumb and a jackass without knowing anything behind his reasons for opting out this year.

 

It's just like fred and his anti-Drew rants. You are beating a dead horse. We all get your opinion and most of us don't agree with it.

 

Hey VA, there's one for you. 700 Hitter is beating a dead horse and I'm with you on that. Now, on that other matter, mine is not so much an anti-Drew rant as an anti-Drew plea to Ben, almost on bended knee.

[VA Sox Fan]

Hey VA, there's one for you. 700 Hitter is beating a dead horse and I'm with you on that. Now, on that other matter, mine is not so much an anti-Drew rant as an anti-Drew plea to Ben, almost on bended knee.

 

I hear ya fred but I honestly don't think Ben follows Talksox. If Drew stays, it won't be the end of the world or anything.

[Youk Of The Nation]

So what I'm getting here is that a700 thinks Dempster is...dumb? I'm not sure, a700, you haven't really established a clear position on this issue.

 

 

As for me, I have no idea what factor, or confluence of factors (man, I love that word), led to his decision, so I will assume that since he made it, it was what he considers best for him at the moment. Most of us would find it hard to concentrate on work after doing poorly for the entire previous year, going through a divorce, and taking care of an ill child. Dempster is one of the rare few in that situation who is financially able to take time off of work without necessarily impacting his situation negatively. His job also, unlike ours, involves being in the public eye, under constant criticism or adulation. If he chose to take himself off of the team to deal with any of his issues rather than continue to pitch and possibly impact both the Red Sox and his own (and his family's) physical and mental health, I can't fault him for that. I'd rather he chose to sit out now than choose to do it halfway through the season after pitching terribly due to stress and distraction.

[reYoukilis]

So right off the bat Peavey gets an injury and Dempster leaves. Do we now need another starter?

[VA Sox Fan]

So right off the bat Peavey gets an injury and Dempster leaves. Do we now need another starter?

 

Peavey's injury sounds pretty minor.

[Thunder]

Just a classy move by Dempster.

 

Agreed. Knows what's best for the team.

[mvp 78]

So right off the bat Peavey gets an injury and Dempster leaves. Do we now need another starter?

 

Workman

[Bellhorn04]

As for me, I have no idea what factor, or confluence of factors (man, I love that word)

 

Agreed, confluence is a very good word.

[Spitball]

I did not see this posted but apparently Dempster has already gone through his divorce. Also, his five-year-old daughter has DiGeorge Syndrome and has had numerous treatments and surgeries. No one has the right to call him a jackass.

[seabeachfred]

Workman

 

Glad I read through all the posts this time before I made the suggestion Workman and was panned as a copy cat. That is what we should do right now, get Workman to start stretching out to be our emergency fifth starter if it comes down to that. I think I'm at least not on quicksand when I say I THINK right now we are deep enough in the bullpen to get Workman into the mindset of a starter.

[Emmz]

Easiest $13M he'll never make. Gotta agree that the guy's not too smart, regardless of how much money he has right now, you can never have too much of it. I'd love to have $1,300 right now, $13M to pitch once every 5 games for several months, and if you get injured, you still get your checks... I can't see why you'd ever pass on that. Maybe he really does have some sort of illness, maybe he's going through some kind of "midlife crisis" type of thing, and would rather just not do anything. I could see that, afterall someone said he's getting divorced.

[Bellhorn04]

Yes, he's a dumbass, mediocre pitcher who happened to make $90 million in his career. The $90 million came from us baseball fans one way or the other...the joke's on us, really.

[Hitch]

Pretty disgusted reading A700's(and others) opinions on this.

 

Dempster obviously felt he wasn't up to this season. And he obviously feels money isn't the be all and end all. Completely classy thing to do.

 

Anyone who sees this as stupid, rather than classy, has a pretty shallow mind set imo.

 

Hearing Red Sox fans label him as stupid - for saving their club a shed load of cash by doing the right thing - is bewildering to be honest.

 

Class act and I wish him the best. Great for the Red Sox too.

[jimbob728]

I agree with Hitch. I admire him for doing it this way. Schilling pocketed $8 million and didn't care that he didn't earn it. It's Dempster's money to earn, give away or turn down. It might seem irrational to people like us that will make less in a lifetime than he would have in this one year but to some buying a BMW is irrational when a Dodge Dart will get you from point A to B just as well. I think it helps the team. That is what counts. All the back and forth bickering is tedious. Arguing on the Internet is like being in the Special Olympics. Even if you win you're still retarded.

[mvp 78]

Dempster thinks there's more value this year in staying home with his family than playing ball. My hat is off to him. Glad he has his priorities in order. Two years ago, I took 3 months unpaid parental leave to spend time with my son. I don't regret that decision one bit.

[Thunder]

Yes, he's a dumbass, mediocre pitcher who happened to make $90 million in his career. The $90 million came from us baseball fans one way or the other...the joke's on us, really.

 

Seems like the kind of thing that Cubs fans would do, which they did.

[Bellhorn04]

I agree with Hitch. I admire him for doing it this way. Schilling pocketed $8 million and didn't care that he didn't earn it.

 

I don't begrudge Schilling his $8 million either. He more than earned the money we paid him in his time here. And he put his health on the line to help us win it in 2004.

[Dojji]

I agree with Hitch. I admire him for doing it this way. Schilling pocketed $8 million and didn't care that he didn't earn it

 

That's really really REALLY not how it went down. Schilling fully expected to pitch at some point in 2008 and spent the whole first half of the year rehabbing to try to get his problem-child shoulder into condition. His shoulder was just too far gone -- too many miles on it over a long career. by the time everyone realized it would take surgery to put him in a position to pitch again (which Schilling's doctors had been arguing since day 1 but the Red Sox hadn' wanted to hear it), it was too late to rehab from that surgery and get back to the team in 2008.

 

the man did everything the team's monumentally incompetent medical team asked of him, even against the advice of some of the finest sports physicians outside the Red Sox organization, and when it backfired, fans want to blame Schilling? Please.

Edited February 17, 2014 by Dojji

[a700hitter]

None of us have any idea what is going on in his life. Not even you. You continually call him dumb and a jackass without knowing anything behind his reasons for opting out this year.

 

It's just like fred and his anti-Drew rants. You are beating a dead horse. We all get your opinion and most of us don't agree with it.

Hey, it is just my opinion. I am not trying to convince anyone, but many seem very upset that I think the guy is a jackass. We don't know his circumstances, and if one of his loved ones is sick and dying, money can't buy you time. Maybe he has an offer to be a broadcaster or other business opportunity. Almost anything other than those situations can be worked around to fulfill his contract and earn the $12 million. From a business perspective, it is my opinion that this is a stupid move. Caveat emptor. The Red Sox made a bad deal. No one held a gun to their heads. Dempster's agent would have got him a bigger contract for 2013 if the deal was going to be a on year contract. As the years go up, the yearly amount goes down to mitigate factors like under performance due to age and injury. IMO this guy is not a very smart businessman. I am sorry that bothers you, but I stand by that. IMO, he pretty much showed that he wasn't too smart when he took it upon himself to make a pointless point by throwing at ARod last season. Edited February 17, 2014 by a700hitter

[SoxSport]

Dempster saves his rep by going out this way. The Globe this morning even used him to take still another rap at ARod. I've long suspected their sports editor is a closet Yankee fan. They never have a bad thing to say about the Yankees--or the MF Jets. Both these teams get constant stroking in the sports media. We'll never hear the end of Tanaka and Jeter.

 

Anyways, Dempster deserves a lot of credit for letting the Red Sox off the hook for a 2nd year. He knew he wasn't worth $13mil at this point, and he was honest enough to do something about it. That's the way it appears on the surface, anyways. It makes Ben's and Farrell's job a lot easier with who makes the pitching staff.

[NativeBostonian]

I don't get what some of you guy's problem is. The guy is doing the Red Sox a huge favor. Would you rather have Dempster go out there, not with his head in the game, and play bad while collecting 13 million? He knows he doesn't have what it takes to play a season, so he is sitting out. I applaud the guy for doing so.

[a700hitter]

Dempster is one of the rare few in that situation who is financially able to take time off of work without necessarily impacting his situation negatively. His job also, unlike ours, involves being in the public eye, under constant criticism or adulation.

As an athlete, he has a very limited window of high earning years. If one of us takes some time off from work, it is no big deal, because we can come back and get a similar job and we will be working to age 65. No one is going to offer Dempster similar money and after a year off, he will find it very difficult at his age to catch on with any team. Professional athletes are different, but people are blinded by the dollars thinking that he has enough for the rest of his life. Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. We don't know how his money has been invested. His ex is going to get a big chunk of what he has earned. Caring for his special needs daughter will be increasingly expensive as time goes on. He is young and could have another failed marriage further depleting his funds. He is squandering the biggest financial asset that he will ever have in his life-- a year of a high earning athletic career. To me that is dumb. That is my opinion. I believe in maximizing assets at all time. This is the opposite of maximizing an asset. He is squandering it. I hope that neither he nor a family member is ill or dying. I hope he is just dumb.

[a700hitter]

I don't get what some of you guy's problem is. The guy is doing the Red Sox a huge favor. Would you rather have Dempster go out there, not with his head in the game, and play bad while collecting 13 million? He knows he doesn't have what it takes to play a season, so he is sitting out. I applaud the guy for doing so.

I have no problem with it. I am glad that I don't have to watch him pitch again for the Sox. Just because I am happy that he is gone doesn't lead me to the conclusion that this is not a dumb decision. Good for the Sox. Dumb by Dempster. That's just my opinion.

[Bellhorn04]

With the stuff going on his personal life, I suspect Dempster is experiencing depression or something similar. Pretty hard to function properly in that condition.

[a700hitter]

With the stuff going on his personal life, I suspect Dempster is experiencing depression or something similar. Pretty hard to function properly in that condition.

I think you are jumping to some conclusions, but if he is depressed, he may not be thinking clearly. If he couldn't function due to depression, the team would DL him and he would get paid.

[Bellhorn04]

I think you are jumping to some conclusions, but if he is depressed, he may not be thinking clearly. If he couldn't function due to depression, the team would DL him and he would get paid.

 

That could also be very embarrassing to him.

 

I'm not really jumping to conclusions - I'm suggesting that we're in no position to judge exactly what is motivating him in this decision.

[Spudboy]

It's ridiculous that Dempster's move away from the game has become an "issue" here on talksox.

 

No one here knows all of the details surrounding his life away from baseball. Judging him for this move is not appropriate.

 

I'm glad he left the team and not because it will free up needed money under the cap.

 

I always liked him last season because he was an intelligent, articulate, and humorous man and from what I have heard a great teammate. For these reasons alone, I will miss him.

 

However! While he was an effective "innings eater" ( something that we should all see great value in ) it was usually torture to watch him pitch. He either gave the Sox 4 1'3 decent innings or got shelled. Sort of like Wakefield at the end of his career.

 

On paper the Sox APPEAR to have depth at starting pitching. Enough to cover this "loss", anyway.

 

I like the fact that Dempster leaving may allow Workman or another minor league talent a chance when needed. It is almost assured that the Sox will need at least one of those guys this season. Buch is a question mark. Peavey no longer has his best stuff, and Felix is not exactly the King at this point.

 

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

 

Relax Fred, the Sox are not likely to sign Drew even with this development.