CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Friday, December 21, 2007

Sid Fernandez on Steroid, come on!








The Radomski affidavit revealed that former Mets pitcher Sid Fernandez had written Radomski a $3500 check in February of 2005.

Problem is,El Sid last pitched in MLB in 1997, eight years previously.

He had a very solid career that lasted parts of 15 seasons. He never won more than 16 games and his girth made it difficult for him to stay healthy. But when he was good to go, he was a very dependable strikeout pitcher. During his peak years that lasted from 1985-1993, El Sid had a great 3.12 ERA to go along with a very good 8.4K/9IP and 2.47K/BB ratio (As a comparison, over the same period, Roger Clemens had a 2.85 ERA with 8.21K/9 and 2.54 K/BB).

But perhaps his greatest statistical accomplishment is the fact that over his entire career, the behemoth of a man only allowed 6.85 hits per nine innings pitched, which ranks fourth best in MLB history behind only Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, and Pedro Martinez. All in all, not a bad career by any stretch of the imagination. Despite this, in a move that served as a microcosm for how under-appreciated he was, he received a total of two votes in his only appearance on the Hall-of-Fame ballot back in 2003.

But what in the world made Fernandez seek out help from Radomski in 2005? This was 8 years after he last took the big league mound (He tried to make a comeback with the Yankees in 2001 but made one start in Columbus before retiring once more). I don't have the answer to that one, I'm afraid. We don't even know what that $3500 check paid for, but lets hope it was NOT for steroids so he could "help" the kids that he coaches back in Hawaii. (In 2000, Fernandez was the pitching coach of the semi-pro Hawaii Island Movers, and in 2004, Fernandez served as a coach in a Hawaii high school baseball all-star game.)

If anything positive can come out of this, it's that maybe Sid can shoot some holes into the credibility of the Mitchell report.

0 comments: