15 years after he first joined the league, 40,000 pitches after the first one he threw one, 5 teams after he was drafted by the Rangers in 1995, Ryan Dempster is stepping away from this game that has been his for a decade and a half.
Fact is nobody expected this. Even though he might likely be booted from a starting role mid-season and would make his biggest contributions to this team as a periodically penciled in middle reliever, Dempster still had almost 30 million dollars in contract money to be paid out to him over the next 2 years. That number alone would have made most stick around. But that is not what Ryan Dempster did. Frankly, you have to hand it to him for having this kind of assertiveness in knowing what is best for himself and his family.
In the 15 years since his first contract was paid out, Dempster has made close to 90 million dollars and has in 12 seasons posted an ERA above 4.5. It would be fair to say that Dempster has never performed with the excellence that his money most surely demands. And yet at the same time, if you subtract him from the 2013 Red Sox roster that won the World Series last year, a pretty decent void would be left wide open. While when you take into account the money Dempster was paid last year, each of his 8 wins cost the team about 1.6 million dollars, he was not all that bad especially towards the end of the season.
After starting the year an abysmal 2-6, Dempster turned things around going 6-3 in his final 9 decisions of the year. Those 6 strong victories included key outings in both Chicago and Detroit towards the end of the year when the Sox were competing tooth and nail with the Oakland A's for the number one seed in the AL. But come playoff time it was clear that compared to John Lackey, Jon Lester, Clay Bucholz or even Jake Peavy, Dempster was nothing more than a side note and so he was confined to the bullpen for all of October. There he made 3 appearances (1 in each series) and at least in the first two was not half bad allowing just 2 hits a combined 18 pitches.
The 3rd of those outings of course came in Game 1 of the World Series where Dempster blew a shutout by allowing a home run and 1 hit after that in the 8th inning of an 8-0 game.
Honestly, that probably did not cause Dempster to much mental strife. Having played 597 games in the sport of professional baseball, Dempster has most surly had his low points and so he knows how to deal with them. But at the same time those 597 games have also spawned hundreds of bright spots that take to form of the 132 wins Dempster has led whatever team pays him to. Twice he has been an all-star and in 5 postseason games, he has grabbed the ball.
But he is tired.
"But I just feel like where I'm at with my health, how I feel personally, I just feel like it's in the best interests of both myself and the organization and the team to not play this year. I don't feel like I can compete or produce the way I'm accustomed to." Dempster said.
According to Red Sox GM, Ben Cherrington, part of Dempster's decision to leave had to do with a nagging neck injury that he could not seem to shake.
"Talking to Ryan, even before he came down here today, there were mixed emotions on his part," Farrell said. "He's had a great career. You congratulate him on that, but I think when the end is nearing [and] ... the physical side of things take away from the performance, you empathize with that and know you can't go on and play this game forever."
Additionally, from what we have heard from the entire Red Sox organization since Dempster retired, though he was not necessarily the best pitcher on this roster, he was one of the most liked as his humble but humorous personality made it so that both Cherrington and John Farrel were sad to see him go.
"In a career full of earning respect and building respect, he's ending his time with the Red Sox in a way [winning the World Series] that only bolsters that, strengthens that feeling about him," Cherington said. "It was ultimately the right thing to do in his mind. That doesn't mean it was an easy thing to do, and I have great respect for him making the decision that way."
Over 15 years these things, no matter how thrilling begin to take a toll on your body and while he has never been a man prone to injury, Ryan Dempster is a classy player who knows when it is time to call these up and down years in baseball a career. That time is now.
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