| 18 October 2010
Before the 2010 baseball season began, we asked you guys to make your predictions for the expected starting roster. It's time to look back and see who knew their 2010 Red Sox the best.
Tim Wakefield (read original projection post here)
Below you'll find Wake's actual 2010 stats in RED, my predictions in italics and the Fan Predictions.
Predicting what Tim Wakefield would do in 2010 was not easy. During Spring Training, Wake and Clay Buchholz were fighting for the 5th spot in the rotation, so we didn't know if Wake would be starting or working out of the bullpen.And even if he had been handed a starting role, there was a good chance that age and/or injury would limit his starts... or Buchholz would eventually take the job from him.
In the end Buchholz won the starting job, and Wakefield was asked to help the club as a reliever, but injuries to Beckett, Matsuzaka and Buchholz kept Wake in the rotation - at least part time.
He logged 19 starts and made 32 appearances total. My guess was 18 and we had four other players come within one start of the correct total - but no one nailed it. Unfortunately for Wakefield, those starts came in sporadic intervals and Timmy never really got into the flow. Hence the 4-10 record. To be fair, wins and losses are as much a reflection on the team as they are on the starter, but Wake logged just 9 quality starts in those 19 games and with the offense struggling due to injury, it's not surprising that he tallied 3 losses, 4 no decisions and 2 wins in his 9 starts with 3 runs or less allowed.
I think we all expected some high point and some low points with Wake, but no one guess even close to a 4-10 record. In fact, the average was close to the reverse at 10-6. bxtpaul guessed 10 losses, but also projected 12 wins, more starts and more innings.
Speaking of innings pitched Brian G. came closest with 143 and amazingly, our average came out exactly to 140 - so well done everyone!
Moving on to ERA and WHIP... Before the 2010 season, Wakefield's career averages were 4.36 ERA and 1.34 WHIP. Our projection average was very close to that at 4.33, but many of you predicted a higher WHIP, giving us a 1.55 average. As it turned out, Wake finished with a 1.35 WHIP and stayed right in line with his career mark. It was the ERA that jumped... to 5.34. Only Rick L., guessed an ERA over 5.00 and he jumped all the way to 6.60. Judging by his other projections, it is clear that Rick expected Wake to struggle more than most of us did, and he proved to be correct.
Lastly, we have the K totals. With 140 innings in the books, Wake logged 84 Ks. I'm proud to say I guessed closest with 86 and we had two players come close with 88... though all three of us expected him to reach those totals with approximately 130 innings - not 140.
Bottom Line: Not surprisingly, no one came close enough in multiple categories to win a prize, but we'll be giving away three free t-shirts to three random winners after the last of the results are posted... so make sure you keep reading!
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