If he gets start, Snyder will face a tall order
With desperate times calling for desperate measures, we wondered if the first-round draft pick from North Carolina might get a call-up from the Red Sox this summer, like last year's No. 1 pick, Craig Hansen.
But the guy we were thinking about was Daniel Bard, who is not yet an option, given that he is still a Tar Heel and occupied this weekend with the College World Series in Omaha. Makes sense that he sign a contract first before putting him on the fast track to Boston, which is almost certainly not where the kid belongs anyway. Last week, in his first start after being drafted, Bard lasted just a couple of innings, the second-shortest outing of his college career.
Pretty silly to put those kind of expectations on him, anyway, although given the precarious nature of the options available to Theo Epstein, who admitted he was looking for starting pitching even before Matt Clement went on the disabled list yesterday, you can't rule out anything. (Although given the silence on the subject, you can pretty much scratch off a miracle recovery by David Wells.)
But who could possibly have foreseen that when the Sox return home Monday to face the Washington Nationals, the pitcher most likely to start for Boston is another No. 1 pick from North Carolina, Kyle Snyder, who was taken first by the Kansas City Royals in 1999, when his promise was almost as immense as his size (6 feet 8 inches)? That year, Snyder was drafted seventh overall and was the first pitcher taken; a righthander who threw in the mid-90s, like Bard, Snyder called his drafting ``the best day of my life."
That should have only been the beginning, of course, but Snyder's career veered off course with stunning swiftness, a seemingly endless series of arm problems rendering him a shadow of the pitcher he was in college. The first hint of trouble came in his last year in college, when he had what was diagnosed as triceps tendinitis.
Then, in 2000, he sustained a stress fracture in his elbow, which would lead to numbness in his fingers from a nerve problem. He was forced to undergo Tommy John tendon transfer surgery to repair the ligament in his elbow, wiping out the 2000 and '01 seasons. An ankle injury sidelined him in the Arizona Fall League in '02; then, from September 2003 to February 2004, he underwent two surgeries on his right shoulder, which wiped out the '04 season.
His lifetime record in the big leagues: 2-9 with a 5.91 ERA. He was pitching at Triple A Omaha when the Sox claimed him from the Royals, who despite having the worst pitching in baseball didn't project much of a future for the 28-year-old Snyder. The kid deserves tons of credit for persevering, though from his perspective, baseball owes him little.
``I'm not living my life thinking that," he was quoted as saying in spring training. ``I'm not that guy who sits back and says, `I deserve the world now because I've been through hell.' That guy doesn't get up after being knocked down."
But it is a measure of the kind of pitching that is available these days that the Kyle Snyders of the world get a look-see from a contender, even if it might be just for one start, against the Nationals, before he is optioned to Pawtucket. The Sox like Snyder for this cameo because they figure the Nationals would be tougher on a lefty than a righty.
What works for Theo and the Sox for the rest of the summer (and no fair peeking at the National League leaderboard, where Bronson Arroyo, Derek Lowe, and Pedro Martínez rank fourth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, among the ERA leaders)?
The wishful thinkers glom onto a Dontrelle Willis or a Barry Zito, ignoring the compelling reasons why neither one may be traded: Willis because he is about all the Marlins have and Zito because the Athletics are beginning to make their move, even without injured ace Rich Harden, and the lefthander gives them their best chance of winning a weak division.
Paul Byrd (Cleveland) and Scott Elarton (Kansas City) are on two-year deals that argue against making a commitment. The Nationals come to town with a couple of pitchers, Tony Armas Jr. and Livan Hernandez, that could be dealt, but Hernandez has another year after this one and Armas, like any live body, is going to attract a crowd. Jeff Weaver? The Angels would move him, but he was a disaster in the Yankees' pressure cooker and a big-money bust in Los Angeles. Greg Maddux? If he leaves the Cubs, it won't be to come this way. Arizona just released Russ Ortiz, eating $22.5 million in salary, but he has won just one of his last 19 starts, which is why the Diamondbacks are happy just to see him go away.
The Sox looked at Kyle Lohse and found him wanting; maybe a Mark Redman (Royals) or Kip Wells (Pirates) pop loose, but they hardly represent an upgrade.
So you celebrate what the kid, Jon Lester, did last night, and keep your fingers crossed for Kyle Snyder Monday night. 