Boof

Something I never understood was why Boof Bonser changed his name from John to Boof. Legally. Plenty of player don’t go by their first name. (For example, Timothy Baker, Robert Blackburn, and Keiunta Span all play for the Twins, but those names are unfamiliar to fans. They know Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, and Denard Span. And, shockingly, J.J. Hardy does more than initials for his first and middle name.) But he seemed like quite the individual.

Early this week when Carl Pavano decided to accept arbitration from the Twins. The Twins already had 40 men on their 40-man roster without him, so someone had to go. Boof was taken off the major league roster (literally as I write this, Twitter is telling me that he was traded to the Red Sox…surprising, because he would’ve been a free agent on Saturday; the Twins will get the ever-popular Player to be Named Later. That guy gets traded a lot!). This made no sense to me. Why were the Twins letting Boof go, while keeping Bobby Keppel on the roster? Keppel did win game 163 last year, but quite frankly we were all surprised. It was his first major league record. He’s not a horrible pitcher, but he pretty much has summed up the definition of long reliever—a man brought in when the starting pitcher doesn’t pitch long—either due to poor performance or injury (and occasionally weather/rain delays). They’re guys who just don’t have the stuff (or stamina) to hold onto close games late or be starters. They’re better than the average man off the street, but the fans are all happier when they don’t see him on the mound—unless it’s late in the game with a blow-out lead. In other words, they’re not a hot commodity. It simply made no sense to keep Keppel but drop Boof.

However, later I learned that the Twins had offered Boof a contract earlier in the off-season—one which he rejected. True, it was for a smaller salary than someone of his tenure probably should expect to make, but considering his surgery and non-dominating performance, it’s clear the Twins were trying to transition him to a reliever role. He’d get a shot to try out for the final starter role (with Brian Duensing, Francisco Liriano, Anthony Swarzak, and possibly Glen Perkins—oft-mentioned in trades), but it was pretty well assumed Boof would be in the bullpen. Still, why did Boof refuse the contract?

Well, Mariano Rivera is oft considered one of the best relievers in the game. Playing for the Yankees, he gets paid very well to be a reliever. In his career, he has made an estimated $114,530,125. That’s a lot of money, but he’s been pitching a long time. On the other hand, in January of 2008, Johan Santana signed a
Contract guaranteeing him $137,500,000 and could be worth up to $151,000,000. This does not include any money he made with the Twins prior to signing with the Mets. That’s quite a difference in money. Since we’re projecting into the future, it stands possible that Rivera could make more money than Santana (e.g., another couple of good contracts for Rivera, none for Santana). However, it’s a pretty good bet that through a lifetime, a starting pitcher will make more than a reliever. It stands to reason since the starting pitcher pitches more innings than a reliever.

Boof, it seems, wanted to be let go. With the Twins, he’d be fighting for a spot in the starting rotation, and looking at the Twins traditionally having an excess of starting pitching, it’s quite likely he would’ve been constantly fighting for a spot on the starting rotation. By going elsewhere, he could have a better chance of choosing a team where he had a good chance of being a starting pitcher.

Beyond that, many pitchers prefer to be starting pitchers. I heard a year ago a man who seemed very entrenched in his team’s bullpen mention that he still wanted to be a starter. I think many pitcher feel like the bullpen is the dumping grounds for guys not good enough to be starters (not so, in my opinion. Each position requires unique characteristics. Learning the traits required to be a successful bullpen pitcher is impressive).

Turning down a guaranteed $550,000 seems preposterous to me, but Boof wasn’t looking at the money he’d make today. He was looking at his future, and trying to decide where he wanted to be.

Apparently, he’s going to be with the Red Sox, although I’m not sure that’s where he would’ve chosen, he probably isn’t complaining, either. The other things guys want is to win. And the Red Sox have been pretty good at that lately.

Timberwolves update: They won another game! They’re now at 3-19, or a 13.6% winning percentage. The have the worst record in the West, but New Jersey has the worst record, finally getting a couple of wins to compose two win in 22 games!

Wild Update: The Wild have won three games since we last checked in with them (and lost one), but are back to having the worst record in the Northwest, and have a 14-13-3 record, for a 46.7% winning percentage. Also, the Wild have four players out with concussions.