Mussina on No. 20/270 -- his last??
Here's Mike Mussina on the 20th win of his season and the 270th of his career -- possibly the last of his career, the way he sounded.
On what it feels like: "This is one of those things, I think, that's going to take a little while to sink in."
Mentioned doing it in the last game, then when asked about it, said: "As of right now, it's my last game in my last year and I don't know what the future holds."
Is he ready to hang them up? "I'm getting there, I think. If the situation isn't ideal for me, or it's better for me to be pitching Little League, then it's time. We'll see."
(satisfied with his career?) "Completely satisfied. I'm completely satisfied."
(is it a Hall of Fame career?) "All I'm trying to do is get into the discussion."
You'll see a lot of bench players in tonight's game. Everyone chipped in for Mussina's 20th, but that was it.
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Comments (5)
Peter Gammons said tonight he thinks if Mussina came back for one more year and got to 280 wins, he'd have a very good chance of making it to the HOF. In other words, Gammons doesn't think it's necessary for Moose to get to 300 for him to get strong consideration for Cooperstown.
Moose Call!
Chip:
As I have said on here - now referring to our previous conversation on previous posts -
I really believe that Mike Mussina should be brought back for 2 years... and in that time he should win the 300th game of his career.
I don't really want to hear that he's washed up and caught lightening in a bottle this year...
in fact it was LAST year that was the ABBERATION of a stellar career.
He may have needed to re-asses his pitching style this year... but Mussina has always been a pitcher that figured out a way to win 15 to 18 games consistently.
The next 2 years should be no different. The question is does he want to come back for the 2 or 3 years?
I THINK THAT YOU WILL BE GETTING THE MUSSINA THAT HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN. A PROFESSIONAL PITCHER THAT WILL FIND A WAY TO GET 15 TO 18 WINS AND THROW OVER 220 INNINGS AND STAY HEALTHY LIKE HE'S DONE EVERY YEAR OF HIS BRILLIANT CAREER.
AGAIN, LAST YEAR WAS THE ABBERATION OF A STELLAR CAREER AND THIS YEAR WAS EQUAL TO IF NOT A LITTLE BETTER THAN WHAT HE HAS DONE EVERY YEAR OF HIS CAREER.
DOC
Doc -
Moose's performance bounced around a lot in his time here so I don't think any of us can be sure what to expect if he comes back. One thing I do know is that arguably his two of his best years came in the last year of his contracts.
01: 17 - 11 3.15
02: 18 - 10 4.05
03: 17 - 8 3.40
04: 12 - 9 4.59
05: 13 - 8 4.41
06: 15 - 7 3.51 (walk year)
07: 11 - 10 5.15
08: 20 - 9 3.37
Again, if he never pitches another game for the Yankees I think he will go down as the best free agent the Yankees signed since their last WS. I just see that in the last 5 years he's had two good seasons and both coincided with contract years.
True about the walk years. Don't forget though -- he's had 5 good years out of 8 altogether. So I don't think you can exactly say his performance bounced around. For his first three years as a Yankee, he was statistically their best pitcher -- better than Petitte, Wells, Hernandez, AND Clemens. Even in Clemens' Cy "Healthy Run Support" Young year, Moose pitched better. Since he found a new way to pitch and all he does is learn new pitches, sometimes inventing them in big divisional games, he probably is more likely to win 15 each year than not.