The Boston Red Sox have announced that long time starting pitcher Tim Wakefield will announce his retirement in Fort Myers later today. The knuckle baller has been considering this decision for a while this off season.
He had said that he wanted to keep pitching but only with the Red Sox, who offered him just a minor league deal, which he declined. Wakefiled was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1988 as a position player, but struggled and converted to a knuckle ball pitcher. The Pirates would later release him. The Red Sox picked him up in 1995 and he has not pitched in another uniform since.
Wakefiled broke the 200 wins plateau this past season and was just six wins away from Cy Young and Roger Clemens as the all time Red Sox wins leader. He struggled for a portion of last season, while he was trying for those 200 wins.