A Story in Pictures

Here’s the Washburn Page before it get’s deleted:

Jarrod Michael Washburn (born August 13, 1974 in La Crosse, Wisconsin) . . .

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Washburn is known to work quickly on the mound, wasting little time between pitches (and hits by the opposing team). . . . As one opposing hitter said after his team faced Washburn, “Why go up there and take a walk when he’s throwing that 85 MPH fastball? I’d rather swing away!”

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Over his career, Washburn has been criticized for being inconsistent, but in 2008 that hasn’t been the case as he has been very consistent – consistently terrible… He had a decent 2005 season, his eighth with the Angels, posting a 3.20 ERA in 29 starts – but he only won 8 games. The success Washburn felt he had, coupled with his greed, ensured that he would not return to the team in 2006.

Washburn became a free agent after the 2005 season. As an eight-year Major League veteran who had just completed what he thought was a great season (8 wins), he felt he deserved a lucrative multi-year contract. The Angels, however, were a smart team and were not interested in making such an expensive commitment to a shitty pitcher like Washburn. As it turned out the Angels had the smarts and the Seattle Mariners were the dumb ones. Amazingly there were also other teams that offered to pay millions just to call Jarrod theirs…The Angels felt they could get comparable performance to Washburn’s, either from young pitchers in its organization who would be far cheaper, or from a free agent they could sign to a short-term contract. As a result, Washburn’s departure was widely expected as the 2005 season drew to a close.

Washburn repeatedly expressed a desire to remain with the Angels and he even cried when he learned that the Angels weren’t going to make him an offer. However, knowing that they would not be interested in matching the long-term offers Washburn would certainly draw from other teams, the Angels declined to attempt any contract negotiations with Washburn’s agent. In fact, the team never even inquired as to what specific contract terms Washburn would request of them. Washburn ultimately signed a four-year, US$37.5 million contract with the Seattle Mariners on December 19, 2005 and the Angels front office all laughed for hours on end…

Washburn has expressed disappointment that the Angels made no attempt whatsoever to keep him, suggesting he might have been willing to take a shorter contract and/or less money to stay with the team. Team officials, however, have pointed to the contract that Washburn received from the incompetent Mariners (and an offer at similar terms that he received from the idiotic Washington Nationals) and said that what the Angels would have been willing to offer Washburn (not very much) was so much less that that there was no realistic chance of reaching an agreement, and thus any negotiations would have been a waste of both sides’ time.

Since signing with Seattle Washburn’s pitching career has declined, even as his bank balance has ballooned. In each of his two full seasons with the Mariners, pitching in spacious Safeco Field, Washburn has posted losing records of 8-14 and 10-15 with ERAs of 4.67 (a career high) and 4.32. He also has allowed 100 runs to score in consecutive seasons for the only time in his career, and in 2007 he walked 60 or more batters for the first time in his career.

His 2008 season is also off to a rough start, as he is 2-6 with a 6.99 ERA after nine starts and fans in Seattle have begun to boo him at Safeco Field and he also had nails placed in his driveway by fans hoping that they might be able to keep him from making it to the stadium when it’s his turn to pitch. Alas, Washburn has tons of disposable income so he has been able to get taxi service to the stadium when necessary.

Washburn, who is married with three children, grew up in Webster, Wisconsin and still lives there to this day. In 2002 he celebrated the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by allegedly hooking up with a 16-year old girl who worked at the concession stand at Angel Stadium. Washburn was investigated by local authorities in Orange County for this incident, which his wife did not enjoy. Television station KABC reported that the 16-year-old girl, whose vagina Washburn had allegedly invaded, called police from an Orange County hospital room on September 11, 2002 and made the allegation. The Orange County District Attorney’s office declined to press charges, saying that it would be hard to make the case as it seemed that the girls’ family had received a large influx of cash of late and made it clear they would be traveling and not available for a trial.

After the incident, Washburn’s agent, Scott Boras, said “It is unfortunate and not uncommon that public figures have to deal with allegations of this nature,”. When Boras was asked years later if the incident came up when Washburn was a free agent and Boras was looking for a new team for him, Boras said, “Yes, we discussed the incident.” In fact, Chuck Armstrong, President of the Seattle Mariners, in his zest to impress Washburn, is thought to have told Washburn that Seattle had lots of teenage girls who would love to meet a baseball player, even a bad one.

some Mariners fan needs to offer up their 16 year old daughter in sacrifice for the good of the team? Sadly, it would almost be worth it if things actually worked that way. Kinda like how I would straight up trade one year of life for a Mariners World series victory. In a heartbeat.