It just so happened that the morning after the news of Wally Christensen's injury came out, I was meeting my regular breakfast crew for our weekly round of the Edna Special at the Mayflower Coffee Shop. The topic resonating on the minds and dominating the conversation of all four of us was what's with these injuries all of a sudden. Two key pitchers lost for the season.
Johnny Redmond, who is a DJ at the local rock station WMLB, an old friend and longtime breakfast crew member, thinks without a doubt it is manager Charlie Pepe's fault. That he is overusing his pitchers.
"It is not Charlie's fault," I try to convince him. "Wally has pitched 50 innings in 8 starts. That's just 6 innings a start," I continue. "It's just a run of bad luck," I continue perhaps not so confidently.
"What are you going to do?" Bud Halvorsen wants to know. "You can finally trade Bob Hancock? He's hardly playing and could help some team at shortstop and get you some pieces back."
"I'll remind you, Bud, you are the biggest Hancock fan out there . . . . you really want to get rid of him?" I ask.
"If it helps the ball club win, I'll trade your mother," Bud retorts.
"For now, we'll call up Jose Amador from AAA, see what he gives us, and then decide if we need to make some moves," I responded. "It is way too early to make a panic move and shortchange our depth. We have some guys who can step in. Let's see what they can do, alright?" I continue.
"Alright, but you better not wait too long," Frank Pasternik, the other member of the breakfast crew, chimes in.
"Let's just give it some time, see how our pitching staff does without them, and then we'll make a move if I feel we need to. Bob's trade value goes up potentially too as we get closer to the trade deadline," I counter.
