No One Walks Away

Here's your headline from today's New York Times: "Mussina's 20th Victory May Be His Last." The story notes that the 2008 Yankees ace has an expired contract, a 40th birthday celebration in December, and a family that wants him home for good. (He's also, of course, the oldest guy to win 20 who hadn't before, and stops being the guy with the most wins to never win 20 in a season. Whatever.)

Now, here is the list of pitchers who voluntarily retired in the last 100 years after a 20 win season.

Sandy Koufax

Who did it, of course, for crippling elbow pain in a time when medical technology could offer him no relief... so you can argue about the voluntary part there, too. (To be sure, there were also two Black Sox who won 20 and never pitched again. Hence, the qualifier "voluntarily.")

Now, everyone in pinstripes has to honor Mike and his possibly quitting talk, since he's a decent guy who didn't suck at all this year, and telling a guy that he's full of crap for wanting to walk away from a probable eight figure salary in 2009, not to mention his continued assault on Mount 300 (with the win yesterday, he's at 270), is rude. Besides, he's going to the Hall -- no Cy Youngs or World Series championships , but a jaw-dropping .638 winning percentage, and only five guys have more wins and a higher rate (Grover Cleveland Alexander, Christy Mathewson, Roger Clemens, Lefty Groves and Randy Johnson).

If and when he gets hurt or ineffective, maybe then he gives it up. If and when the Yankees decide to screw around with his contract, and try to pay him as someone who will give them less than 200 innings with a 4.5 ERA, a 1.3 WHIP and a 13-8 record (i.e., what he's overwhelmingly likely to revert back to next year, given that his recent career seems to be an every-other year thing, and no one knows if the new stadium will be as kind to right-handed pitching as the old), maybe he gets bent and holds out. If he has to go ply his trade in, say, Pittsburgh for a comparative pittance, maybe then he quits.

But it's not as if the Yankees have many better ideas than him right now, or that a guy who's made over $133 million in MLB is really going to turn his nose down at $10 million more... especially when he's only two to three years away from 300, and the team would really like some new history to be made at the new yard.

The family can wait. They have for this long.