BOSoxfan4life

WASHINGTON -- Right-hander John Patterson, best known for his years with the Nationals, announced on Wednesday that he is retiring from baseball because of persistent pain in his right forearm. Patterson, 30, has had forearm problems dating back to the 2006 season, and two surgeries were unable to fix the problem. "I started throwing about a month ago, and it hasn't been going well," Patterson said by telephone. "I have my good days and I have my bad days. So I decided to not play anymore. I'm going to retire." Patterson played six seasons in the big leagues and was 18-25 with a 4.32 ERA during his career with the Diamondbacks, Expos and Nationals. His best season came with Washington in 2005, when he went 9-7 with a 3.13 ERA in 31 starts. He earned the nickname "The Big Nasty" after blanking the Dodgers, 7-0, on Aug. 4 of that year. "That's a year I look back on and go, 'You know, that year really went right for me.' That's the way my career was supposed to be," he said. "I worked hard. I prepared myself. I didn't get the wins I should have gotten." But it went downhill after the '05 season. Patterson would make just a combined 15 starts the next two years because of nerve damage in his forearm. In 2008, Patterson proclaimed that his forearm problems were behind him, but he was hit hard during Spring Training and the Nationals released him on March 20. Patterson was 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in nine innings, and opposing hitters had a .317 batting average against him. It didn't help that Patterson's fastball was clocked in the low to mid 80s. General manager Jim Bowden had said that he was looking for Patterson to have his fastball around 90 mph. Three days later, Patterson signed a Minor League contract with the Rangers. Unfortunately, Patterson's forearm problems returned during an extended spring game in early May, and he was forced to miss the rest of the season. Texas released Patterson later that month. Patterson was advised to rest the forearm until January 1, but he started throwing during the first week of December. The pain in his forearm returned two weeks later. "It's just one of those deals where you scratch your head and ask, 'What went wrong?'" Patterson said. "I was taking care of myself and trying to do everything the right way. It just didn't work out for me. After time, it starts to wear on you. "I'm tired of hurting. I'm tired of going through the pain and putting in the work. It's not moving forward. That's the best way I can say it to you. ... It's a tough decision for me. It was not a decision I wanted to make." Patterson, a Texas native, declined to say what he was going to do with the rest of his life, but acknowledged that he has been doing a lot of hunting this offseason. "There are a few things I have going here in town with a friend of mine -- business-wise," Patterson said. "Now that I have made the decision to move forward in my life, maybe some opportunities will open up for me. As of right now, it's up in the air." [Hidden Content]

Red Sox are bluffing. They dont believe there is a higher off as Scott Borass has said there is. Tex is crazy if he wants to be an O or Nat. They will never win in the 8 years he is there.

The current management group of the Boston Red Sox has done, for the most part, an admirable job of protecting young pitchers while still developing them to the point where they have been able to help the big club, in many cases much sooner than people expected. The recent successes of Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester are two good examples. The Red Sox dropped the ball with Clay Buchholz, though, in a big way. Maybe it was the lure of all that talent that shone through last September 1 when Buchholz, then only 22 years old and in his second big league start, threw a no-hitter against Baltimore, striking out nine, in a 10-0 victory. Maybe it was the notion that the problems Buchholz started having in early May could be worked out while in the rotation. Or maybe it was simply a situation where, with injuries to Curt Schilling, Bartolo Colon and Tim Wakefield, the Red Sox felt that they simply could not afford to demote the youngster to work out his problems. Whatever the reason, Boston's handling of a young pitcher with a tremendous upside has backfired. After his start on May 2, when Buchholz went 5.1 innings, giving up five hits and one run in a 7-3 victory over Tampa Bay, he had evened his record at 2-2, with a very respectable 3.71 ERA. Since that time, however, everything has fallen apart in what has been a slow-motion train wreck that has been excruciating to watch and undoubtedly even more painful for the 23 year old to live through. In ten appearances since then, nine of them starts, Buchholz has pitched just 42 innings, giving up 43 earned runs on 62 hits and 27 walks, for an ERA of 9.21! Oh yeah, and in those appearances the kid has racked up an impressive 0-7 record. His season ERA has jumped from that 3.71 mark on May 2 to where it currently stands, 6.75. He has given up runs in every single appearance and pitched a total of just 6.1 innings in his last three, giving up eleven earned runs. The wheels fell off the bus a long time ago, and now the entire bus has fallen apart around him. You didn't have to be a pitching coach to see this coming, either. For at least the last six weeks, it has been obvious to anyone watching that Clay Buchholz has been pitching without the slightest confidence that he can get anyone out, and yet the Red Sox have been sending him out there time and again to put on a blindfold, smoke one last cigarette, and get the firing squad treatment from an assortment of different teams. What, technically, his problems are is a mystery to me, and apparently to the Red Sox, since they weren't able to fix him. After his last disastrous appearance against Baltimore on August 20, when he went just 2.1 innings and gave up five earned runs, he was given his ticket down to Double A, where, hopefully, he can work his problems out without the pressure of a pennant race hanging over his head. Clay Buchholz was not ready for this, and Boston management should have seen it by mid-June. He may very well get his act together in the minor leagues and come back and be a dominant pitcher for years, but if that doesn't happen, some people should be made to answer some very tough questions about why they let this kid twist in all the wind generated by guys running around the bases on him for three months before they did anything about it. [Hidden Content]

Call me crazy but Red Sox Vs Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks have great pitching staff and the edition of Dunn. Completely Useless By September

Maybe he can gain some confidence. He gain fame too fast when he threw his no-hitter. The kid is a stud and he has a lot of learning to do. For example when he called off his catcher. PS: He has got a pretty fine GF but he might be losing focus on the game. Clay will bounce back.

Did he sign any autographs?