For Kyle

Click on the “Being a Fan” link in the header above (or here) to read about my feelings on meeting Kyle last year and about fandom in general.

Getty Images Photo by Jed Jacobsohn

Be forewarned those reading this, my emotions are raw right now and I decided to write this anyway. I know one player doesn’t make a team, but it’s tough to follow a team as closely as I do and not pick favorites. Kyle’s my favorite right now – which is obvious to anyone who reads this blog – and I’m heartbroken that he got designated for assignment.

I had to leave the house today before the end of the game, and not too long ago I received two text messages from two different people asking me if I “heard about Kyle”. Spending the afternoon in the mall with my 6 year-old niece, I hadn’t. As I type this, I’m watching NESN’s post-game show – which I dvr’d. So now it seems I have Kyle’s last appearance with the Sox on dvr.

I’m still not clear on the process. I’m being told that he can sign with any team except the Red Sox but I’m also being told if he passes through waivers without getting picked up, he can accept an assignment to Pawtucket. So, I pretty much have no idea what is right or not – but I know that he won’t be on the roster when the team comes home on Tuesday. And that makes me really quite sad.

Ironically, a Kyle Snyder, game-worn, batting practice jersey is in the mail, on its way to me. I was hoping to wear it on Opening Day (and if it gets here in time I probably still will!). I know it’s silly to that faction of baseball fans who go on about it all being about the name on the front of the jersey, but sometimes the name on the back means something too.

Many of you might not ‘get’ why I would choose a relief pitcher with a spotty playing history and more surgeries in his career than almost anything else…and it’s tough for me to explain it. If you read this article, though, it might help.

When the Sox picked him up in 2006, I was just hoping for someone to fill the gaping hole in our pitching staff. Kyle did well enough and just endeared himself to me with his work ethic and determination. Whether it was in Pawtucket or Boston, he just went where they pointed him and worked his tail off. I like that and I respect that.

Come 2007, he fought hard to win his spot on the team in Spring Training and I was proud of him for that. In April, Kelly O and I met him in New York (Which I wrote about here). It was after a game that the Yanks beat the Sox, but Kyle had pitched well. I wrote about it here back then. The short version is that he made an appearance at a fundraiser Gordon Edes was having and after it we saw him standing alone having a drink. We were actually leaving the bar as a few groupies (who didn’t even know who he was until I told them) approached him. We started to leave and I, uncharacteristically, turned around and said to Kelly, “I can’t leave without saying something”. So I walked over to him, said excuse me, and then told him that he pitched really well that day and I was glad he was still with the team. He shook my hand (we shook left hands) and said some nice things. He seemed genuinely touched that someone took the time just to say hey. (And, no, I didn’t ask for an autograph or a picture – that wasn’t the point of my approaching him.)

That meeting sealed it for me. Just a few moments, but I could tell he was a good guy and I hoped for good things for him.

And he got them. He had a pretty good season last year, personally, and then he was on the roster of the World Series Champions. And as a fan (and as a person) I was really proud of him. Maybe it isn’t my place to be ‘proud’ of someone I don’t know, but the hell with it, I was (am).

I hope he knows he has fans and our (well MY) appreciation of him transcends whichever team he ends up with. It isn’t often you can say that someone in Kyle’s profession is a good guy. But I have it on great authority (not just my experience with him) that Kyle certainly is a good guy. And he deserves better. And it just breaks my heart that this has happened to him.

Apparently, he’s going to speak to the media tomorrow. I’ll have to dvr that as well. I’ll miss Kyle an awful lot. He was a huge part of what made that bullpen work last year and he’s a big part of the ‘chemistry’ of that team that we all love so much.

I hope he finds a team that he’s happy with. (Selfishly, I’d love to see him end up in Pawtucket with the possibility of coming back up with the team. But that’s selfish and if it isn’t what he wants, I’m not going to wish that upon him.) And I hope he finds more pitching success. I absolutely believe he deserves it.

Because my emotions are all over the place right now, I know this post doesn’t do close to the justice I wanted it to for Kyle. I know there are many of you who think it’s silly to have a favorite player. Those of you who think I should be writing about Josh coming back to the team tomorrow or the Sox dropping two to the Jays. Well it isn’t happening. It hasn’t even registered with me that the Sox lost. Sometimes the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many.

I know Kyle must be upset and that alone is upsetting to me. Maybe someday I’ll learn not to personalize this so much, but I doubt it. It’s easy for some to just look at it like a game and the players are just pieces sitting on the field. That isn’t me. These are people with real feelings and it can’t be easy to have something like this happen. So I’m upset for Kyle. And that’s my focus tonight. I deal with the rest later.

I have subscriptions to both MLBtv and Extra Innings, so if he ends up with another team, I’ll still be able to follow his career. And as anyone who reads this blog can attest, I have the stamina to do it.

Good luck, Kyle, and God bless. And thanks for all you did to contribute to the 2007 Championship.