Here is a thought...Brad Radke...talk him out of retirement

[Outdoors Junkie]

What are the chances that Brad Radke comes out of retirement to pitch again for the Twins?  I know one reason for his early retirement was he was hurt the last couple years he pitched.  It was a real mental and physical challenge for him dealing with the pain and not having his normal abilities.  He now has had a full year to rest and heal up.  He is only 35 years old.  Could he get bored with retirement and pitch again some day?  Maybe 2009 when they move into the new ball park?  I would love to see Radke pitch again some day!


Biography
Radke was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and graduated from Jesuit High School of Tampa where he was known as a scholar-athlete.

Radke was not considered a top prospect before being drafted in the 8th round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Twins. Once he was in the majors though, he was valued highly and the Twins were offered a large amount of talent for him, but they never gave him up.

In his debut season (1995), he finished 11-14 with a 5.32 ERA. In 1997, he finished an excellent season with a 20-10 record and a 3.87 ERA in 239 innings. During the year, he won 12 consecutive games in 12 consecutive starts, becoming only the 3rd player since 1950 (along with Bob Gibson and Pat Dobson) to accomplish the feat.[1]

Over his career, he posted a 148-139 record with an overall ERA of 4.22.

He was known for being one of the best control pitchers of the modern era, walking an average of only 41 batters a year, in an average of 34 games a year. He was, however, also known for giving up home runs, yielding as many as 40 in a single season. Although most of pitches were average, he was known for his nearly unhittable circle change which supposedly sped up and slowed down during flight while rotating at top speeds. He likely taught this pitch to teammate Johan Santana as he throws a circle change nearly identical to Radke's.

Radke had hinted that he might retire following the 2006 season, citing a torn labrum (through which he had been pitching the 2006 season). A stress fracture in his shoulder suffered in late August sidelined him as of September 2. On September 12, he threw catch from a distance of 110 feet (slightly less than twice the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate) without pain, an important step in the way to his return for the last week or two of the season and the Twins' playoff drive, and even more important with Francisco Liriano's season appearing to be over with the reappearance of pain in his left elbow on September 13. On September 28, Radke returned to action, pitching five innings and surrendering one unearned run, earning no decision in a 2-1 Twins victory over the Kansas City Royals. It was Radke's last regular season start. In his last major league appearance, he pitched in the third game of the division series against the Oakland Athletics, giving up four runs on two two-run home runs in four innings.

Radke announced his official retirement from baseball, Tuesday, December 19, 2006.


 Batting
Being in the AL, interleague play has only forced him to bat 29 times. He has 3 hits, a .130 batting average. He has 0 walks, but 2 sacrifice hits.


 Postseason
Before the 2002 season, his Twins team was generally one of the lesser teams of the league. However, from 2002 to 2004, they made the playoffs each year. His postseason totals are very solid with an overall 3.19 ERA in 31 innings pitched.

His best postseason series was his first, against Oakland. He started 2 games out of the 5, winning both with a 1.54 ERA. Radke only gave up 1 run in the deciding game of the series before the 5-1 Twins lead was almost squandered in the 9th, when Eddie Guardado gave up 3 runs. But the Twins won 5-4 and advanced to the 2002 American League Championship Series. He would go on to lose the only game he pitched against the Angels, but shut them out for the first 6 innings of that game. In the end, the Twins bullpen and offense failed and they lost 7-1 and lost the series 4-1.

He was 2-3 overall in the postseason.


Career Highlights
All-Star (1998)
Led league in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.27-to-1, 2001)
7th in the league in strikeouts (174, 1997)
2nd in the league in complete games (six, 2001, tied with Mark Mulder, behind only Steve Sparks)
Finished 3rd in Cy Young Award balloting in 1997, behind Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson.
Ranks #16 in strikeout to walk ratio All-time SO/BB leaderboard from BaseballReference.com
Ranks #38 in lowest walks per nine innings pitched ratio (1.681) All-time lowest BB/9IP leaderboard from BaseballReference.com

[jjawz]

When Radke retired he was playing with a SLAP lesion in his shoulder, which is a tear of the labrum, very common in overhead throwing athletes as well as pitchers. Unless he had surgery a while back or has been doing extensive rehab there is no possible way that he could be back by opening day. That and I would highly doubt that he has been throwing and keeping his arm in decent playing shape, so i'm willing to guess that the low 90's he used to throw would be more like mid 80's right now.

[Ryan]

I doubt he would come out of retirement.  I could be wrong, but he did not seem like the type of guy who really loved playing the game and wasn't real competitive.  That is probably the wrong way to put it and I'm sure it is, but that is what I saw out of him.  He was a good starting pitcher for us for many years, but he is retired and probably fishing down in Florida on a daily basis.  I know if I were 35 years old and retired I wouldn't want to go back to work.