Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: The Craig Paquette Interview Pt. 1

I remember talking to Shonda Schilling a few years ago about her husband, Curt.  They were in negotiations with the Red Sox on a contract extension.  She took a step back and said they never thought his career was going to last 5 years.  Ironically, he would end up missing the entire season with an injury after signing his deal.  He retired shortly thereafter.   But Shonda wasn't so far off with the 5-year goal.  There was a 2007 study that stated the average Major League Baseball career was 5.6 years.  Interestingly, the study said that "at every point of a player's career, the player's chance of ending his career is at least 11 percent."

Why bring this up?  Because when you listen to the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Interview with Craig Paquette Pt. 1, you'll be thinking about that stuff.  For example, the very first question answered was about the injuries in his career, which were numerous.  Was it his body?  Was it the circumstances?  Turns out he had "a lot of bad luck."  A fractured fibula from a bad slide hurt him in his early years.  A twisted ankle after a long rain delay, leading to bone spurs, took away another part of two seasons.  It's almost a wonder he even made it to the 5-year mark.

Besides the injuries, Craig has a story about politics which derailed him as well.  Look at his stats for 1997 season.  He went from 118 games and 462 plate appearances in '96 to 77 games and 267 plate appearances in '97.  One could certainly blame his .230 batting average and paltry .267 on base percentage.  Craig has another reason.  Politics.  Tony Muser's new regime blew out hitting coach Greg Luzinski and manager Bob Boone.  Because Craig was considered one of "their" guys, he says the team washed its hands of him.

Imagine if that was you?  What would you do?  Call your agent, right?  At the time, Paquette's agent was Scott Boras.  You know Scott Boras.  He's probably one of the most influential persons in the history of baseball.  He's not just the most influential agent in baseball history, which he is, but he's easily among the most influential people ever involved in the game.  So as Craig Paquette's agent, it was his job to represent Paquette; get him work and get him money.

It didn't work out that way.

Listen to Craig's story.  First of all, he was 13 days short of arbitration, so an agent didn't have much say over Craig's contract status.  But, admittedly, Craig says he was "really, really low on the totem pole when it came to his(the Boras) guys."  He says he switched agents because it was hard to get ahold of Boras, whose assistants would call Paquette back instead of Boras himself.  (Paquette does compliment Boras, calling him a "great guy" and "the smartest man in baseball," so there's no bitterness.  Listen and you'll sense it too.)

Here's a sample of how poor representation in the game can hurt you.  Paquette was playing in the Pan Am Games in 1999 and a member of the New York Mets organization.  He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals at the July deadline.  His first day, Cardinals coach Dave McKay went up to him and said, "Where've you been?  We've been trying to sign you for the last two years and we couldn't figure out what's going on."  Paquette had come up in the Oakland organization and, now that his former manager and coaching staff were in St. Louis, they wanted him.  But since he'd been with Boras, dropped him and gotten a new agent, it was hard for teams to keep up with a guy like Craig Paquette.  If there was a replacement available, the teams went that way instead.  It was easier.  And Craig had no idea.

Besides injury and politics, there's always the good old "youth movement" that can shave years off of your career (listen to Section 2 @ 11:19 in).  Couple that with ultimate professional irony and you'll sense the tightrope some ballplayers balance upon every day of their careers. 

In 2003, Paquette was playing for the Detroit Tigers.  He'd left the Cardinals after the '01 season to follow a 2-year, $5.7 million deal (a deal he'd come to regret, but that's another story completely).  He was making baseball money now.  But of course, things don't always go to plan.  He only played in 72 games in Year 1 of his deal.  In Year 2, things weren't looking good in Detroit.  In the interview, you'll hear Craig discuss how the players were feeling during spring training.  The team was going to, for lack of a better word, stink.  In fact, those 2003 Tigers would go on to lose 119 games for the second worst record of all time.  The roots of that season spread into spring training, where nobody felt job security and hope was something somebody else could afford.  On the day before camp broke, players began to get called into manager Alan Trammell's office.  Damian Easley, at the time enjoying a 4-year, $26.5 million contract, was released with two years to go.

Craig was called in next.

With Easley gone and screams all around of new blood and the team's desire to get younger, Paquette thought he was a goner for sure.  To the contrary, he was not.  At least not yet.  He was told he'd be part of the team; a guy the younger players could look up to.  Paquette took a positive approach to the role all the way to the first game of the season, about three days later.  Joe Mays was on the mound, a lefty Paquette had owned his whole career.  He knew he'd be in the lineup.  It just made sense.  He wasn't.  He didn't play at all in game 1.  He didn't play in game 2 or game 3.  By April 29th, the Tigers braintrust had changed their collective mind.  Paquette was released, playing in only 11 games, getting only 33 at bats.

Here's the irony.

He signed a deal with St. Louis.  He told them he'd play in the minors for two weeks.  If nothing opened up at the big league level, he'd quit.  Two weeks went by.  No opening.  Paquette went home.  On the 15th day, Fernando Vina got hurt.  Paquette would have been called up.  It was his slot.  He was the guy.

By then, he was already home.

There's more to Craig Paquette (listen to Section 3 @ 26:00 in).  There's a discussion about former Royals GM Herk Robinson where you get a sense of what ballplayers think about their team' upper management.  There's also the comeback.  Listen to Paquette here and you'll understand why guys come back to the game, or at least why they try.  You'll hear about his struggle, his pain, his pride and the ultiimate result, which may or may not surprise you.  And you'll come to realize that a 5-year MLB career is more of an achievement that you'd every thought.

There are good interviews and bad interviews, interesting people who have something to say and interesting people who have nothing at all interesting to say.  Craig Paquette comes fully loaded, guns a blazin', ready to talk.  And this is only Part 1.  There's a second part to the Craig Paquette interview picking up where Part 1 drops us off.  That's on its way.

So let yourself be surprised.  The Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Interview with Craig Paquette: You're going to be fascinated this entire time.

THE MUSIC

Soundtrack - Risky Business

Soundtrack - Jerry Maguire

Soundtrack - A Beautiful Mind

The Eagles - I Dreamed There Was No War

The Beatles - The End

Paul McCartney - Singalong Junk