Who says the day after the All-Star game has to be the most boring baseball day of the regular season?
OK, so I don't know who walks around saying that per se, but I can assure you, it's not Billy Wagner.
Mark Hale's NY Post article on Wednesday shed some light on the status of Wagner, one of the many injured Mets players. Wagner has been out since last August recovering from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow. Though he is scheduled to return at some point in September, he has made several comments about the Mets over the past year that suggest otherwise, the latest coming on Wednesday.After being placed on the DL with a torn MCL in his pitching elbow, Wagner made a comment about having pitched his last game as a Met, anticipating that he would not be ready to pitch at all in 2009, and implying that the Mets would not pick up his option for 2010. Following the successful procedure, Wagner is currently rehabbing, and has been throwing three times a week, according to MLB.com.
There are, however, two sides to a player's comeback from such a major surgery. Clearly, there's the physical aspect, and in that regard, Wagner may very well be physically healthy enough to pitch again this season. As far as the mental aspect, I'm not too sure.
When the New York Mets brought in Billy Wagner for the 2006 season, the intention was to bring some credibility to the back end of the Mets bullpen that had been lacking for quite some time. Any Met fan knows that feeling associated with the phrase "Mets closer," having endured the Braden Looper, Armando Benitez and late John Franco years. The feeling that no matter how big the lead, no matter how poor the opponent, no game was ever a lock come the 9th inning.
In 2003, Armando Benitez blew 25% (7 of 28) of his save opportunities before being traded to the Mariners midseason. Braden Looper didn't offer much confidence as Benitez' successor, and blew 13 games over two seasons in New York. Looper gave up 15 earned runs in his 8 blown saves he didn't save a single game in September of 2005. In 60 appearances in 2005, Looper had just four games in which he struck out multiple batters.
In all honesty, few Mets fans likely realize that he actually saved 57 wins in that span. In fact, until I researched the numbers I myself didn't even know that in his first year as a Met, Looper posted a 1.22 WHIP and walked just 16 batters, which is respectable. What we do all remember is his 8-9 Met record and his 3.22 ERA that was far too high to be considered solid for a closer. What we remember most is the epic fashion in which he gave games away, and that in his final month as a Met, he failed to convert a single save opportunity while blowing three, increasing his ERA from 3.33 to 3.94 by season's end.I'm sure the pressure of being a closer in New York hasn't been eased on any of these guys by the fact that one of the best closers of all-time resides on the other side of town, and by comparison... well, they just won't compare. Mariano Rivera has been the gold standard in New York since becoming the Yankees closer in '97, and no Met reliever could hold a light to his numbers until Billy Wagner arrived.
The acquisition of Wagner did bring legitimacy to a Mets team that was building itself back up after having fallen off after their World Series appearance in 2000. The Billy Wagner of 2006 was solid, posting 40 saves in 45 chances for a team that fell just one game short of the World Series. In 2007, Wagner didn't give up a single run in July en route to 8 saves, but over the last two months of the season, he blew 4 games with an ERA of 5.09, a huge contributing factor in the Mets' historic collapse. 2008 saw Wagner blow back-to-back-to-back saves in early June, and although he had a solid July, the last on-field memory we have of Wagner is his 7th blown save of the year against Houston.
Since Wagner went down, things have not gone well for the Mets (see: Luis Ayala, second consecutive September collapse, injury-ridden 2009). With the rash of injuries they have faced this season to position players and pitchers alike, the hope was that the prospect of a Wagner return would provide the bullpen some relief, no pun intended. Wagner seems to have other ideas.
According to the Hale column, Billy Wagner does not see himself returning to a significant role in the Mets 'pen, instead filling a regimen similar to that of Brian Stokes, making one or two appearances a week. As for his arm, he has endured no significant setbacks, however, Wagner is not anxious to return- at least not to this team. He did acknowledge that he has "worked too hard not to want to get back," but the more glaring statements followed later in Hale's interview:
"I'm not killing myself to get back to them... I'd hate to be there. I really would. That's a tough situation in which you're playing with a lot of guys not there."Billy Wagner has never been known to be a good clubhouse guy. As a member of the Phillies, Wagner criticized teammates for losses, resulting in a conflict with left fielder Pat Burrell, who called the closer a "rat." Point being, he's had a knack in the past for rubbing people the wrong way.
I guess some things never change.
I can understand the frustration that comes with being sidelined by injury, and after the career he's had, I get that Wagner wants to add a World Series ring to substantiate his Hall of Fame numbers. My problem- and I know that I'm not alone on this, because I've been listening to callers weigh in on this Post article all night on WFAN- is Wagner's lack of professionalism. This is not the first time Billy Wagner has ruffled some feathers as a member of the Mets; on several occasions last season, he stirred up some verbal heat in post-game interviews, but there is a distinct difference between those comments and Wednesday's comments.
As a professional athlete, it's OK to be a straight shooter and say what's on your mind publicly, as long as it is warranted and you can back it up with your performance. Last season, many of Wagner's comments came at a time when he was putting up numbers when the rest of the team wasn't. And although he was cricitized for pointing fingers and throwing his teammates under the bus, at least some of his statements then were justifiable in that he wasn't just talking the talk, he was walking the walk and pulling his weight.
That was then. What we have now is a totally different story. Granted, an injury is an injury; these things happen all the time in sports, and can be helped but only to a certain degree. But without throwing a single pitch, Billy Wagner is earning $10 million guaranteed this season. Ten million dollars, which the franchise agreed to pay him, to be the anchor at the back end of what was expected to be a World Series caliber bullpen, on a World Series caliber team.
The New York Mets are in no way a World Series caliber anything right now, but that doesn't change the terms of a contract. You're paid to play, and when you can't play, you're paid to bust it, to heal your wounds and return to help your team as best as you can. Apparently, Billy Wagner doesn't think these unspoken rules apply to him. I've got news for you, Billy. They damn sure do.
When Manny Ramirez was milking a supposed hamstring injury with the Red Sox in his efforts- or lack thereof- to be traded, people criticized him for giving up on his team, and rightfully so. Clubs refused to touch Manny Ramirez this off season because of his lack of commitment to his contract with Boston, as teams were afraid to shell out millions upon millions to a player who would dog it if he became unhappy.The mere perception of Manny's actions became a reputation that preceded his monster statistics once he hit the free agent market. While there is no way to prove that Manny wasn't giving 100% effort, for Billy Wagner, there is nothing to speculate, nothing to question, because he flat out said it. He's in no hurry to get back to "them."
With the Mets struggling, ravaged by injuries and no certain end in sight, one glimmer of hope at the end of it all was Billy Wagner's potential return to the bullpen. By no means was he to be the knight in shining armor, riding in on a white stallion to save the day. He's 37 years old, coming off of Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. It goes without saying that all optimistic expectations were to be tempered. That much was a given.
Now, frankly, I couldn't care less if Billy Wagner never threw another pitch in his career. He may as well have stood on the mound at Citi Field and flipped off each of his teammates, as well as every last Met fan in attendance. Imagine if Jose Reyes said he was in no rush to return to the Mets. Imagine if Carlos Beltran or Carlos Delgado said that they weren't going to kill themselves to get back to help their teammates? There would be an uproar, and they would likely be sent on the next flight out of LaGuardia, an angry mob not far behind.
What Wagner has done is he has put himself above the team. Judging by his comments, he is evidently assuming not one shred of responsibility for what becomes of the Mets 2009 season, Instead, Wagner is leaving it on the shoulders of the current bullpen staff; as he said it himself, he thinks "they should stick with those guys." And don't let him fool you with his reasoning, that because he hasn't pitched in a while, it wouldn't be fair for him to be handed a lead role. All I'm hearing is, "leave me out of this mess- but oh, yeah, still pay me my ten mil."
We've all talked about Omar Minaya needing to make additions to this ailing team, whether it be through trades or free agency. I think now it's time to make an addition by subtraction and lay the Sandman's Met career to sleep. He's pretty much already put it to bed, so let's make it official. I don't care what you get in return for him; at this point I'd like to see him get traded to the Nationals, take a Single-A prospect and be done with it. If he's so jazzed about coming back to the Mets, just think how thrilled he would be to get healthy to help those guys out.
The bottom line is this: Billy Wagner is a cancer to this team, and the worst part is that like a Terrell Owens everywhere he's played, or a Sean Avery when he was with the Dallas Stars (enjoy the rare hockey reference); at this point, at his age and given his health, Wagner is more trouble off the field than he's worth on it.
Whether the Mets activate him or not- and if they do, I hope he gets booed out of Citi Field- he certainly won't be in a Mets uniform next year, and good riddance. As for another team signing him, good luck. If the Dodgers were their own competition in the Manny sweepstakes, I can't foresee there being many teams jumping on a 38 year-old closer coming off of major arm surgery, and who may need another procedure to have his foot removed from his mouth.
I can't say I have an excess of faith for this team, but no matter how bad it gets, I don't want to see Billy Wagner's face under a Mets hat on a field during a regular season game again. He wants to get back to pitching? Fine. Let him eat his words from last season, let him fulfill his prophecy of having thrown his last pitch as a Met. There are seven other guys on the DL right now who would kill to be back with this team, making contributions. I'd take Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Maine, Putz and both Martinez'- Ramon and Fernando- over Wagner any day.
