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Billy Wagner, speaking about Oliver Perez, while talking with Michael Kay, during his weekly interview on ESPN 1050:
“It’s not a question of effort, it’s a question of focus. You have to focus, and know that, yeah, I don’t have my best stuff today, but some how you’ve got to compete…Oliver Perez is an unbelievable athlete and an unbelievable talent…but, it’s a situation where, I know you’re playing the Pirates, but it’s a situation at this point in the year where that you wanna be going on the road with something positive. If you lose to them 5–3 or 8–4, yes, a loss is a loss, but it’s how you’re losing the game, ‘So I had a bad game, so be it.’ Well, you can’t look at it that way. You’ve got to be able to look at yourself and say, ‘Is that the best I could do.’”
Wagner, on whether the team is playing sloppy:
“I can never question how our team goes down and competes. We compete. Every guy that comes in there is about winning. That’s our whole goal. It’s not about being an individual…It’s about winning. The errors and stuff like that, that’s gonna happen. But, as a pitcher, you want to be able to pick those guys up. You’ve got to find a way to pick those guys up. A pitcher prides himself on going out there, a guy makes that error, and the pitcher picks him up and we’re able to go back out there and win. I can tell you right now, there’s many of times I go out there and pitched and they make the greatest plays ever yet every one comes up to me telling me how great I am. I know I’m not that good. If these guys behind me aren’t playing and making plays for me we’re not gonna win and I’m not gonna look good.”
Asked why he went through the media to address this situation, and not directly to Perez and his teammates, Wagner said:
“Well, we have. There are a lot of us who have gone to Oliver and said, ‘Hey, we need you to pick it up, we really need you to come out here and have a strong showing, we just used seven guys in our bullpen and we need you right here, we can’t really afford a two-inning stint here.’…Look, I love the kid. I think the kid is fantastic. But, he’s got to understand, I’m not saying Billy Wagner is any better than any one else, because I definitely don’t think that. But, I also believe that when we show up to the ball park we have got to put a better effort coming out there. I know he wants to win, no doubt about that, but we have to figure out how we’re gonna stay focused. If he gets mad at Billy Wagner for saying this, but he goes out there and wins ball games, great. I’m all for it…We’re not sitting here going, ‘I don’’t like Oliver Perez.’ That’s what a lot of people want to sit there and stir the pot at. Look, we care for this guy, and we can’t go nowhere, we’re not going to the playoffs, we can’t be a dominating team if we do not have an Oliver Perez who can come out there and find ways to win. You know what, if he goes out there and he battles and he’s coming up short, we’re not gonna have a problem with that. But, you’ve got to battle. You’ve got to go out and find a way…I want to win and I know everyone in that clubhouse wants to win, but sometimes you’ve got to say something. You might have to stir the pot.”
…wagner is using oliver as a scapegoat for a much larger idea here, which is Team Unity, Picking Each Other Up and Fight, three things this team had in 2006, but lost last summer and has never really gotten back…this is clearly wagner trying to shake the team’s cage…i hope it works…
To listen to Wagner’s entire interview, go to ESPN 1050.
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It’s good on Wagner and he’s on the money but it is sad that the team’s de facto captain isn’t the vocal leading the clubhouse…
Or the manager for that matter…
Here’s my take on this: I think Wagner is totally bush league for throwing his teammate under the bus like this. Yes, all he says may be true, but a REAL leader would have taken Ollie to the side and given him this talk, not ‘hate on him to the press like this. What kind of respect will Ollie have for this guy going foward? None.
But did he have to say “I have alpacas that pitch more consistently”? I thought that was a low blow…
lol, Mr. Gee!
Can anyone really argue with Wagner on this? It’s about time someone on this dull team finally spoke out.
This is the best quote I’ve read so far.
Wags, the closer on the new York Mets, is saying what us the fans are thinking.
This team needs more fire, motivation.
Hopefully that Pirate blowout will serve as a positive, in that it was a slap in the face.
These Mets need a good hard slap in the face. We all worship this team, buy tickets and merchandise.
We’re the happiest people in the world when they win and were devastated when they lose.
These guys are millionaires living a dream all of us could only dream of.
I know I speak for all of us in that the fire I would feel playing for this team, wearing the orange and blue, would be limitless.
LETS GET DIRTY, no more cookie cutter BS. Lets show a little personality, pick an identity and run with it.
We all know the 86 champs were overflowing with personalities and they succeeded.
Whether you had issues with a guy on your team or not when it came to game time, it was pride and humility that drove them. (Read “The Bad Guys Won” by Jeff Pearlman, a great for any age, especially for a kid who was born in 80)
Bravo Billy, it needed to be said!
fans have said our bullpen suck… well how can you pitch well if you being use everyday? someone has to call out the starting pitchers. because it’s only May, you can’t keep going to the pen when it’s only the 4th/5th inning. imagine how bad it’s going to be in August/September?
I like wahat Wagner is doing. Someone needs to get this team going by calling everyone out, and trying to make everyone take responsibility for their performance.
BTW, why does the media always assume that if someone says something in the papers about another player or their team in general that they didn’t address it internally first?
Because the media is so full of themselves, they can’t believe that someone would say anything, anywhere, behind any closed door, without them knowing about it.
So how much of Randolph’s salary should be given to Wagner, considering he’s doing the manager’s job for him (like LoDuca did for the past 2 seasons)?
Man, no wonder Loduca was fired last year. He stunk.
Seriously.
“Waiting to lose” was not a smart thing to be discussing with the press.
I love that he referred to himself as Billy Wagner a few times. Very Bo Jacksonesque.
Someone has to, now that Rickey’s gone.
gbaked approves of billy’s usage of 1st person.
I said this earlier in the week, and I’ll say it again now.
The most important dugout incident that of this 2008 Mets ballclub was not Delgado’s ignored curtain call and whether or not David Wright told him not to do it. That is paparrazzi BS and doesn’t matter. The biggest incident was in WASH last week. Mets are getting killed in the 9th, and on the steps of the dugout cheering on his team was Billy Wagner.
He was the only one. Standing by himself. No one was within 10 feet of him. Not the higher paid veterans. Not the ‘energetic’ youngsters. And certainly not the manager.
That’s a cheap shot at Willie. Say what you want about him, but he’s always on the top step of the dugout with his arms crossed. He doesn’t seem to do much else, but he’s always standing there.
All I’m saying is that I didn’t see Willie. But you said it best with:
“He doesn’t seem to do much else…”
It seems as though some of our fans appreciate him and some don’t.
For those of you that don’t. Doomsday scenario number 1. Billy Wagner gets hurt. Now what?
The guy has been a solid closer for us. He has blown up in a few big spots, but is he not better than 80% of the garbage closers out there? I am not only happy we still have him here, but I think he should be extended after next….pending no loss in velocity.
try 95%. The list of closers I’d rather have than Wagner right now are Papelbon and Nathan and that’s it. Even Rivera isn’t better than Wags right now, and Mo is the only active pitcher who’s blown a Game 7 of a World Series…
This team is like a Pepsi Max commercial….. where the entire team is yawning and half asleep, while Wagner is the only drinkine the Pepsi………… WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!
Kudos to Wagner for saying what he said, but as others here have noted, it would mean a lot more to hear this kind of fire and attitutde coming from some new sources - the Carlos’, Wright, and Willie.
Wagner can say the team comes out to compete every day all he wants but I think if you read between the lines - you get the point. All too often, a player or two on this team takes a mental health day, and all it takes is one to get the dominoes to fall.
I have no problem with what Wagner said, and neither should Perez. All professional athletes have pride. Perez should use that criticism to push himself to get better; if it doesn’t, he’s not capable of getting any better.
I wish Willie use the same tactic that Wagner uses to push the rest of the players or the team as a whole. I’m tired of him showing unwavering confidence in players that just simply need to be called out because of poor performance. Not saying he needs to bash his players in the media, but a little embarassment is the only way you can discipline these well compensated players.
I don’t know, I don’t agree that they’re not fighting.
He says, “I can never question how our team goes down and competes. We compete. Every guy that comes in there is about winning. That’s our whole goal. ” I think that’s true. During the Chicago series the announcer said, wow, this atmosphere is intense, it’s like a play-off game. In April. I think they are playing balls-out. Sometimes you do more stupid things an ineffective things when you’re trying hard than when you’re not — possibly more often. (And of course, the stupid booing would exacerbate this.)
I think they’re definitely suffering a hang-over from the collapse, but it’s clear to me that they are not out there not caring.
Perez is his own special case, of course.