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In a post to his blog for WFAN.com, Mets reporter Ed Coleman says Billy Wagner is ahead of schedule and aiming to return in August.
…wagner would be a great late-season addition, if he’s able to pull it off… forgive me for saying this, but, imagine entering the end of September with Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz and wagner in the bullpen…
Coleman also weighs in on Omar Minaya’s off-season strategy, and the team’s potential starting rotation next season.
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If thats true, that would be sick!!
I say we wait and see and if he can make a return in August may be trade him at the deadline for either prospects or someone that could help. I don’t think we would need him and he would not want to pitch in the 8th or 7th and he doesn’t pitch good outside of the 9th
I dont think he has a choice, if he is healthy he has no choice but to pitch in the earlier innings, besides, he will be pitching for a new contract. He has to prove he can still pitch if he wants to play beyond 09. I cant see the MEts excercising his option for 2010. (YES HE HAS AN OPTION FOR 2010).
Great point but no one will give up any thing for a pitcher coming off injury. Plus, it is to early to think about him, but it would be nice to have a power lefty coming in aug/sept.
I think he is retiring after this year anyway, so he can care less about next year. But I do still think he would like to go out a winner and help this team any way he can.
you can’t trade someone on the DL
Trade deadline is July 31, and there’s no way Wagner would clear waivers. Trading him isnt an option.
I think there’s a pretty good chance that a 37 y.o making a pro-rated $10m+ coming off arm surgery and not returning to pitching would in fact clear waivers without so much as a peep from other teams.
No one is going to pay him about half of that salary without even knowing if he’ll be able to return.
Thats exactly what I was gonna say. the mets should put him in a deal for maybe a left fielder or a second basemen in the 2009 trading deadline. Usually there is someone who needs a closer.
That bull pen would be fantastic. Another leffy out of the pen.
So Wagner will start blowing saves in August.
the arm of my Billy Wagner bobblehead came off this morning… Just thought i’d add that
Also, anyone notice that on SNY’s Metsblog commercial, when the voiceover says ‘up to the minute news’ theres a screenshot that reads “Billy Wagner: MRI Shows No Damage”
Maybe that is why they did not trade for a one batter lefty. He probably could get that one lefty batter out
How awesome would that be i mean Wagner is still our property & is going to want a new contract with some team so that will be plenty of motivation….
This is good news indeed.
Coming off of surgery, I’d expect zero production from Wagner.
Yes, we’d all be very wise not top bank on this.
Case… Thats what rehab is for . Besides, He cant be any worse than what we have now outside of Putz ans KRod.
I’m just saying it’s not that easy. Rehab and all, it still takes much longer to get back in pre-injury form.
Whatever he gives the team, is more than what he was expected to give the team. So its just a win win situtation if he can pitch.
we’re ALREADY expecting zero production from Wagner, so, what exactly is your point?
no, matt said, “imagine entering the end of September with Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz and wagner in the bullpen…”
that is not expecting ZERO production. That’s thinking that Wagner will be remotely close to what he was like before his injury. My point is that there’s no way that’s possible, even with rehab. It takes much longer. See Sanchez.
that’s what Matt said, not what the Mets said, who cares what Matt thinks?
I said, “I’d expect zero production from Wagner.”
You asked, what my point was.
My point is that I don’t expect anything from Wagner because he’s coming off an injury. I doubt he’ll be productive. It would be great, of course, but I’m not holding my breath.
two different injuries
I agree, but I dont think he comes back if he cant help the team and prove to other teams that he is OK.
On the bright side, if it all did work out and he was himself the Mets could pick up his and Putz’s inexpensive options and trade one or both of them and restock the farm
Mmmm…tasty. Forget the playoffs…it would be nice to even have him in September, when our bullpen has failed us over the last two seasons.
wow, a bullpen of closers…nice!!!!!
I put the odds of all 3 of Frankie, JJ, and Billy being healthy come Sept at 15-1
Still, it is an interesting and exciting thought.
I’m expecting our bullpen to be our greatest strength in 2009.
i still think we need a long man.
Stokes? Parnell? Figgy?
Maybe Robertson early on. He has some pretty good minor league stats. I’m just throwing his name in the mix. Parnell may better be served with some more time in the minors.
Then Redding after Niese is ready. Redding would be a decent long man as his 1st-time-through-the-order-BAA isn’ bad.
Redding, Garcia, Pedro, Stokes, Knight, Figgy.
Duque :)
Thats Great……..Sign Manny!!
Sorry had to start it….
This would be awesome if for no other reason than to have the most awesome soundtrack in all of baseball – “Enter Sandman” in the 7th, “Thunderstruck” in the 8th, and whatever K-Rod uses – can we give him some Megadeth?
Spanish-language Metallica covers? Sepultura, maybe?
sepultura is from brazil, portugese.
sign somebody im bored
DITTO
Now that the Giants disappointed me, I need to hear some good news come out of Queens…..PLEASE
Watching Eli try to throw the ball in the wind reminded me of the 2008 Mets’ bullpen. :)
that would be f**king awesome ! but wagner wouldn’t be used too often because granted he would be coming off sugery.
he should be our 7th inning guy.. he IS another choke artist.. they clone armando benitez in white skin and lefty arm…
Clone: 1 a: the aggregate of genetically identical cells or organisms as-e-x-ually produced by a single progenitor cell or organism b: an individual grown from a single somatic cell or cell nucleus and genetically identical to it c: a group of replicas of all or part of a macromolecule and especially DNA
2: one that appears to be a copy of an original form : duplicate
Let’s see … Wagner says he can’t get into pitching the ninth unless it’s a save situation. Four runs or more and he’s not into it.
So he’ll be great in the sixth, seventh or eighth?
mop up duty then.. could care les-s whether he comes back or not.. like i said before A PURE CHOKE ARTIST!!!!
2.40 Carear ERA. 1066/270 K/BB Ratio. Converted 385 out of 418 Save opportunities. Yup a “Pure Choke Artist”. Who needs him?
Note: This Post is oozing sarcasm.
His career 85% save percentage (385 saves!) is supported by a .182 OPP BA w/ runners in scoring position, a .196 OPP BA in “close and late situations” and .200 OPP BA in “high leverage” situations.
But since when have you ever cared about facts?
And since I know you’re likely going to point out one isolated week or month in his long and excellent career (why would you care about a sample size of more than 760 games when you can point to 3 or four?), his OPS against in 2007 was actually lower for Sep/Oct than it was for the season (though it was inflated by a really bad August).
If anyone came up to you and said your next closer will avg. 4.7 blown saves a year, who here would NOT take that?
It’s good news that he’s ahead of schedule. Let’s leave it at that.
The Mets would have no need to ask him to do anything more than some situational work. Hopefully he is motivated to contribute as well as to prove he can still pitch.
I wouldn’t ever count Billy Wagner out.
This is the post btw – not sure why Eddie C. is unsure of his “Met status” though….he’s on the roster and making a boatload of money…if he can pitch, they will find a spot for him.
“Spoke with Billy Wagner today. I’m sure he’s a distant memory to most Met fans since the acquisitions of K-Rod and Putz, but Wagner is doing well and progressing ahead of schedule. He’s been working out three times a week, strengthening his elbow and shoulder in his native Virginia, and he’s very close to throwing again. His Met status remains quite uncertain, but undoubtedly he’ll be spending a good chunk of time in Port St. Lucie trying to get himself ready. For what remains the question. Wagner is shooting to get back sometime in August, but where that is will depend not only on the quality of his progress but also the progress made by the bullpen that he had to leave last August – a bullpen that systematically self-destructed down the stretch.”
I think he meant, whether Wagner will ever play for the Mets again.
Find me one pitcher that was ready to go only one year after Tommy John surgery.
Chris Carpenter had it in June of 07, and still hasn’t pitched effectively.
exactly
Actually, 1 yr is about the recovery time for TJ. Some pitchers are able to recover/rehab within that time frame, while others are not.
“Full rehabilitation takes about a year for pitchers and about six months for position players. Usually, pitchers who have the surgery can get their full range of motion back after about two months and can start doing weight exercises. For the next four months, they can increase the weight that they use and start doing exercises that emphasize all parts of their arm.”
From the Wikipedia entry “Tommy John Surgery”
Pitchers may return after one year followjg surgery but they don’t necessarily return to form at that time.
Right…Some do, others don’t. The biggest issue for the rehabbing pitchers is control. The ones who return and have their control are successful. In many cases, it takes time for a pitcher to regain his control after being out of game action for a year +
Like i said above..
I dont think he has a choice, if he is healthy he has no choice but to pitch in the earlier innings, besides, he will be pitching for a new contract. He has to prove he can still pitch if he wants to play beyond 09. I cant see the MEts excercising his option for 2010. (YES HE HAS AN OPTION FOR 2010).
Be ready by august means he’ll be in the minors. He won’t be MLB ready…not at his age, no way. If he has any success, then I’d trade him for whatever before his contract is up and we get nothing but a “thanks for the memories”.
be nice to have him around so he can tell us who is not doing their job properly ;)
Welcome to last week, when this article was written.
This site has totally jumped the shark.
Well there ain’t much else going on thanks to the top3 remaining players all being Boras clients.
I think Boras has a meeting with the Marlins, Nationals and Phillies about Lowe and Perez….. Just to try to add more pressure to the Mets.
If he does manage to make it back in August, how much do you want to bet he’d start whining about his new role?
good to hear, but I will believe it when I see it.
Wagner did a great job for the Mets. He had a few rough spells, but I can think of no closer who has not…
The Mets had a very stable closer for the better part of three years with Wagner. The instability of his elbow was a concern entering the contract, and he did a good job of staying healthy and being largely consistent for much of his career with the Mets.
He was also a fierce competitor. I will never forget his last press conference when he announced the surgery. The desire of this guy to keep pitching is intense and highly admirable.
Wagner is the best closer I’ve ever seen as a Met. Randy Johnson was second, Franco third.
Come on Mets fans, Wagner did a great job – cut him some slack!
i agree with you but i just dont think he lived up to his contract. i think he did a very good job but could hae done better.
2006 – 40 saves – 94 KO’s in 72 innings – 2.24 ERA
2007 – 34 saves – 80 KO’s in 64 innings – 2.63 ERA
2008 – 27 saves – 52 KO’s in 47 innings – 2.30 ERA
What more did you expect? Can you find a reliever with better or comparable stats over a three year period?
Did you prefer Braden ‘I only save games when I face all righty lineups’ Looper?
Sheesh, you’re tough to please ;-)
i said that he didnt live up to his contract hes making 10 mil a year…u didnt put his blown saves in there which is probably the most important stat for a reliever….and i did say i agree that he was very good for us…i just think that for what we are paying him he could have done better.
and yes i can find players with better 3 years than him….rivera, paplebon, krod!!!!, hoffman etc……they have all had 3 year periods of much better pitching than that
Even the All-Star team is not comprised of the two or three best players at each position.
There are lots of teams in the league. The Mets can’t have the best player at each position.
Wagner was solid for the Mets, and better than solid for his career.
Wagner was great ????? Did you watch the ‘06 playoffs, the ‘07 choke or the 08 seaon after April? He is the most over rated ever, but the best, only in your and his eyes.
i can see him being some kind of power lefty specialist coming out of the pen..
krod
putz
wagner L
feliciano L
green R
sanchez R
stokes R
parnell (possibly)
Don’t believe anything Ed Colman says. For a Mets insider he never knows what he’s talking about and, he’s ALWAYS WRONG. He always speculates and talks as if it’s fact. He’s an idiot.
And he speaks even worse of you….
If Wagner returns he will destroy the Met bullpen. He is poison, has always been poison and he will destroy any chemistry the bullpen has in August. .. He will not go gently into the 7th inning.
Great points as usual Rod…..hmmmm, maybe you noticed what happened after Wagner got hurt last year?
Yeah, it was Wagner’s presence which poisoned the abilities of the great Schoeneweis and Feliciano and Sanchez and Heilman.
Wagner is not Mariano and is not a hall of famer, but he is among the best of his era, and was very, very good the overwhelming majority of his time here.
As for the 2006 playoffs Rod, remember how we hit? We hit like we had a lineup of 9 Rod Kanehls, or worse (if that could be possible.)
Ha! I say we put Rod Kanehl at 2nd base this season! His sarcastic comments and poor grammar are just what the Mets need to turn this thing around!
Maybe September for Wags. Could be one of those emotional moments to have him walk out of that bullpen. Situational type deal.
By the way, Putz has an expensive option for 2010– like $9 million. Let’s say he blows chunks for us this year, and Wagner comes back and is OK– you could let Putz go and re-sign Wags. Just an option, unlikely as it is.
By the way, I think we should look into Eddie Guardardo as a lefty out of the pen. Maybe he still could get a batter or two out.
I like the idea of Guardado because unlike Shouse or D. Reyes, he can actually get right handed hitters out too.
I think the Mets should have learned its lesson last season regarding the use of so many “specialists.” You need guys who can get hitters… period. And who can finish innings on their own.
That would be a fun senario to set up on the X-box
The only reason we’re even talking about this is because it’s January and we’re bored.
Take this with a grain of salt – what else is Wags going to have in his mind right now – that he’s progressing slowly and won’t be back at all??
I’ll start to get excited when he’s 1) actually thrown, and 2) less than a month out. Even then is stretching it.
wagner will never throw another pitch as a NY met.
If Wags comes back he’ll want to and to be effective might have to close. That being said I do remembera certain press confrence where he said he would endorce the mets going after Franky Rodriguez or another top notch closer.
our bullpen have the potential to be really good this year, specially if sanchez recovers his fastball, he was dominant in 2006. if feliciano is only use against lefties, he should be ok. stokes looks like a good long man,green is a ground ball machine.
The Rays just signed Gabe Kapler in case anyone is interested.
A rteurn to what? in August. Long tossing,
minor league rehab? Who cares? Wagner
like most of the high end guys signed by Omar simply didn’t earn his money AND
worse now his paycheck added to payroll
this year is preventing us from spending
a little extra which might actually help the
team.Not to mention his rallying the troops
against Millage which only made that situation worse and shouldn’t be forgotten
especially when Church is struggling again
and/or is on the DL and Scheider continues
to decline. Hey Billy, just take your money
and go away.
Who should Omar have signed or traded for instead of Wagner after the 2005 season when we desperately needed a closer?
And as for Milledge, the jury is still VERY out as to whether he will be any good or not. Of course the same is true for Church, and Schneider stinks, but still, having Milledge in all likelihood would have done very little for us last year, with the possible exception of maybe causing us to win a few less games early in the season when Church was smacking the ball.
Milledge and Gomez both still have Ryan Thompson written all over them in giant letters.
Didn’t say i wouldn’t have signed him since
there was little choice BUT Worst case with
this guy came through, Bad in big games
then gets seriously hurt. Also, I said here first
a year ago Gomez=Roberto Kelly BUT Ryan
Thompson,c’mon. He couldn’t hit in the MINORS and was never as highly thouught
of as Millage who was one of the top prospects in the game.And you don’t trade
that for a worn out Catcher and a suspect
platoon OFer.
I have to defend the Wagner move here. Wagner was a dominant closer when we got him and had virtually no history of injury. For a team that had relied on Looper to close out games, Wagner was an excellent solution. While he declined a bit he swas still a steady closer with only a few short periods of faltering before he got hurt.
Did we get burned a little when he got hurt? Yes. Was it a dumb move to sign him when we did? Absolutely not.
Yeah, you’re right. He was just great.
b/t/w, are you drinking again?
BTW- Did you read anything I wrote?
Now you’re just being flat out mean.
You’re entitled to your opinion – which obviously is completely opposite of mine.
I think this winter with no baseball has just been flat out too long for you and you’re suffering from withdrawal symptoms – LOL.
I’ll take Wags over Benitiz anyday….
By the way, that is Wagner’s 2006 etopps card shown in the post. For those interested, etopps is great collecting fun.
Just reialized ..whoever we sign as our new #2 will probly pitch out Home opener….hmmmmm …interesting thought…Omar you better throw someone good.
Oh yeah, Randy Wolf baby-Opening day at
Citifield!
I have to defend Wagner here. Over the past 3 years, I think he was one of the best 5 in the game. I don’t think he planned on getting hurt last year and it obviously bothered him to a great extent. This isn’t just someone taking the money who didn’t care.
That being said, I don’t know if he’ll ever throw a pitch for the Mets again. But thanks for the memories, Billy.
Yeah, and the next really important save
will be his first.But except for that he was
just great.
I realize, as everyone else, you can’t really debate with you because you come off as a 3 year old. You have not said who else you wanted instead of wagner.
You’re an intelligent one aren’t you?
I have to aggree with you. For the most part he closed out games and did what we paid him to do. It wasn’t a vile conspiracy of his to throw his arm out and need TJ’s
Unfortunately, not every team can have Mariano Rivera.
There’s less than handful of closers who have been better than Wagner. I’m not sure it is reasonable to expect perfection in a position where every failure is exacerbated by the nature of the role.
Great points! Closer is a very hard job, and for some of the folks on here, not even Mariano’s best years would be good enough.
Calling Wagner a failure and a cancer, blah blah blah, is meaningless. He was very, very good for us almost all of the time.
i am ecstatic about this. imagine krod, putz, and wagner, in the backend of the bull pne. not to mention, the sure possibility of the mets adding more releivers
“sure possibility?” is that an oxymoron?
If this is true, then it might not matter if we choke away Derek Lowe and are forced to re-sign Oliver Perez. He’ll only have to go six innings anyway!
I think this is killa crazy as well, but he wont be himself.
1) hes old
2) surgery is big oops means hes getting less productive
Also I hate to say it but last year I thought he said his most recent game would probably his last one as a Met.
Thankfully!, Again-Stay down in the woods
of Virginia Billy collect your checks and
good-bye!
b/t/w someone explain how this guy was any better than Benitez who STILL gets killed by
90% of Met fans.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves. I remember hearing similar things about Pedro. But if Wagner were able to come in and help in August or September, it would be a huge boost. Plus JJ Putz is a free agent after this season and his option is worth a ton. I don’t see the Mets paying a setup pitcher 9 million a year. Wagner could become next years setup man if Putz is not resigned.
great trio but they won’t be closing games out for us if we’re behind. no bats = no runs. anyone expecting delgado to pick up where he left off is high on drugs. church is a coin toss. dicey.
will be sad to see JJ in the 5th inning trying to keep us in games.