Wagner says he's retiring

[BSN07]

Billy Wagner may have thrown his last pitch in the major leagues. The former Mets pitcher told The Post yesterday he's planning to retire rather than pursue a closer's job -- and 400 career saves -- next season.

 

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/wagner_eyes_retirement_not_th_career_z64F7ZAhNUPX55NAGaroEN

 

Really?

[Christian Snyder]

I was hoping he would come back in 2010 and be a Reliever..... Oh well.

[BSN07]

I was hoping he would come back in 2010 and be a Reliever..... Oh well.

 

He was never coming back to Boston. I was hoping for the picks though.

[rician blast]

I was hoping he would come back in 2010 and be a Reliever..... Oh well.

 

 

I was hoping he's come back in 2010 and be a 3B....wtf?

[Christian Snyder]

I was hoping he's come back in 2010 and be a 3B....wtf?

:lol:

[BoSox21]

Why the hell did he go through all that rehab to be able to pitch for a month then? And why did he initially veto the trade to Boston to stay with a loser team if he was gonna retire? This makes no sense at all.

[a700hitter]

If he retires, we probably cannot offer him arbitration. After January 1st, he can do a Brett favre and sign with someone and it will not cost them any draft picks. Maybe he has found a loophole and outsmarted our FO.

[BSN07]

If he retires' date=' we probably cannot offer him arbitration. After January 1st, he can do a Brett favre and sign with someone and it will not cost them any draft picks. Maybe he has found a loophole and outsmarted our FO.[/quote']

 

I think they can still offer him arb. I mean they offered Byrd arb and he didn't sign until late in the season. Albeit with the Red Sox. So not exactly sure.

[bostonule25]

http://bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1204361&srvc=sports&position=recent

Billy Wagner’s agent, Bean Stringfellow, did not take his client’s comments about leaning towards retirement too seriously.

 

“Those comments probably came right after the Red Sox [team stats] lost, so I’d bet they were said in the heat of the moment, when he was very frustrated,” said Stringfellow in a phone conversation today. “That’s probably not the best time to take comments like that as gospel.”

 

Wagner, 38, told the New York Post, “I don’t plan on talking to nobody,” regarding where he could pitch in 2010. Asked if that meant retirement, Wagner said, “Why wouldn’t I? I’ve got nothing else to [accomplish].”

 

Wagner is 15 saves short of reaching 400 in his career.

 

“That’s just dust in the wind,” he told the Post.

 

Said Stringfellow: “That’s not what Billy has told me or indicated to me about next year. That’s not to say that he couldn’t, but he’s given me no indication that he will retire. Certainly I am moving towards him playing next year.”

 

Wagner is likely to be a Type A free agent, meaning that if the Red Sox offer him arbitration, as expected, and Wagner rejects that arbitration offer, as expected, the Red Sox would receive two draft picks from the team that winds up signing Wagner. The Red Sox have already agreed to not pick up Wagner’s $8 million option for next season.

 

 

hope isnt lost yet

[msubulldogs21]

I love the fact that there's an MLB agent named Bean Stringfellow.

[Dojji]

I bet he weighs like 300.

 

Anyway, I'd love to see Wagner back if he'll come. I'd love to see him sign with someone else if he doesn' want to come back here, and let us get a pick.

[VA Sox Fan]

I heard on Fox Sports radio today that he isn't retiring saying he didn't go through the Tommy John and all the re-hab for nothing.

[rhet]

I love the fact that there's an MLB agent named Bean Stringfellow.

 

Imagine the parental resentment he's carrying through life...

[Dojji]

I wonder how much of this is just a standing threat to make sure Boston doesn't pick up that option.

[Cocos Disciples]

I wonder how much of this is just a standing threat to make sure Boston doesn't pick up that option.

 

Boston has agreed not to pick up the option, which was the reason he waived his NTC.

[Dojji]

Sure, but all they'd have to do is change their mind and they'd have him for a year.

 

I can see a player using the threat to retire to keep a front office honest, or to gain leverage over them if they get too aggressive trying to keep him where he doesn't want to be. Of course, it only works if you're willing to follow through but in Wagner's situation I could definitely see it helping him go where he wants to go.

 

I don't think the Sox would ACTUALLY do that to Wagner, and I doubt Wagner does either, but players have been screwed over by front offices before. If you have some leverage to make darn sure that doesn't happen to you why not use it?

[TheMino007]

This is almost a month after that Papelblown blow up that cost us game 3 of the ALDS and ended the Sox season early. Question is, do we feel that we have to trade Papelbon? Probably not, you can't just give the guy away, even if he is beginning to show decline. Its just frustrating because Paps just needs to stop throwing fastballs right down the middle and start throwing more splitters again and work on a slider or a moving fastball or something.

 

Anyway, is it possible that we could in fact trade Papelbon? Having him say he is gonna test free agency doesn't help, but there a couple teams that could us a closer. Could Paps be traded to Tampa for Carl Crawford? That solves the problem in LF. How about to the Phillies? If the the Phillies had a reliable closer this year they would have won the World Series. We could trade him for that SS prospect of theirs, Donald I think it is? We could keep him and have take over full time in 2011 or use him as a chip to get a big bat. I wish Wagner would come back, we could make him a closer and have Bard waiting in the wings just in case and be a setup man in the 8th inning.

[Dojji]

Oh for pity's sake. Mariano Rivera blew multiple individual playoff games and is still one of the best relief pitchers in history, if not THE best.

 

ONE GAME doesn't erase Papelbon's CONSISTENT dominance over the PREVIOUS FOUR YEARS.

 

Every single Papelbon season, INCLUDING THIS ONE, has been better than Foulke in 2004.

 

There's a little regression to the mean, absolutely inevitable after his ridiculous 2006, but NO traces of decline here

 

He's so unstoppable that every time he does show a rare chink in his armor it's major panic time. That's all this is.

[jacksonianmarch]

His BB totals are alarming for a guy who has a history of being impeccable when it comes to control

[TheMino007]

Totaly agree, the guy walked way to many guys this year. For the first time in his career his WHIP was over 1 (1.15). Paps really was a cardiac closer out there this year. How many appearances did he have where he had a clean 1-2-3 ininng? Not too many. I'm not saying we should dump Paps because he blew one playoff game. I'm saying that it might be smarter to trade him now and get something valueable for him instead of letting him walk in two years, b/c I think Theo has made it clear that he isn't paying Papelbon the big money he is looking for. Wagner and Bard couldn't be substancially worse than what Paps did last year. Bad season or not, Papelbon isn't coming back to Boston after he is no longer arbitration eligible and can hit free agency.

[example1]

Totaly agree' date=' the guy walked way to many guys this year. For the first time in his career his WHIP was over 1 (1.15). Paps really was a cardiac closer out there this year. How many appearances did he have where he had a clean 1-2-3 ininng? Not too many. I'm not saying we should dump Paps because he blew one playoff game. I'm saying that it might be smarter to trade him now and get something valueable for him instead of letting him walk in two years, b/c I think Theo has made it clear that he isn't paying Papelbon the big money he is looking for. Wagner and Bard couldn't be substancially worse than what Paps did last year. Bad season or not, Papelbon isn't coming back to Boston after he is no longer arbitration eligible and can hit free agency.[/quote']

 

The way I see it is that Papelbon will only be traded in a deal that leaves us all saying "I can see why they made that move". If they got Adrian Gonzalez or Felix Hernandez or Hanley Ramirez none of us would bat an eye, most likely. Those are guys you build a franchise around.

 

I'm not convinced that Bard is the next elite closer, he just hasn't pitched enough to know that, but I am convinced that if the other 29 teams in baseball survive without Jon Papelbon so can the Red Sox, for the right price. It probably will not make sense for them to let him go as a FA and his performance is trending downwards, so signing him as a closer in his prime would be very risky given this FO's history. I'm sure they've offered him some pretty nice deals over the past few years, like they did with Youk, Lester and Pedroia.

 

I imagine they are willing to listen to offers for him, or to include his name in trade deals for those listed above (and others).

[Dipre]

The "Trade Papelbon" ******** is hilarious.

 

And jacko, you know very well he pretty much abandoned the split-finger and relied only on fastballs, in which case, not having the "out-pitch" allowed hitters to work him more, thus the BB spike. Please stop talking like he's done.

[jacksonianmarch]

I dont think he's done. I do think that his reluctance to throw the splitter has made him a less reliable closer. That being said, he's gone from surreal closer to All-Star closer. Amazing to great. You get my drift

[Dipre]

I dont think he's done. I do think that his reluctance to throw the splitter has made him a less reliable closer. That being said' date=' he's gone from surreal closer to All-Star closer. Amazing to great. You get my drift[/quote']

 

Split back. Surreal again.