The Atlanta Braves didn’t wait long too decide who their closer will be for the 2010 season. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Billy Wagner has just signed a two year deal with the Braves.
He becomes the first big name free agent to find a new home after agreeing on a new one year deal for $7 million dollars that includes a $6.5MM option for 2011 that vests if Wagner finishes 50 games.
Wagner now becomes the third 2009 Met to sign on with a rival NL East team. Wilson Valdez and Brian Schneider have already signed deals with the Philadelphia Phillies. It looks like it will be all out war in the division for first place.
Wagner will have plenty of motivation to keep him going as he continues to pursue his goal of becoming the all time lefthanded save leader, needing just 40 more saves to pass up former Mets great, John Franco.
Wagner had missed parts of two seasons after he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2008, and made such a remarkable recovery that it prompted the Red Sox to trade two prospects, Chris Carter and Eddie Lora, to the Mets for him. He went on to make 13 appearances for them in the heat of a pennant race and posted a 1.98 ERA.
The Red Sox will be well compensated as they now will receive two top draft picks, including the Braves first round pick.
You can imagine how confident the Braves must be in Wagner’s ability to close, when you consider the high cost of a first rounder in addition to the $7 million dollars.
However the Braves do have two type A free agents of their own in Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano and they should be able to recoup not one, but two first rounders as they did offer arbitration to both of them.
It remains to be seen how well the Mets make out with those two Red Sox prospects, but I have yet to see one peep that would suggest either of them will be on the Mets 25 man roster.
So as Omar Minaya tries desperately to get the Mets back into a playoff caliber team, the Braves just took two steps forward. And when you couple Wagner with the return of what looks like one of the the most dominant rotations in the NL East, the Mets have a lot of leap frogging to do if they expect to win the division or even finish in second place.
As for you Billy the Kid lovers, you’ll be seeing plenty of Wags in 2010 as the Mets and Braves will face off nineteen times next season.
One interesting note about the rumor mill, not one rumor pegged either the Wagner signing or the Schneider signing, as both became news after their deals were done.
I spoke to my cousin this evening who works for CBS Sports Radio in New York. He is specifically assigned to covering the New York Yankees, and produces all the multimedia and video for each broadcast. He has a great working relationship with many of the players and people in the front office, and helps produce much of the video footage and player and front office video interview footage you see on YES Network.
I asked him about the Johnny Damon rumors and he told me there was absolutely no truth to it. I asked him if he would make a call and see if someone closer to Brian Cashman would know more, and he responded no way, if there was anything like that going on we would all know about it first. By we he means Michael Kay and John Sterling who he works with everyday. In the past, he confirmed the A-Rod, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira signings to me at least a half hour before the stories broke on ESPN. So I wouldn’t worry too much about Damon signing with the Mets.
Boy, wouldnt Wagner really love to stick it to the Mets and their fans right now? The next time we hear Enter Sandman, Wagner will be strolling to the mound looking to save a win for the Braves. I’m not digging that scene at all.
Just saw an article on Mets website that states “Omar will set own pace at winter meetings”. The comment appears to contradict Jeff Wilpon’s postseason proclamation that “we will be aggressive this offseason…”
Omar is an idiot. Instead of procuring a first-round draft choice, he chose to deal Wagner for somewhat marginal minor league talent.
Come to think of it, Omar actually had the opportunity, had he done nothing but exercise NY-owned options, to construct a bullpen of K-Rod, Wagner, Putz, Parnell, Stokes, Feliciano & “name your prospect.” Overkill? Well, he owes us big-time, given that the 2007-2008 collapses we due in large part to his dismantling an effective bullpen in the winter of 2006-7. Not to mention the clusterf#ck that became of 2009.
Take your time, Omar…
TOMMY, TRY REALITY BASEBALL. HERE’S SOME REALITY…NYM DO NOT OFFER ARBITRATION TO DEPARTING F/A, THAT’S NOT AN OMAR DECISION; BUT FRED DESPISES THE ARBI PROCESS & IT’S HIGHLY UNLIKELY WAGNER WOULD’VE ACCEPTED A SETUP ROLE; BUT INSTEAD WITH HIS LOUDMOUTH & DEFINITE OPINIONS TOTALLY DISRUPTED THAT BULLPEN U ENVISION ATTEMPTING TO UNDERMINE FRANKIE AT EVERY TURN. HE’S OLD, HE’S GONE, I WISH HIM WELL IN EVERY GAME EXCLUDING 19 Vs NY; ATLANTA’S SPENDING ON HUDSON & WAGS FURTHER LIMITS THEIR FUTURE MOVEMENTS AS LIBERTY COMMUNICATIONS ARE CORP PROFIT MINDED OWNERS USUALLY INTERESTED IN CONTAINING COSTS NOT Ws & Ls. OMAR’S PACE SETTING DOESN’T DISPUTE JEFF’S AGGRESSIVENESS AS U MAY CONSIDER LAST YR’S NYY ACTIONS BOTH PACED & AGGRESSIVE. THEY ARE NOT CONTRADICTORY TERMS. SINCE WAGS’ DETERMINATION WAS TO BE A CLOSER, HE WASN’T A MET CONSIDERATION. OUR CONCERN IN PITCHING IS LACKEY.
Yeah, this is a tough winter for us Met fans. Nothing is worse than the waiting after a dismal season. i have to believe the pressure on Omar is intense from all quarters. He also, for better or worse, has a history of making deals at he winter meetings. So, we shall see.
My congratulations to Billy the Kid. Apparently the prolonged time away from the game got his juices going.
I wonder if the Mets bullpen has regressed in the past couple of years. Not all change is progress, despite what the PR machines say.
“So as Omar Minaya tries desperately to get the Mets back into a playoff caliber team ….”
I wish you were correct in your assumption, Joe. But where is the evidence?
Chris Carter will probably never play a game for the Mets (although I’m convinced he could outhit Dan Murphy at 1B), and the Mets are out two more draft picks.
Another GREAT trade by Omar!
No Johnny Damon to the Mets, is much more significant than Billy Wagner signing. Did anybody want the Mets to re-sign him? No. So stop worrying about who he moved onto. Who cares?
If you read the ESPN article about the signing, it actually says that Wagner might not be their closer, that he was signed just in case Gonzalez or Soriano didn’t come back. Of course, he could still end up winning the closer job out of spring training, but it is not set in stone yet. And, as Kevin just said, do we really care?
So let me get this straight:
Boston got 2 draft picks for 2 career minor-league players (one which is barely in the minors).
Wouldn’t it had been smarter for us to keep Wagner, offer him arb, and get 2 draft picks instead of saving some cash and getting pretty much nothing of significance?
Unless that saved cash goes for someone important, Boston pretty much made us look like fools.
Of course keeping Wags would have been the smart move-then either offer arb and get 2 picks, OR renew the option, have a fearsome 2 man closing staff(what could Whitey Herzog have domne with Krod and Wags?!) and then if we suck (as is likely) trade Wags in midseason for some REAL prospects. EITHER of these 2 options is better than what Slomar has done…
Look out for the Braves then, because when Wagners hot, your toast.
So the Braves sign a 38 year old closer after having Tommy John surgery and every Met fan is upset over this? Seriously?
The man had some success, in his very SHORTENED, season, and now we are trembling in our cleats?
I can’t take the inconsistency of Met Fans anymore……………
Hey Buddy. Your totally right. The Mets saved $2M by trading him. If he got hurt or was bad, we would have gotten nothing. In hindsight we should have kept him and we would have gotten the picks.
In any event the Braves are taking a big gamble.
I love wagering on Football. The unfortunate part is that I’ve lost about $ five this month. I think the most enjoyable part is doing the research and using research to find holes in the odds.