Thoughts on the Wagner Situation
I am back from Cooperstown, I loved it! The Hall of Fame was everything I thought it would be and more, pretty awesome. I don't think I can share the pictures though because I took them in a disposable camera. Sorry.
Anyway, as you may have heard, Billy Wagner was claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox. The Mets have 3 options: A) let him go to the Red Sox, a la Alex Rios, and let the Red Sox pay the 3 million dollar remainder of his contract B) work out a trade with the Red Sox by midnight on Tuesday C) pull Wagner off of waivers and keep him.
I personally think the Mets should keep Billy Wagner. They are in no bad situation with money, so they can afford to keep him. Besides, if they traded him to the Red Sox, what kind of player would we get? A C level prospect? Who cares. I say keep him the rest of the year, decline his option (there is a 1 million buyout, but big deal), offer arbitration.
Now if Wagner accepts the arbitration, okay, fine. We will get to keep a player as good as him and we will most likely have to pay him no more than 4 of 5 million, as opposed to 8 million. Then we pitch him a lot during the season and build up his value, then we can trade him for a good prospect or maybe even a nice little package.
But I highly doubt Billy Wagner would accept arbitration. He wants to be a closer next year and he knows he would not be able to do that with the Mets, as they have Francisco Rodriguez. This is good, we want Wagner to decline arbitration.
Billy Wagner is a Type A free agent. This means that if we offer him arbitration and he declines, whatever team signs him in the offseason owes the Mets. If it is a team that finished in the Top 15 this year, the Mets get two of their top draft picks in the first round of the draft. If the team is a Bottom 15 team, the Mets get two picks in the second round of the draft. Pretty good, and almost certainly better than any prospects the Mets will get in a trade.
To me this a no-brainer. Right? But of course Major League General Managers aren't so smart.
Bobby,
When I heard about Wagner I was surprised. I hope the Mets get to keep him.
.
About the disposable camera, you can make a disk out of the pictures and post them. That is great that you got to go to Cooperstown. I have yet to go but one of these times I'll make it there. So you get car sick like I do. It helps if you ride in the front seat. The back seat is the worst when going thru some curvey road up the hill.
.
I had forgotten how much I enjoy your posts. You will make a wonderful sport writer.
Emma
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Bobby: Nice blog! I don't see why the Red Sox need Wagner. They have Papelbon....unless they are planning on dumping him....hmm...
I hope your prediction about the Yankees winning the WS is right! It's been too long for me. I think I was like 7 when they won their last WS! If you are interested, I have this story on my blog about how I think I cursed my yankees. The post is titled "The Curse of the Pen." It is the last thing in the "Recent Entries" section of the blog. It's a pretty funny story, but I believe it. I would appreciate it if you took a look at it. Thanks! -Virginia
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The Red Sox don't need him, they already are filled in at the position. All they need is a pat on the back and 100,000,000 playoff tickets for the Red Sox faithful.
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Emma it is kind of the exact opposite for me. When I sit in the front seat I get MORE car sick. My dad says I am the only kid he knows that prefers to sit in the back :p.
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It looks like you will be keeping Billy. It is being reported that he & the Red Sox could not come to terms.
Julia
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GOod luck with the Mets. And that video on the post before this one, I think it was like two posts before this but anyways hilarious! That was the Mets season in a nutshell!
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