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Is Alpaca’s Met Career Over?
The bad news BMF had expected all along finally arrived Monday afternoon on Metsblog:
“Billy Wagner will miss the rest of the year with a tear of his flexor pronator and MCL in his left elbow”
In layman’s terms: His arm is F’d up real bad which ain’t good at all for a small framed, flame throwing reliever.
The hard truth about this is that Billy Wagner’s days as a Met may very well have come to an end. He’s still Met property of course and they’ll be footing the bill for surgery, rehab and what not but I doubt we’ll ever hear “Enter Sandman” for Billy da’ Kid again.
Wags’ contract runs through ’09 with an 8M club option for 2010. Considering he’ll be turning 39 and coming off major arm surgery one has to assume the Mets will invoke the 1M buyout and be done with Wagner.
Which means we have 2 issues at hand:
• First - Who closes from here on out?
• Second - Do we dip into the free agent market for K-Rod or Huston Street who will both be available for the right price?
The K-Rod decision can wait until the off-season cuz right now we need to deal with tonite, this week, and hopefully a run deep into October.
But can we really expect to be playoff bound and/or make some noise in the post season w/o a real closer? My initial answer is no but stranger things have happened…
Luis Ayala has certainly gotten the job done so far ringing up 5 saves in 6 chances but can we really expect a reliever that WAS gave up to hold the fort in crunch time the way a championship team needs… I fear not… but stranger things have happened…
Quite Frankly we don’t have any better options than Ayala, with the possible exception of Eddie Kunz, so it looks like the ex-Nat is our man.
We can take some solace in Ayala’s recent stats but the truth is losing Wagner is a crippling blow.
Billy was a gamer for us and he’ll be missed on the field and in the locker room (although maybe not by Ollie Perez) but the truth is Wags himself has a history of blowing up in the post season so who knows maybe in the end we’ll be better off with Ayala… I mean stranger things have happened… right?
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Mojo Kitty rocks the batting helmet for luck!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:50 am
I go back and forth on this .. Yes, a closer is key to winning Championships but we were 22-11 without Wagner and lets remember he had seven (7) blown saves himself and as BMF points out - his postseason record is not that great
A closer could be just someone who gets hot at the end of the year .. since Wagner went down our starters are going longer into games - this has helped too
Next season: open up the checkbook Wilpons.. : KROD !! new stadium and no 22 blown saves ..
September 9th, 2008 at 8:10 am
I say no to K-Rod, develop Kunz and spend moeny on a starter. You guys seem to forget that Niese is clearly overmatched and won’t be ready till at least 2010 - that’s fine, but we can’t depend on him. Pedro - done. I want his ass out of Flushing next year. Oh Pea - ? Boras is his agent and it’s known that he doesn’t want to pitch in the east anymore. Then there’s Maine - if he just pitched hurt this year that’s one thing. But what if hitters started figuring him out? We got Johan, Pelf, pray for rain I guess. Wilpons will spend money on one or other, not both.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:22 am
op wants to go out west? where’s that from coop?
i agree on no krod..pay a little less for street if anything and let heilman start and see what he’s got.. our rotation could be santana, pelf, op (if resigned), maine and heilman..
as far as wags..tough luck but he gave us a few good years.. let’s beat up on the natties
September 9th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Heilman start- are you on drugs?!!
Oh pea going west-huh? Let’s bring the oh-kee pa ceremony back to the metsies
Been saying on this blog for months. K-rod. So young, so tested, so feared so good. As worth it a “Joe”-han.
I’ve also been saying for months and I was DEAD WRONG, that we have Pedro back. But the guy is done! Not even a good 5th starter option.Really weird, What happened with him between last 5-1 September and this.
Speaking of Joe- wow, you gotta love him. I really wonder what happened to him last year in Sep. on Minnesota.
I think we can still take the Beastly East, even without Alpaca–though I will miss him alot.
Regardless of his image , I hate to say it but Wags has NEVER been a good postseason success…so who knows?!
I hope this team doe not get down on themselves, realize what they have done until now w/o Wags and keep on truckin’ I suspect they will!
September 9th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Maybe a Closer isn’t needed. We need to just let the Starter start, go as far as he can, bring in the appropriate guy for the immediate situation and let him pitch until he gets in trouble, then bring in the next guy for the immediate situation and let him go as long as he can. Remember the old days before Situational Specialists, Setup Men and Closers?
September 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I’ve been saying it for the last few days or so, the best guy we have right now to be the closer, and we don’t see it yet, is Mr. Brian Stokes !!! He has a high 90’s fastball( 95-97), complemented with a nice wicked Curveball which he commands very well, and a decent change-up, you’ve been a witness of his succes in the past few outing,so i think that he is the solution for our bullpen, then move Ayala to the Setup role where he’s been most of his career… Why not give it a try !!!
September 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Hunker down boys!
Sad news; Billy was like the “It” boy closer for us, more than just a pitcher. Missed by fans and media alike. (He’s not dead yet, wynd!)
Cry for Billy? I’m still crying about Lindstrom!!
Spending money on a starter is the best advice. You get bang for your buck and going deep is the new macho. It’s the new black for spring 09.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Sorry to see Wags go. . .he was definitely the best arm in the pen. But I never really wanted to see him pull an Armando Benitez in a big spot for us. Maybe its better this way?
All the more props to General Manuel for going 22-11 with this motley crew and somehow figuring out a way to make it work! Could you imagine Willie doing this?
I think we need to go after starters next year, not closers. Very curious to see how things develop!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Let me tell you something guys, and many people have agree with me, K-ROd is not the solution for the closing job, even tought i love the way he pitches, the guy has dropped his velocity from last year from 96-97 to 92-93, at the age of 26 ??? are you kidding me ?? supposed to be getting to his prime right ?? the guy does not strike out batter as he used to a couple years back, also the guy walks a lot of batters, and he has 55 saves because his team plays small ball baseball, so they’re alway there with close score games…
So giving him 4-5 years and some 60-75 mil is not worth it, rather spend it on a Starter and go after a Closer via the trade or some other way…
Btw, if i’m not wrong at all there was a Canadian guy back in 2003 who came at the same very age of 26 or 27 as K-rod is now, saved 55 games, broke a few records, recorded 80-something straight saves, was named Cy Young, pitcher of the year, and a variety of awards, he was supposedly in his prime or just getting there, and what happened ??? started decresing his velocity due to the overuse, and bum!!!! he blew his arm, and where is him now ???? Well i think we know, and Carlos Delgado knows where he’s pitching now… and he sucks, he’s done,so just think about it before giving big time contratc and money to closers !!!
September 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
no not on drugs but as a 5th starter he comes very cheap and maybe just maybe the guy will get his head out of his ass and either become good enough to keep or good enough to trade..just a thought..
spend the cake on OP
September 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Closers are weird, and honestly, they’re much more rare than starters. How many lock down, lights out closers are there currently in all MLB? Papelbon, Rivera, KRod, and…??? After that you’re in Billy Wags territory. Joe Nathan, Joakim Soria, Kerry Wood, Jose Valverde. Good, but not great. If we have a chance to get KRod we should.
For now, obviously Ayala or Stokes are our best options. I’m just hoping Ayala’s groin holds up…
Oh and f*k Heilman, he’s done here. His fragile psyche has been shattered and rebuilt so many times, the cracks have cracks. Omar will wrap him up and ship him for cheap prospects or some other reclamation project in the off-season.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
wynd: “I’m still crying about Lindstrom!!” I’m racking my brains here, but I just can’t get the reference. Please enlighten me.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
wynd: never mind. I just figured it out. I must be in a fog today.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I looked into the future, USS Maine will return and go into the Pen for the rest of this year and will be lights out!
I have no problem with getting K-Rod…there is no way you can depend on a rookie to be your closer…
Heilman should get a shot at starting…if he doesn’t work out then dump him…sometimes guys who don’t have the mentality to pitch in relief do a good job as a starter…
I don’t want to believe Pete is done, I say give him the Glavine contract…year to year with the mutual understanding that neither would exercise the options…even if he’s a #5 starter he’s still better than a lot of other guys…plus he’s good to have in the club house…
September 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
USMF, you da man. As for the Oh Pea rumors, I have it on good authority that he wants to be closer to Mexico, like in San Diego or think Texas - remember it wouldn’t be the first time Boras took the Rangers for a ride. But we’ll see - also being a Boras client, he’ll go where the money is. And if the Mets are the winning bidder, he’ll stay…then again, this organization will prob give him a “hometown discount” and he’ll get pissed and leave! Stay Oh Pea! Stay!
September 9th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Coop, you and Oh’Pea getting back together? I hope so…you made a nice couple…
I guess you and Maine are on the outs…
September 9th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
We’re going against The Turtle tonight!
USMF are you suggesting that Pedro become Mr. Met?
dude is a foggy bottom boy.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Call me nuts, Johnny Franco (Ok, not the best example) was also a lefty, worked into his mid 40’s as a pretty good (ok not great) setup guy. Couldn’t he come back and be a relatively inexpensive option to plug some of the glaring holes in the bp?
August 18th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
It is rareto see such quality on blogs in the industry enjoyable to see