(Update: Despite passing the 1 pm deadline, the Red Sox completed the deal with the New York Mets Tuesday afternoon, acquiring closer Billy Wagner for two players to be named later.
Boston agreed not to pick up Wagner’s option in exchange for Wagner waiving his no-trade clause. Interestingly enough, the Mets were going to offer him salary arbitration anyway so in either case, there is going to be a draft-pick ‘catch’ with any team going after him in the offseason.
It came down to Wagner wanting to pitch in a pennant race as opposed to whatever is happening at Citi Field these days. He’s expected to be added to the roster officially Thursday.
Below was written and posted on Sunday, August 23rd. Oh, what a difference a few days makes.)
With the news breaking Friday that Boston had put in a waiver claim on Mets reliever Billy Wagner, it raised some interest in the Nation about the potential of a former top closer joining what is already a pretty impressive ‘pen.
But as we approach the 1 pm Tuesday deadline to get this done, it is looking less and less like the Red Sox will acquire Wagner and that even if they do, there may be some conflict with current back-end ace Jonathan Papelbon that is being amplified by a Sports Illustrated baseball writer.
The latest came Sunday night from Fox’s Ken Rosenthal who said the chances this deal happens are in “serious jeopardy” due to two contract conditions that Wagner and his camp are unwilling to waver on:
- Despite being activated last week for the first time this season, the 38-year-old Wagner wants to be a free agent after this season concludes. The problem is that Wagner has an $8 million club option for 2010 that Theo Epstein and crew might want to hold onto – either as a bargaining chip for the offseason or to pick up so they can use him in a setup role/closer 1A role for next season. The problem is that he doesn’t want either to happen.
- His camp doesn’t want Boston to offer salary arbitration as the team that signs him will have to give up coveted draft picks to Boston if they do.
Sounds like a deal just waiting to fall apart, doesn’t it? Wagner has 385 career saves and struck out two in an scoreless inning of work in his season debut last Thursday. There is no doubt he’d be worth a look if Boston doesn’t have to give up much to get him due to the risk involved, but let’s face facts here.
Based on the above, this isn’t happening and you know what? That’s ok. Boston has a great bullpen, anchored by a guy that has never given up a run in the playoffs. We’ll take our chances and if Wagner doesn’t want a shot at a ring, so be it.
However, what is really interesting is Papelbon’s comments toward Wagner potentially joining the bullpen for the stretch run and how those comments are being spun.
A few days ago, Papelbon said this, among a few other things:
“Is he ready to pitch or is he not? You know what I mean? I think our bullpen is good where we’re at right
now. Don’t get me wrong. But I guess you could always make it better.
It’s kind of like the [Eric] Gagne thing, I guess.”
To paraphrase? Gagne was horrendous during his Red Sox days as a Papelbon setup man and occasional closer despite playing well in Texas prior to the trade. In the interview, Papelbon didn’t directly diss Wagner, but simply said it wasn’t that easy just to add a guy into a bullpen and expect it all to work out – especially with a group that is effective right now with just over a month to go.
But because Papelbon didn’t come right out and say that he would welcome Wagner with open arms, the All-Star had to further explain his comments Sunday, adding more fuel into a suddenly hot fire:
“I think that we have a good dynamic down there in the bullpen and I
think that we have guys that know how to work well together. Is Billy Wagner a great pitcher and would he bring some more
depth to our bullpen and make our bullpen better? There’s no question
about it. But you have to also think about what we have now and what
we’ve been able to accomplish at this point of the season and how good
we’ve been.”
Well, Sports Illustrated baseball scribe Jon Heyman decided to start churning the waters a bit by getting some Wagner quotes and running with them on his Twitter feed Sunday. Some of the gems?
- Wagner “loves Boston” (remember the Patriots hat he wore during his infamous post-game explosion following a Mets loss?), but doesn’t expect to wear the red and white due to “inside intuition.” Heyman added ‘hmmm’, aka pot stirring.
- Reacting to papelbon’s not warm quote about him, wagner said, “i dont have anything to say about somebody like that.”
- More Wagner: “When he walks in my shoes, then I’ll say something. Let him be 38 and have Tommy John surgery.”
There is no SI story posted on this and just the Twitter posts, making it feels an awful lot like some of that 16 years covering the Yankees for Newsday is coming through here, doesn’t it?
Instead of playing impartial observer, Heyman is putting himself in the middle of this, almost representing the interest of Yankees fans in not wanting Boston to acquire Wagner by posting those comments. What’s the ‘inside intuition’ and the subsequent ‘hmmm’ mean?
What exactly did Papelbon say that was so bad, Jon? I’m curious. Granted, Papelbon didn’t offer to pick him up at the airport, but what should he have said and what is Wagner referring to with his comments about being 38 with Tommy John surgery? Should he have sympathy? I’m confused. Why don’t you just ask him…or would that hurt the feud you’re trying to start?
And here, the Red Sox brass thought they were just putting in a simple claim but as we know, nothing is ever simple in Red Sox Nation.
Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog on the MVN Network. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].
came in for the seventh inning and threw 10 pitches to three batters, but the one that stood out was a blast by Colorado’s Brad Hawpe to lead off the inning. 
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