Wagner in '10?

[ejf1025]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4419074

If the Sox do indeed decline his option....who would be interested? At what price?

[Hank Scorpio]

Not interested.

[ejf1025]

Why?

At 2 yrs, $10-12 mil with a club option for a 3rd--I see little downside.

[Mackus]

Why?

At 2 yrs, $10-12 mil with a club option for a 3rd--I see little downside.

A 38 y/o fresh off of Tommy John surgery and you don't see any downside?

[ejf1025]

Wagner CL

Johnson SU

Mickolio MR

Ray MR

Sarfate MR

Berken LR

Uehara LR

That's pretty nasty.

[ejf1025]

A 38 y/o fresh off of Tommy John surgery and you don't see any downside?

People have bounced back from TJ--he's already pitching again, it's a different era in terms of tech. And this is also precisely why you could get him on the cheap...we will have cash, it's not a long-term commitment.

Marketing-wise you might get some love from him chasing 400 and the lefty save record.

At worst, he gets hurt and you eat the money (which would prob be insured) and just go back to Johnson/Mickolio/Uehara.

[Mackus]

Wagner DL

Johnson SU

Mickolio MR

Ray MR

Sarfate MR

Berken LR

Uehara LR

That's pretty nasty.

Fixed that for you.

[QBsILLEST1]

Why would we want him? This would be worse than the Baez pick up. We have plenty of in-house options who would work just fine and would cost so much less. Even if we had him now on our team, I dont see it helping us make any playoffs runs. IMO our bull pen has been one of the few bright spots now that Mickolio is up, Johnson is pitching well again, Chris Ray has returned back to form. Albers will be back soon and will probably be back to form(he seems to lose his release point at times during the year). Hendrickson has also been helpful out of the pen.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Why?

At 2 yrs, $10-12 mil with a club option for a 3rd--I see little downside.

A commitment of $5-6 MM per annum for two years to almost any reliever is a downside.

The downside is bigger when you're talking about a 38 YO reliever.

And commiting that much when there are clearly other good options on the roster is pretty dumb as well. JJ, Mickolio, and Ray all have a better chance of being an effective reliever next year than Wagner does. Did you notice how long Ray needed this season to come all the way back from TJ?

[Mackus]

People have bounced back from TJ--he's already pitching again, it's a different era in terms of tech. And this is also precisely why you could get him on the cheap...we will have cash, it's not a long-term commitment.

Marketing-wise you might get some love from him chasing 400 and the lefty save record.

At worst, he gets hurt and you eat the money (which would prob be insured) and just go back to Johnson/Mickolio/Uehara.

Its not gonna be insured, nobody is insuring a 38 y/o guy on a freshly repaired arm.

And while most pitchers can pitch a year after TJ, it is one of those injuries where you almost always hear that it takes another season before they are back to normal.

And even if he wasn't hurt, he's 38 years old. He's not the type of guy we should be going after. He's no lock to be even remotely acceptable as a relief pitcher next year. He's not even likely to be good next year, IMO.

Pass.

[crawdad]

Unless you are merely a closer away . . . it makes no sense (it probably makes little sense if you are a closer away either). I mean, how many closer signings have actually worked out well? Not many.

[Arthur_Bryant]

Why would we want him? This would be worse than the Baez pick up.

Yeah, the O's are just about to clear the last of the Baez/Bradford/Walker debacle off the books, and somebody wants to jump right back in the pool with a $10-12MM commitment.

[Sports Guy]

I would sign him to a cheap 1 year contract in hopes of dealing him at the deadline.

[ejf1025]

Wow.

I'm shocked that people are lumping him in with Baez/Walker/et al. I mean--aside from 2000--he's never had an ERA over 2.85.

I'd much rather take a flier on Wagner and just eat the cost if it doesn't pan out. He was pitching to a 2.30 era in 2008....I don't see how, if healthy, he would be likely to pitch poorly.

[ejf1025]

Its not gonna be insured, nobody is insuring a 38 y/o guy on a freshly repaired arm.

And while most pitchers can pitch a year after TJ, it is one of those injuries where you almost always hear that it takes another season before they are back to normal.

And even if he wasn't hurt, he's 38 years old. He's not the type of guy we should be going after. He's no lock to be even remotely acceptable as a relief pitcher next year. He's not even likely to be good next year, IMO.

Pass.

This is a GROSS overstatement.