Wagner Deal

I’ve been mostly out of blog here the past week due to an exceptionally busy stretch at work; I’ll be busy again this week, but it’s not clear yet if things will ease up enough for at least a little blogging. It hasn’t been a particularly newsworthy baseball week other than the Billy Wagner deal. While it’s always sad to see a guy like Wagner leaving a team he’s been through so much with, he has (like most non-Rivera closers) also had enough bad experiences (in Wagner’s case, in the Divisional Series) over the years to wear out his welcome with at least some Astros fans.
It’s really impossible to evaluate the deal until we see what both teams do the rest of the offseason. If the Astros use the money to shore up their starting rotation (they’re rumored in some sources to be hot and heavy after Andy Pettitte, although Peter Gammons says otherwise), it may be a good deal; Dotel and Brad Lidge can clearly take the slack in the bullpen. As for the Phils, Wagner has to help their bullpen, but the victory will be Pyhrric if they can’t re-sign Millwood.

3 thoughts on “Wagner Deal”

  1. Millwood will command a huge salary — he’s a Boras guy, after all — but until he really cranks it up, I can’t see spending No. 1-type dollars on a 14-12, 4.01 pitcher. I’m okay with the Phils spending that kind of scratch elsewhere.

  2. I’ve got to agree with Tom, given the kind of money Millwood is likely to command, I’m content for the Phils to soldier forward with Wolf, Padilla, Myers and whatever filler they throw in there (Amaury Telemaco was pretty good before he got hurt back in 2001, he made a couple of starts at the end of the season, might be a good #4. Plus, there’s a couple of guys on the market who look to command much less than Millwood for results that are, frankly, not much worse than he’s put up every year except 2002).
    In short, if Millwood’s willing to come back for not much of a raise ($10M or so a year) I’ll take him. If he wants more than that, he can piss off, cause he’s just not that good.

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