I guess with the alpaca’s all fed and his Christmas shopping done, Billy Wagner figured it was time to help Omar Minaya right the S.S. Metropolitans ship after the glacier it hit down the stretch. Let’s take a look at some of Billy the Kids quotes as he opens up as only Billy Wagner can:
On Tom Glavine leaving:
“Losing Tom is big. It’s a lot more than the 13 games he won. It’s what he did for John Maine and Oliver Perez and how professional he was. People want to focus on one bad game or just the day-to-day stats. He was one of the few leaders we had. We’re down 13 games already, plus all the games Tom deserved to win.”
Billy, relax. First off Glavine never wanted to be a Met but for John Shuerholz tossing him to the curb and the Skill Sets in dire need of a big signing he joined the team but his heart was never in NYC. If I’m Rick Peterson and Randy Neiman I take offense to you giving credit to Glavine for Maine and Ollie. As for replacing Glavine’s wins and innings Livan Hernandez is as good as Glavine is now so it’s not a stretch. Give your boss a little credit as he will figure out a way to bring in a starter better that your buddy Tommy. As for all “those games Tom deserved to win” How about the game the franchise need to win the last game of the year and your “leader” shit the bed?
On Paul LoDuca:
“Maybe he wasn’t the best receiver. I don’t know. But Paulie competed. He battled every day, and we had some guys who didn’t show up every day. They were satisfied if they got a hit and we lost. Paul was angry if he had four hits and we lost. And every one of the pitchers trusted him. He was a big part of what we did in 2006, and now he’s gone, too… It just worries me that we’re missing some important guys.”
If your going to throw mud like this name names. If you do that then you show some real onions otherwise your a coward. That’s a pretty bold statement when you say guys didn’t show up. Who? You really just threw 24 other players under the bus along with your manager and coaches.
On Willie and the pen:
“I understand what Willie wants — for a lot of guys to be able to pitch whenever they’re needed for as long as he needs them. I’m not sure you can have that. Guys are used to having roles. They’ll take the ball because that’s what the job is and that’s what the manager wants. But the idea is to get them into situations where they can be successful. I mean, you wouldn’t ask Carlos Delgado to bunt.”
Although I agree with Wagner that guys like to know their role and this has been a bone of contention with Mets reliever when it comes to Randolph sometime you have to do what the boss tells you to do. Wagner who said the Mets need leadership should live by his own words and say that he’ll do whatever the manager tells in to do. Pitchers pitch, hitters hit. If you have a problem with the way the manager is doing things and it;s no secret that Willie and Billy do not see eye to eye, then take it up with him. As much as we love to hear you spout off, don’t air your dirty laundry in public.
On Omar and the team:
“Someone asked me what I thought of our team, what team? I’m trying to be positive. I’m saying we have some good players. But I’m worried. The Braves are getting better, and the Phillies made a move acquiring Brad Lidge.”
I agree the Braves and Phillies will be better and the stigma of last season will still be hanging over the team come April but just because Brad Lidge is a buddy of yours don’t insult our intelligence by saying he’s a key player here.
I do like Wagner’s candor but it is way to early to criticise Omar and I think he has too much to say on how Willie manges (leave that to a professional like me) instead of worrying about things he has no control over Wagner should just work on his breaking ball and concentrate on getting saves. For a guy who pitches one inning and appears in less than half his teams games he has a lot to say.
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This post was written by kranepool on November 28, 2007
You just witnessed one of the main reasons the Phillies were happy to get rid of him. He can’t help but open his big fat mouth. Aren’t the Mets paying him over $10 mil a year? There should be a “keep your pie hole shut” clause in that contract.
Secondly, my ass bleeds for these poor coddled relief pitchers with their “roles” who don’t like pitching outside the box. To these crybaby pitchers I will use a line from my daughter’s favorite show, “build a bridge and get over it!”. My God, do you think pitchers of the (insert any decade here before the year 2000) cried over having to pitch an extra inning or coming in earlier in the game than expected?? Hell no! Baseball has become such a sport for pussies. Just look at the list of players who missed games over ridiculous injuries like having a hang nail or sleeping on their eye. Hockey players can lose 3 teeth and need 100 stiches and you will still find them coming back on the ice for more *in the same game*!! Baseball players today disgust me, just look at some of the ridiculous clauses in their contracts. “I won’t sign unless you give me Knicks season tickets”. I can envision the player holding his breath and turning blue until the GM gives it to him.
I said it before, Glavine was a Brave at heart, always was. The Braves can have him, good ridence. Steve’s paragraph said it perfectly.
Is Wagner right about the state of the team right now? Yes. But before you go making yourself look like a complete Asshole, you might want to wait a bit longer and see what Omar does, shithead. There is still several months left of the off season and things are just starting to get moving.
God, I hate self righteous people!
Frank from Jersey, you have the best and most logical responses to what Wags had to say — not to mention my biggest bone of contention is that every single Met (with the exception of MAYBE David Wright) is a big f’ing poochie. Carlos Beltran sits with a yeast infection and wait - lo and behold, Wag is not at fault. I know, he had back spasms back in Sept and he was hurting, but when the team really needed him most, he couldn’t perform. Same with Glavine.
On a side note, my dad makes you guys look like puritans LOL. My dad will get on the phone with his best friend at Mets games and start talking about what poochies these pitchers have become. Inevitably I hear about the time Al Jackson pitched in a 15-inning loss at the Polo Grounds when he and the other pitcher SHUT OUT the opposition. Did Al complain about losing? Heck no!
I hear Joe Nathan of the Twins might be available. Why doesn’t Omar get him and tell Billy LeDouche “I don’t want to overwork you there while you try and figure out what you’re supposed to do as a closer”
Man, like most everyone else, I agree with his assessment, but could he learn to shut up for a couple of months?
LOL, Coop, I had to tone that down a lot before I submitted. I am old school baseball. I am 40 and played up to semi-pro as a pitcher. I’ve read a lot of baseball history. Back then, players felt it was a great privilage to play the great game of baseball. Today, players feel it’s the fans privilage for them to grace us with their presence. Just to give you an idea of how old school I am (no, I’m no Casey Stengel or John McGraw), but I HATE when players today wear their pants all the way down completely covering their socks. I was taught that the pants should come down just below the knee and the socks should be showing from that point down. Very very few players today do that but the ones that do hold a special place in my heart because I feel that is respecting “the game”. Anything else is disrespect, sort of like when women keep their last name after marriage - That ticks me off.
This Billy “The Clit” Wagner really is talking out of his aspirin! For the millions of dollars these guys make for playing the game of baseball, I would pitch at 3 O’clock in the morning in the midst of the Cleveland Mosquitos attacking me. To say that these guys are overworked because they pitch 2 innings every other night is preposterous. To think that Tom Glavine was a work-horse because he pitched 200 innings in one season is insane. When Nolan Ryan struck out 383 batters in 1973, he pitched 326 innings! The record he broke that year belonged to a pretty good southpaw by the name of Sandy Koufax who in 1965 tossed a whopping 336 frames!! Those are work horses!!! By the way, Koufax had a punch and judy team and many times he had to do it while nursing 1 and 2 run leads. That same year “Koo Foo”, pitched and won the 7th game of the World Series on 2 days rest!!! He blanked the Minnesota Twins on a 3-hit, 10 strikeout masterpiece. Oh yeah, he won game 5 as well, giving the Dodgers the lead in games after they had fallen behind 2-0. Did I mention that he won 26 games that year and won the second of his 3 CY Youngs? I never heard Koufax complain of pitching too many innings. Let me further add that this man had arthritis on his pitching elbow that ended perhaps the most incredible pitcher that I ever saw throw a baseball. So if Santana is worth 140 million and “The Clit” is worth 10 million, imagine what Sandy Koufax would be worth today? Any owner that approached him would have to address him with the words, “Hello, Partner” because they would have to relinquish part of the team for his services. Just ask Eddie Kranepool how difficult it was to hit him. So let Glavine leave…I believe that he was always a Brave at heart and he “threw” that last game in the name of the Atlanta club.