Billy Wagner’s thoughts always have been something of an open book, and yesterday the Mets closer became emotional while vowing that today’s Tommy John surgery won’t end his career.
Asked how his 10-year-old son Will took the news, an overwhelmed Wagner could not hold back his tears.
“Will, he was . . . he was upset. He’s not ready . . .” Wagner said, stopping in mid-sentence and bowing his head. His face, shaded by his cap, glistened with tears before he looked up and finished “He’s not ready for it to be over.”
Apparently, neither is Wagner. He insisted he’ll return from the torn medial collateral ligament in his pitching elbow – if not by 2009, then in 2010, and if not for the Mets, then for some other club.
“This whole thing is a challenge,” said Wagner, who has 385 career saves. “Somewhere down the road I’m gonna help somebody win a championship.”
Wagner will make $10.5 million next season, with neither he nor GM Omar Minaya ruling out the possibility of a September return for the final campaign of his four-year, $43 million deal. The Mets have an $8 million option for 2010, with a $1 million buyout – and the unenviable task of finding a 2009 closer.
For his part, Wagner said bring on Francisco Rodriguez or Brian Fuentes or any free-agent closer who makes the Mets better.
“Well if they didn’t, I think that’d be stupid, don’t you?” Wagner said. “I’m not going to pitch next year. We’re trying to win. Trying to play the ego thing is stupid. If you can get Frankie Rodriguez or whoever and we win a championship, that’s what we’re trying to achieve here.”
Wagner thought he successfully had worked his way back from a flexor pronator, but he tested his arm between games Sunday and it gave out after 13 pitches. He walked off the field in tears.
“The idea was to win a World Series and get 420-some saves, reach those goals by the end of this contract and then be able to ride off into the sunset. But that’s not going to happen,” Wagner said. “I’m going to have to move on and work to make my goals a little different.
“I honestly, without a doubt, feel I’ll be back. My wife [Sarah] doesn’t want me to retire this way. We’ve worked too hard, and for other people to write me off is the best thing that could happen to motivate me and push me.”
Jerry Manuel said he had expected Wagner back this season and termed this a “huge blow.”
Wagner will have surgery today. A ligament will be taken from his knee and placed in his elbow. He’ll rehab for two weeks with the team before returning home to his family in the offseason.
If the Mets chose to land a free-agent closer for 2009, it could require a deal in the neighborhood of five years, $75 million, so it’s no shock Minaya said they could go with internal options.
Luis Ayala, acquired last month from Washington, is 6-for-7 in save chances after last night’s 10-8 win over the Nationals.