Most dominant closer in Astros history. That season of '97 where set the record for most K's per 9 was incredible. Gagne broke it in '03. I wonder if he'll make the HOF. If so, probably in an Astro cap since he played here the most and he had the best success here.
Ahh, the three words a pitcher never wants to hear - Tommy John Surgery. What's kinda funny is we traded both of our last two closers to Philly. Just a weird coincidence, ESPN/Telemundo type deal
Don't worry. The luxury of being a team like the Mets is you can go out there and sign somebody for $10M a year and not even think twice.
Taking into account that they didn't play an unbalanced schedule against the Brewers and Cubs, like the Astros did... I don't think they're that much closer at all.
Its odd that you don't mention the current all-time leader amongst relievers for K's per 9 IP... as he is a former Astro. Also, there are zero hardcore Mets fans losing any sleep over Wagner being out till 2010. Its simply adding to the loathing that he's brought on himself since going there, as he has now burned bridges in 3 different cities.
Really? You don't think a team that's in the playoffs now (by 1.5 games) is more likely to win a playoff series than a team that's 5 games out?
This is ridiculous. As mouthy as he is, he's one of the most reliable closers in baseball. Any team without depth in the bullpen (ie, the Mets) would be concerned by losing their ace closer. And any fans that want to win would be concerned by it as well. The GM has admitted he's concerned by it - is he not a hardcore Mets fan?
I hate the Mets but I've always like Wagner so I hate to see him hurt like that. He may have pissed off a lot of people but he never burned a bridge with me. I liked how he was honest.
I thought that Wagner is one of the best relief pitchers I've seen. His 100 and plus miles per hour fast ball was amazing to watch. I remember one time that there was a stat of all the 100 miles an hour pitches in the baseball season and he had more than all of the rest of the baseball pitchers combined. Or at least a significant portion of them. But Wagner was kind of like Bagwell, very opinionated and critical of management. The best one two punch in relief pitching has to have been Lidge and Wagner!!! We in Houston were lucky to watch that tandem!!! Lidge, Wheeler, and Qualls was very good as well. But nothing like the Wagner & Lidge tandem.
You remember correctly. It may have been something like 90+% of all 100+ MPH pitches thrown that year were by Wagner. It was an amazing stat for that particular year.
