I really enjoyed reading the interview. I thought it was refreshing. Hey, he hardly referred to himself in the 3rd person at all. And he talked very old school... you could tell how much some of the guys like Bags influenced him. Or hell, maybe his dad brought him up that way. At any rate, I liked what he had to say. Billy has ticked some people off here by talking about the trade, but I respect him for saying how he felt. He may be off base about some of it, but if he is, I don't think it's intentional. And I can certainly see why he might be more than a little ticked off at McLane. He had nothing but praise for Hunsicker. You can tell how badly he misses his teammates in Houston. What's not to like about that? I'll miss not being able to see him coming out for the ninth. He was a gas to watch. Yes, he blew a save from time to time, but more often than not the guy was money. I hope he does well for Phillie, except when he faces us. I really, really hope Dotel can fill his shoes. He's got big shoes to fill. From a sad Astros fan who saw them play at Colt Stadium with his Dad and was nearly carried off by the mosquitoes. (well, not that sad... Pettite! Clemens! )
Sure, Billy can and will act all humble and say the right things NOW. He's new the Philly, he knows those fans are nuts, and he doesn't want to get off on the wrong foot. But rest assured, he will have stuck his foot in his mouth before the season is up. Or, if they have a good season, no matter how the Philly offseason goes, he will be unhappy that they didn't do more. The guy can't help himself. He was a great closer (and with as shaky as he seemed sometime, a great cardio vascular excercise as well), but the guy just couldn't keep his damn mouth shut.
Not only that, but the one that was more likely than anyone else on the team to complain to the media over any little thing that entered his mind, and the one of the three potential closers that was the most overpaid.
Overrated? Ask Boston or Philly. Ask Atlanta or LA, without theirs they would have been sunk deep early and not 'contending' in September. The point, IMO, is that Billy Wags was a heckuva 'stro. I appreciated his work and his accomplishments, and hate the crap he's being fed since he opened his mouth @October 1.
Boston and Philly's bullpens didn't suck because they didn't have "closers". It's because their bullpens were full of crappy pitchers. You can't have a great bullpen without SEVERAL top-notch relievers. Our bullpen would've been mediocre if it weren't for Lidge and Dotel. Also, no one has mentioned that we also secured a prospect who now ranks #1(by a wide margin) in our farm system. Along with a servicable pitcher and another prospect. Add that with Pettite, and there's no way one can say that we didn't make the right move.
How is me saying "GOOD LUCK" Billy bashing? I am not saying HE is overated, I am saying the CLOSER role is overated. I mean most of the time you inherit a lead and only have to get 3 outs for a save. A good portion of big league pitchers would succeed at a 75% clip. The best, and Billy is one of them, get into about 85-90%. I don't think it makes as much difference in a year as having good starting pitching. DD
There's several schools of thought on the closer "role" and whether or not its overrated. Personally, I think its important to have a guy back there who's battle-tested in these situations, and has better than average MLB starter stuff. I DO NOT, however, feel that this guy should be one of the highest paid players on a team... over guys who pitch 200+ innings, or are in the everyday lineup. There are exceptions, however... guys who can pitch more than one inning, or guys who have an assortment of pitches are rare exceptions that I feel all baseball teams need to go back to grooming. (Gagne and Rivera are the only two guys who can fall under this distinction... Wagner, Izzy, Benitez, Urbina, etc. are 1 inning guys with only 1-2 pitches). Also, even though it was primarily a monetary situation with Billy, we might not have moved him had we not had a guy like Octavio Dotel ready to take his place. In fact, had Dotel's relief dominance been found out before 2001, we might not have signed Wags to this huge extension.
I didn't mean you, I meant the BillyBashers, the ones peeved he ran his mouth (altho I didn't feel he said anything wrong or inappropriate), the ones glad to be rid of him. I have no problem with an academic debate over value of a closer v a #1 or #2 starter or whatever.
Maybe people wouldn't be bashing him if he wasn't acting like a hypocritical jackass by running his mouth . . .
