Wags-watch. Predict which day he is Xtro.

I 'fearlessly predict' Billy Wags will be a Red Sox or a Yankee or something not rainbowesque in Astroland by the 7th of November. Maybe even the 1st?

Anyone care to claim otherwise? Wags, we shall miss you. You shall be playing hardball in the fall and your x-tros won't. That's the shame of it.

I just hope Jerry makes a Hun-ny of a deal.

 

from MLB Insider, ESPN:

Monday, October 27, 2003


By Jerry Crasnick
ESPN Insider

Billy Wagner was speaking for a lot of Houston players in late September when he took some shots at Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. over the team's failure to acquire a frontline pitcher for the stretch run. "This team is based on competing," Wagner told reporters, "not winning."


Uh-oh. On baseball's owner-player animosity meter, that's equivalent to plopping down across from George Steinbrenner and saying, "I know you're The Boss, but don't you think you look a little jowly in those Visa commercials? And how about Northwestern's football team? Are they lame this year, or what?"

It's clear that Wagner, one of baseball's most engaging players, talked his way onto the organizational "B" list with his candor. Before the winter is through, we'll find out if he talked his way out of town

After another disappointing finish, the Astros will spend the winter re-assessing the makeup of their roster. General Manager Gerry Hunsicker, whose flirtation with the Mets job ended when he signed a one-year contract extension with Houston, is hamstrung by long-term commitments to six players: Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Lance Berkman, Richard Hidalgo, Wagner and Craig Biggio. Combined they will earn $51 million in 2004.

With Roy Oswalt, Wade Miller and Octavio Dotel also due big raises in salary arbitration, Hunsicker might have to suit up a clubby as his No. 5 starter.

"We've tried to hold onto our star players to accommodate the fans, in an effort to create an identity for this team," Hunsicker told Baseball Insider. "This is a dangerous situation for any club. You can't have 70 percent of your payroll tied up in five guys. That creates an inflexibility and ties our hands."

Hunsicker's sentiments might resonate with you, me and lots of major-league owners who signed players to gargantuan deals at the height of the economic boom, but his comments have generated some resentment among players who aren't exactly payroll bandits.

Bagwell hit 39 homers and drove in 100 runs this year despite a summer-long regimen of cortisone shots in his shoulder. Biggio scored 102 runs while switching positions at age 37. Hidalgo rebounded from two off-years to win the Houston baseball writers' team MVP award. Kent played through tendinitis in his wrist to hit .297 with 93 RBI, and although Berkman underachieved by his standards, his .288-25-93 season was hardly a washout of, say, Pat Burrell proportions.

Billy Wagner
Relief Pitcher
Houston Astros
Profile


2003 SEASON STATISTICS
GM W L Sv K ERA
78 1 4 44 105 1.78


That leaves Wagner, who converted 44 of 47 save opportunities, struck out 105 batters in 86 innings and held opponents to a .169 batting average. His biggest sin, other than giving up two homers in a pivotal loss to the Giants in the season's final week, was signing a three-year, $27 million contract last January.

Some Astros have grown tired of Hunsicker lamenting the state of baseball's economic system on behalf of McLane, who says he's losing millions even with a new ballpark. Bagwell's $15 million salary for next year and Hidalgo's $12 million might look exorbitant now, but that was the price of doing business when they signed.

"It's the same issue faced by every club in baseball, except maybe the Yankees," said agent Barry Axelrod, who represents Bagwell and Biggio. "Everybody is crying poorhouse. But teams have to look at their budgets on an annual basis or a five-year window. The Astros were the ones who made the decision to pay these players, so they don't have the standing to complain. It's not as if they inherited these contracts."

Richard Hidalgo
Right Field
Houston Astros
Profile


2003 SEASON STATISTICS
GM HR RBI R SB AVG
141 28 88 91 9 .309


The chances of the Astros trading Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman or Kent are remote. They'd love to move Hidalgo to make room for Triple-A outfielder Jason Lane, but they'll have to pick up somebody else's contract baggage in return. Trading Wagner makes some sense, considering Dotel looks ready to assume the closer role, but the Astros' timing is sure lousy.

Keith Foulke, Eddie Guardado, Armando Benitez, Tom Gordon, Ugueth Urbina, LaTroy Hawkins and Rod Beck are among the relievers on the free-agent market this winter. The surplus of established or would-be closers will make it less essential for a team to invest $8 million in a Billy Wagner. He's the third best closer in baseball behind Eric Gagne and John Smoltz, but unless he's the missing piece to put your team over the top, he might not be $3-4 million better.


Wagner's agent, Bean Stringfellow, still sounds optimistic about things working out in Houston. "Billy wants to remain an Astro," Stringfellow said. "He wants to play for a winner there."


They all do. Now it's up to Hunsicker to gauge the market, sort out the economics and keep McLane happy in the face of criticism, which is always a full-time job. As one Astros-watcher put it, "Drayton knows just enough baseball to be dangerous."


At least Hunsicker knows that things could be worse. He could have taken the Mets job.