Thanks Drayton - Cont'd
Coming off what is probably his best season, Astros' closer Billy Wagner thinks he and Richard Hidalgo are likely to be traded by cheapskate owner Drayton McLane:
"I think it will happen, I really do," Wagner said Sunday after the Astros finished the season with an 8-5 win over Milwaukee. "Gerry's got his hands tied with this whole budget for salaries. We're just in a wanting-to-compete situation, it's not a get-better situation.Wagner is also not impressed with the owner sitting on his hands at the trade deadline:"If that's the case, they're probably going to have to cut me and probably Hidalgo. If they can get the trade, we'll definitely be gone next season."
"This year we had an opportunity to really do something special," Wagner said. "We had a lot of kids overachieving. When it came time to get somebody to really help us, they wouldn't. There wasn't much out there, and there wasn't much we could do."
Does any Houston sports fan really disagree with Wagner?
I don't.
In other unsurprising news, Jeff Bagwell hit two homers after all the pressure of a pennant race was gone. There's something fitting about that.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/28/03 21:03 | Sports | Technorati
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Comments
Given how things are going, it might not be such a bad idea to trade both of them. Wagner is coming off a fine year, and Hidalgo had a solid one. Their salaries may scare some people away, but if it can done, right now is the time to do it.
And your comment about Bagwell was just plain silly. I don't recall him pitching
the first two games against SF, nor do I recall him getting abused like your boy JRob against the 61 Yanks, er 2003 Brewers.
Posted by Gary C. @ 12:28 on 09/29/03
My guess is that Wagner is less likely to be traded, because he has star power and sells tickets. I look for Hidalgo to go, though. Yes, there are good baseball reasons that can be offered to trade them, but financial reasons tend to trump those considerations here.
JRob isn't my "boy" and I don't know where you got that. He did give the Astros more than they probably expected coming into this year, though. But he's not the guy you want on the mound needing to win a game desperately.
The failures of Bagwell (and Biggio) in clutch time are well documented, especially in the playoffs, so I don't think it's "silly" to note Bagwell's two meaningless homers. Opinions can and do vary. He'll still probably make the Hall of Fame based on a stellar career (but not his performance in the clutch).
Posted by Kevin @ 12:40 on 09/29/03
I recall you previously touting JRob, but he really was really just about the luckiest pitcher in baseball. Have you read Rob Neyer take on Jimy?
http://sports.espn.go.com/m...
By the way, Bagwell's number through his first 14 postseason games are quite similar to Yogi Berra's first few World Series games.
Posted by Gary C. @ 17:21 on 09/29/03
I've not touted Robertson that I can recall. I mention him here:
http://www.publiustx.net/in...
But that mention is clearly in this context: Drayton McLane didn't help this team much, but Robertson pitched better than anyone probably could have expected or things would have been worse -- and things surely would have been better with a veteran frontline starter in the biggest game of the season instead of Robertson.
I don't know enough about Robertson to praise him or curse him (honestly), but I sure would have preferred a dominant, veteran #1 or #2 pitching that game he lost a few nights ago.
Posted by Kevin @ 19:23 on 09/29/03
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