Mets Sign Wagner

[metirish]

] don't quite get it, but I think Ronnie lives in Virginia and gave Wags a positive picture of New York. I'm afriad I may be conflating that account with another somebody that Omar was discussing. I'm trying to look like I'm working here.

I think you are talking about the Mets employee that Omar gave props too, Jimmy Plummer is from the same town as Wags and Omar had him talk to Billy, they know a lot of the same people.

[seawolf17]

Yeah... it wasn't clear what role Ron Hodges had in this, but he definitely was mentioned near the beginning of the press conference.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Thanks, I was beginnng to think I had misheard.

If I'm writing for one of the dailies, I'm covering the Ron Hodges angle. That alone makes the Mets cooler than the Yankees, though I won't have an answer for you if you ask me why.

Joe McDonald? You don't say.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Turns out that Wags not only is from the same region as Ron Hodges, but knew of him.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Ferrum College sounds like Kirk Van Houten's alma mater:

"Sorry, Kirk. We didn't all go to Gudger College"

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Apparently, the two things that landed Wagner (y'know, aside from the $43 million) were a no-trade clause and longtime Mets employee Jim Plummer.

]Maybe one reason was James Plummer, director of corporate services for the Mets and a longtime team employee. A Mets bat boy in 1965, he still counts Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan among his good friends. The 54-year-old Plummer grew up near Wagner's hometown in Virginia, so he popped in to chat when the four-time All-Star was in general manager Omar Minaya's office during a two-day visit last week. Of course, Wagner and Plummer knew many of the same roads, mountains and country folks, including the pitcher's uncle. "It was going to be two minutes, it turned into 30 minutes," Plummer said. "I don't know about recruit, I just try to help out." But Minaya thought that conversation helped do the trick, making Wagner feel more comfortable about New York. "Our secret weapon this year was Jimmy Plummer," the GM said.

I guess Plummer was smart enough not to use Street Virginian with him.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, it was the Plummer story that I was afraid I conflated with the Hodges mention, but apparently Ron came up too:



A short press conference but mentions of Ron Hodges and Alpaca Llama TV, and that's some good viewing.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Edgy DC wrote: Yeah, it was the Plummer story that I was afraid I conflated with the Hodges mention, but apparently Ron came up too

My bad, I couldnt catch the press conference and somehow missed irish's post at the top of the page.

[metirish]

Plummer as the bit says was a Mets bat boy in 1965, he's worked his way up the ladder, the Mets seem to have a lot of long time employees, Pete Flynn, Plummer and some of the ladies that help kids in the bathroom(what are they called), I suppose the Mets are pretty good to work for.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Somebody needs to make a Pete Flynn webpage.

[metirish]

Yeah you're right Edgy, I met Pete Flynn once at Gealic Park in the Bronx, a very friendly person.

[nymr83]

the length of this contract worries me some, but i'm glad to have him.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Here's how the Mets signing of Wagner is being covered in Philadelphia. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

]Wagner: Phils not committed fully to winning By Jim Salisbury Inquirer Staff Writer NEW YORK - On his first day as New York Mets closer, Billy Wagner came out throwing heat at his old team. He trashed the Phillies' commitment to winning, wondered about their plan for this season, and said he'd likely still be with the club if it had been willing to give him a three-year, $24 million contract in July. Instead, he officially became a Met yesterday, signing a four-year, $43 million contract that, according to agent Bean Stringfellow, easily topped the Phillies' best offer. "The Mets are trying to win a World Series," Wagner said at Shea Stadium. "I felt like this was the right place to be." And about the team 100 miles down the road? "There's a difference between winning and being competitive," Wagner said. "In the end, I thought [the Phillies] were more interested in being competitive than winning. "My goal is to get to the Hall of Fame and win a World Series. There's no doubt [Mets] ownership has resources and a competitive edge. They'll do whatever it takes to win. That's a huge plus." Wagner, 34, leaned heavily toward the Mets after receiving a three-year, $30.25 million offer during a red-carpet visit to New York last week. He became convinced that the Mets were his team when they guaranteed a fourth year, added an option for a fifth, and gave him a full no-trade clause Monday morning. "We heard the Phillies had scheduled a conference call with Billy for [Monday] afternoon and that ownership was ready to review its offer," said Jeff Wilpon, the Mets' chief operating officer. "That's when we added a fourth year." Wagner was so impressed with the Mets' offer that he had Stringfellow cancel the conference call with the Phillies, who, sources say, were ready to raise their offer and add a fourth-year option. "I knew they wouldn't match all the Mets had done," Wagner said of his decision not to speak one last time with the Phillies. "They were still worried about age and all that stuff organizations worry about." According to Stringfellow, the Phillies' best offer was three years and $25.5 million. Stringfellow said the value of the contract could have risen to just over $30 million with incentives based on games finished. Wagner was not surprised that the Phillies weren't more aggressive. "Not considering I gave them three for 24 [three years and $24 million] at the trade deadline and they laughed at me," he said. Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro took umbrage with that comment. "That's untrue," he said by telephone from Philadelphia. "No one laughed. The reason we were taken aback was that his original asking price was two years and $16 million. When we offered that, the asking price changed to three years at $24 million." The Phillies were unwilling to offer three years in July because Wagner turned 34 that month and the team had concerns about the long-term health of his left shoulder. Wagner had spent time on the disabled list with a strained shoulder in 2004. Like his predecessor, Ed Wade, new general manager Pat Gillick made keeping Wagner a top priority. Gillick improved the Phillies' offer to three years and was willing to add a fourth-year option, but it wasn't enough. "If Pat had gotten there earlier, I think he could have gotten something done," Wagner said. "He didn't have much time." Gillick and Wagner had one face-to-face meeting and the pitcher, at the time, said he was impressed with the new GM's plan. Yesterday, Wagner made an about-face. "For me, the question I had all along was I wanted to know their plan for getting relief and starting pitching and they really didn't have answers because Pat just got there," Wagner said. "While the Phillies were getting rid of one guy, the Mets were buying up talent, and that's hard to overlook." The "talent" Wagner referred to is slugger Carlos Delgado, whom the Mets picked up the same day the Phillies traded Jim Thome to the White Sox last week. Wagner has 284 career saves, 59 of which came with the Phillies in the last two years. His legacy in Philadelphia may end up being the left-field wall at Citizens Bank Park. He frequently complained about it being too close. This week, construction crews will begin moving the wall back. Wagner, at times, also complained about how close fans were allowed to get to the bullpens in Philadelphia, and how they would deride relievers during the game. As a Met, he will play three series a year in Philadelphia. "I'm sure I'll be treated the same way everyone else is," Wagner said. "I'll be heckled. The fans there are passionate. They're going to think I ran to the money - which I guess they would have passed up - but I get heckled in every park. It's part of the game."

[Benjamin Grimm]

]"My goal is to get to the Hall of Fame and win a World Series. There's no doubt [Mets] ownership has resources and a competitive edge. They'll do whatever it takes to win. That's a huge plus."

It's not often that you see active players state so plainly that they're thinking Cooperstown.

I don't think his chances are all that good, but if that helps motivate him, it's fine with me.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

The interesting thing here, I think, is that it stokes a "natural rivalry" between the Mets and Phillies that in 43 years, has never really developed.

The Mets have played more games against the Phillies than any other team (I'm pretty certain), but they have never really been good at the same time. That's because they've mostly been bad together, but in 80 and 93 the Mets sucked; and in 69, 86 and the late 90s the Phils weren't a big factor.

I suppose 73 would count for something but the Pirates were the scarier team probably and the Cubs rivalry still had equity.

Really, other than the frequent Carlton-Seaver battles we grew up with, there just hasn't been juice in Met-Philly games. But next year, I'd consider the Phils & Mets (on paper) to be the 2 strongest contenders in the NLE.

[Elster88]

A player that signs as a free agent and then bashes his former team is a tired story.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Take it from someone living in the Philadelphia area, there's a real rivalry between the Phillies and the Mets, but only one side knows about it.

(I think, from what I've heard from a former Texan that I know, there's a similar one-sided rivalry between the Eagles and the Cowboys.)

I remember a few years ago hearing a Phillies announcer mention all of the times that the Mets and Phillies battled for a pennant, but of course, that's never happened. Even in 1973, the Phillies were the one team that wasn't in that race. The Phils finished second to the Mets in 1986, but by such a wide margin that there was never any kind of race.

The two teams were never really contenders in the same season until 2005, and by early September the Mets were in more of a spoiler role.

It really could make for a great rivalry. In Philadelphia, I guess it already does. Phillies fans hate the Mets, but Mets fans are mostly indifferent towards the Phillies.

[Elster88]

This New York fan from Connecticut agrees with that indifference. I have general contempt for fans from Philadelphia, which doesn't stem only from their baseball fans. But they are not worth feeling hatred or getting worked up over.
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This post had the designation 113) Carlos Baerga

[Frayed Knot]

]The Mets have played more games against the Phillies than any other team (I'm pretty certain)

I never thought about it before but I guess this is true.
NL East teams would obviously have the numerical edge over NL West & Central teams and only Philly has been both in the East the entire time plus dates back to 1962.
- Atlanta was West until '94
- Wash/Montreal had no games before '69
- Florida, no history prior to '93
- Cards, Pirates & Cubs left the East and are now down to 6 games/year


Giants v Eagles and Rangers v Flyers have always been hotter rivalries than Mets/Phils (or Knicks/Sixers).
Part of the problem is that baseball often takes a back seat in Philly to football and even hockey. I was listening to FAN one Saturday morning this past September right after the Phils had pulled out 2 consecutive last minute wins to pull even with Houston for the WC lead, and all morning the station was getting flooded with calls from Philadelphia & South Jersey Phils phans who complained that they were forced to call the NYC station to talk baseball because their own sports talk radio refused to take anything other than Eagle calls (during that all-important NFL Week 2). And if you're not going to take baseball calls while your team's in the middle of a pennant race ...

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I lived among Philly fans for about 10 years. Yes they do hate the Mets & New York but that's just a part of being a Brotherly Lover. There's no real reason for it.

What I was referring to was a team rivalry: Have the Mets & Phils ever played a "meaningful game"?

[Benjamin Grimm]

That was "meaningful" to both teams?

Maybe the three-game series that started on August 31, 2005.

That's probably it.

The Mets have played 747 games against the Phillies, which is more than against any other team.

Next are the Cardinals at 657, then the Cubs and Pirates at 656.

[Guest Edgy DC]

If you mean meaningful from both dugouts, they sorta kinda did this year as both teams were fading but clinging to outside wildcard hopes.

Wagner not only didn't really trash (other than to say he liked the Mets chances and offer better), he seemed consitutionally incapable of trashing.

He's a self-restrained guy.

[Elster88]

You better define "meaningful games" before you start bashing Arman---.

Oops, wrong thread.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's it. I've just decided that I'm heading out to the Billy Wagner country of Marion, VA, for my next vacation. They have a Sherwood Anderson festival going on!

And you know I'm taking Route 11. The interstate is for city folk, always in such a hurry to get somwhere that they never get get anywhere.

[Elster88]

Edgy DC wrote: If you mean meaningful from both dugouts, they sorta kinda did this year as both teams were fading but clinging to outside wildcard hopes.

There was a very meaningful series this year, wasn't there? Late August, a three game series at Shea, the one when Castro won the first game with a late three run homer? IIRC, Philly was tied for first in the wildcard entering that series and we were two games back.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=marion,+virginia&ll=36.843774,-81.509628&spn=0.060947,.160143&t=h&hl=en


Very green. With a nice chance to look at "Hungry Mother"

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I was at that Castro game: And that pretty much was the first. The Phils wins in the next 2 games pretty much robbed meaning from the rest of the season for the Mets.

[metirish]

Wags has 19 of these on his farm...

[Guest Edgy DC]

DECK OFFICER: Your Tauntaun'll freeze before you reach the first marker.

HAN: Then I'll see you in Hell!

[Willets Point]

Are those two Alpaca getting it on?