Milestone Tracker: Billy Wagner, All Time Saves

[stevejrogers]

Had fun last year with Glavine's and Pedro's countdowns, thought I'd do the same for other historical feats that several Mets are marching towards.

First up, Billy Wagner's march through the all time Saves list, currently Wagner is sitting on 358 and is all alone in 7th place, ahead of him...

Trevor Hoffman 524
Lee Smith 478
Mariano Rivera 443
John Franco 424
Dennis Eckersley 390
Just bought a bunch of cards of Eck through the years, and there is some unsubstantial evidence looking at a slightly pudgy Cubbie and the slender look of his dominating years in Oakland. Hmmmm....
Jeff Reardon 367
Remember when he passed Rollie Fingers to be the all-time saves leader? Been so long now that Fingers is now 9th all time with 341. Just ahead and behind Wagner is Randy Myers with 347.

Another good 30 save season in 2008 and you can project Billy Wagner as knocking on Eck's door with an excellent chance of 400 by 2009.

[DocTee]

So in other words Wagner has a chance to move up one spot (and maybe down a few? who is behind him?) but you need to post eight pictures.

[stevejrogers]

Relax I was planning on making this an active thread during the season which would include guys gaining on Wagner and such. The photos for the first post, just like the 300 Win countdown and 3,000 Strikeout countdown last year just for the heck of it.

FWIW since you brought it up, here are the active (in 2007) relievers with more than 200 saves but less than Wagner:

Roberto Hernandez 326
Troy Percival 324
Jose Mesa 321
Todd Jones 301
Armando Benitez 289
Jason Isringhausen 281
Bob Wickman 267

[stevejrogers]

BTW what I mean about Eckersley's look through the years.



Now he did stop drinking and all once he came home to Oakland and started to get in "better shape" but something that makes me go hmmmmm....

[metsmarathon]

this might be a wee bit less obnoxious with smaller pictures...

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Judging from the list of Wagner's nearest pursuers, he appears to be in no danger of being overtaken. Wagner should easily pass Jeff Reardon and if he (and the Mets) have a good season, then he may even catch Eckersley.

Taking into account that spring training hasn't even started and saves are a over hyped and manufactured stat, I personally don't see the need for this thread at this time. It might be nice to note when Wagner actually passes someone on the all-time saves list, but I don't think it merits a long running thread throughout the season.

[Willets Point]

I think we're getting close to pushing the "I do all this work and get no appreciation" meltdown button.

[stevejrogers]

Heh, no that was just because I was up until 3am.

[stevejrogers]

Plus that was a time consuming, lengthy article, this is just a quickie run down of stats with short text and photos augmenting it.

[DocTee]

This would be better if there was a milestone goal in place: 300 wins, 3000 strikeouts.

400 saves is a ways off, and not really that dramatic. Plus, Wags will pass only Reardon for sure, so this doesn't really work for me.

And, FWIW, I see no appreciable difference in Eck's appearance.

[Elster88]

]Had fun last year with Glavine's and Pedro's countdowns, thought I'd do the same for other historical feats that several Mets are marching towards.

This is a waste of bandwidth. As were the ones last year. Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way.

[MFS62]

Just curious.
Why do you think the HOF voters love Gossgae and don't like Lee Smith?
Their WHIP and ERA+ numbers are very comparable.
Yes, Gossage had higher IP/G numbers, but Smith also had more saves, pitching in the same era.

Later

[Guest AG/DC]

Gossage debuted in 1972, Smith in 1980.

And thier "love" is limited if it took nine years on the ballot and a weak first-time class to get him in.

[seawolf17]

That, and saves have become kind of a BS stat, something like the win.