It's obviously too early to judge Billy Wagner's four-year signing. But since you're judging his first quarter-year with the Mets, you should at least be honest about it:
"Billy Wagner, Mets: The largest contract ever given to a reliever, on an annual basis (four years, $43 million, or $10.75 million a year), has brought excitement and some controversy to the Big Apple. In other words, Wagner's paying off. He's blown three saves, but he's converted on 10 tries, he has more strikeouts than any regular NL closer, he still brings the 100 mph heat and he's made back-page headlines for everything from his choice of theme music to his opinions on his former team, the Phillies.
Bottom line: Money well spent."
Ten saves out of thirteen is good? That's 77%, in case you were wondering. Braden Looper was ran out of town with a higher save% than that.
You know what else is funny? The meltdown vs. the Yankees didn't even count as a blown save. The Yankees had too big of a lead when Wagner came into the game, so it wasn't technically a save opportunity. But Pedro Feliciano got a blown save.
Oh, and for what it's worth, Wagner absolutely does not bring 100 mph heat anymore. I don't know if he'll get more velocity when the weather heats up, or whatever. But he's typically throwing low 90s and getting people out with off-speed stuff.
It seems that John Donovan truly believes that Wagner has been worth it simply because Wagner says a lot of stuff that draws attention to the Mets. This kind of thinking is getting out of hand.
The fans want their team to win ballgames. It's quite reasonable to think that Wagner will help the Mets in the future, even though he has been merely mediocre so far this season.
But if back-page attention is the true goal of the Mets, then maybe they ought to pay Anna Benson $40 million and tell her to wear a wet tee-shirt in the dugout.
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