Atlanta Braves’ closer Billy Wagner, who signed a one year contract with the Braves, with a
one year vesting option, will retire at the end of the season.
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Atlanta Braves’ manager Bobby Cox will have company when he retires. Closer Billy Wagner, who joined the Braves this past offseason, has indicated to Cox that he will retire at the end of this season to spend more time with his family.
Wagner, currently sixth on the all-time Major League career saves list with 389, is in his seventeenth season with his fifth club. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in late 2008, Wagner expressed a desire to continue pitching after coming back earlier than expected from his surgery. The New York Mets dealt Wagner last August to the Boston Red Sox, and Wagner definitely showed enough during his short time there to entice the Braves to offer him their closer role. However, during his rehab stint, and having the opportunity to spend extended time during the season with his family on his farm in Virginia, Wagner apparently decided it’s more important to be at home, than continue the grueling pace that is Major League Baseball. “I still like the competition, that’s why I do it,” Wagner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I like going out and winning, that still drives me. But being home with them last year (while recovering from elbow surgery), I enjoyed it. There’s so much more to offer them at this age, and I need to be home.” Wagner has enjoyed a stellar career, having the ability to throw at or near 100 MPH with his fastball for most of his career, despite being slight of frame, and really doesn’t have much more to prove in his career. Having made close to $90 million through baseball, he will certainly have the opportunity to spend time with his kids, and be the father that he wants to be.. Good for him…
The State of Arizona’s new immigration measure, Senate Bill 1070, has everyone in baseball all atwitter, to the point that many in politics and beyond are calling for the MLB to remove the 2011 All-Star from Phoenix, and for fans to boycott Arizona Diamondback games. The MLBPA is strongly opposed to the measure, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have taken no stance on the measure, in spite of principle owner Ken Kendrick’s affiliation with the state Republican party. Whatever public opinion may be, and the stance that local and national politicians hold, it has no place on the field of baseball. Politicians will be using MLB and the Diamondbacks as a virtual pawn in their eagerness to gain political sway, and will try to thrust the MLB into an uncomfortable position. Instead of using players as chess pieces, how about we follow our beliefs the way our constitution intended, by fighting or changing the legislation through the political arena, rather than on the baseball field? The legislation was enacted through the governing powers of the Arizona Senate, and voters always have, and always will have, the ability to change that legislation simply by their choice of candidates. Don’t like the bill? Vote out the powers that enacted it. Don’t sully the sport of baseball by bullying your way into a sport that had nothing to do with the legislation in the first place…
Seattle Mariners’ pitcher Cliff Lee finally made his debut in 2010. After throwing seven sharp innings and striking out eight in an eventual 2-0, 12 inning loss to the Texas Rangers, Lee was just glad to be back on the mound again. “Lee was probably as good as you can ask,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “I mean, he was near perfect.” Lee will help to bolster a rotation that already features Felix Hernandez, last year’s Al Cy Young runner-up, and a team with the league’s 6th best ERA without him…
Milwaukee Brewers’ popular radio play-by-play announcer Bob Eucker, in his 40th year with the Brewers in that capacity, underwent six hours of successful heart surgery yesterday to replace his aortic valve and perform a coronary bypass. Eucker, who gained fame after his playing days in Budweiser Lite commercials and with the movie “Major League”, will be out of the broadcast booth for at least the next three months. My favorite Bob Eucker quote? “If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way I always had something to talk about during the winter.”
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