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Trading Wagner Isn’t Worth It

By Rob Harding on August 20, 2009 at 9:40 pm  

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Welcome back to Mr.Wags. He certainly looked like he lost nothing off his fastball, or his slider tonight. He was throwing 95-96 consistently, and his slider had the typical Wagner bite that it always had. I’m sure Wagner would welcome a trade to a contending team, but is it really in the Mets best interest to deal him?

Wagner will most likely bring back a marginal prospect at best, unless a loaded farm system like the Rangers or Red Sox believe that they really need that dominant lefty setup man. Another possibility is the Rays, who are flooded with good talent, but I really don’t see them parting with any of their top prospects for a 38 year old free agent at years end.

The Mets should ride Wagner out, and  showcase him for the other teams in the offseason. If the Mets were to offer Wagner arbitration, he would bring back two very valuable draft picks as a type A free agent. For me, that is alot better than a 19 year old maybe prospect in Single A.


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  • acoustic567
    I agree that the Mets are not likely to get much for Wagner before August 31 no matter how well he throws. I don't know, though, how realistic it is to expect them to offer him arbitration. His salary this year was pretty high, and I believe that a player's salary cannot be cut more than 20% through the arbitration process. He might even do better through arbitration than on the FA market. Maybe he and the Mets have an agreement that he wouldn't accept arbitration if they offered it, but I doubt it, he has no incentive to do that. His FA market value will take a huge hit if teams know they have to give up a #1. Wagner has every reason not to assure the Mets that he wouldn't accept arbitration. Since they clearly don't want him on the team next year, especially at what he'd command through arbitration, it's a big risk for the Mets to offer him arbitration. I think folks might be exaggerating the possibility that the Mets could end up with two draft picks as a result of Wagner's departure.
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