New York Mets Trade Billy Wagner To Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox put in a claim for New York Mets LHP Billy Wagner last week and had until 1:30 est time today to work out a trade. After only a couple of hours after saying he would not waive his no-trade clause to be traded to the Red Sox, Billy Wagner changed his mind.

At the last minute, Wagner agreed to being traded to the Red Sox and the two teams worked out a trade. The Red Sox will send two players to be named later to the Mets. The Mets will most likely get two Double-A level players according to sources.

There were two main hold ups to this trade:

1. Wagner didn’t want the Red Sox to pick up his 2010 option for $8 million. Wagner wants to close again and if the Red Sox picked up his option, he would be a setup man to Jonathan Papelbon next year.
2. Wagner felt that the Red Sox might overuse him down the stretch, thus hurting his chances on the free agent market next year. He felt he could stay healthier on the Mets if you could believe that one.

The Red Sox have eased both of Wagner’s concerns.

The Red Sox have agreed to not pick up Wagner’s 2010 option, but they can offer him arbitration so they can get some picks if Wagner signs with another team in the offseason. They have also agreed to pay the rest of Wagner’s salary for this year, which is around $3.5 million.

Despite what Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen have to say, Wagner should fit nicely into the Red Sox bullpen. He will be used as a left-handed compliment to Hideki Okajima and I am guessing won’t be used more than two times a week to start out because of health concerns.

Another factor in Wagner changing his mind was the fact that the Red Sox were in a pennant race. Wagner has never pitched in a World Series and clearly the Red Sox give him a better chance than the Mets do this year.

The Red Sox have stocked their bullpen with flame throwers like Daniel Bard, Ramon Ramirez, Papelbon, and now Wagner.

Now if they can only stock their back-end of the rotation with flame throwers, they might really be in business.