Wagner Speaks His Mind

Marty Noble at Mets.com writes about Billy Wagner and what he has to say about the Mets past, present and future:

"Someone asked me what I thought of our team," Wagner said in an interview with MLB.com. "I said, 'What team?' We've lost 13 games [Glavine's victory total], and now we are going have to give up something to get those games back. I'm afraid we're just going to create other holes if we give up a [Lastings] Milledge, a [Mike] Pelfrey or a Heilman."

"I'm trying to be positive," he said. "I'm saying we have some good players. But I'm worried. The Braves are getting better, and the Phillies made a move[acquiring Brad Lidge]. We've brought back some people, and that's good. But losing Tom is big. It's a lot more than the 13 games he won. It's what he did for John Maine and Oliver Perez and how professional he was. People want to focus on one bad game or just the day-to-day stats. I do that myself when I read about football. By I'm involved in this, and I know how important [Glavine] was. We don't have him [in 2007], and we don't even get to the last game with a chance. He was one of the few leaders we had.

"The Mets didn't do anything wrong. I know he wanted to be home more. I understand that, but where does that leave us?"