{"id":964,"date":"2008-06-13T04:19:57","date_gmt":"2008-06-13T04:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beta.mbtn.net\/?p=964"},"modified":"2013-12-01T04:21:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T04:21:07","slug":"exit-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/?p=964","title":{"rendered":"Exit Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"13\"<\/a>I don\u2019t want to pretend I saw this day coming years ago but I always thought the Mets took the coward\u2019s way out when, faced with the task of choosing a new closer they simply threw the most money at the biggest name out there and considered it done.<\/p>\n

It was after all the most defensible position they could have taken. Having a Brand Name out there in the bullpen takes a lot of pressure off the manager by avoiding the kind of Quarterback Controversy the so-called bullpen-by-committee invites; and it certainly fits the bill for a Win Now team, which the Mets are forever convinced they are.<\/p>\n

With that said, in a matter of taste I\u2019d have preferred to see them try something a little more creative. They certainly could have handed the closer\u2019s role to\u00a0Aaron Heilman<\/a>\u00a0and saw what happened.\u00a0Braden Looper\u00a0<\/a>should have taught them that anyone with a decent arm can fake it as a closer, as he did in 2004; instead they got spooked by Looper\u2019s rotten 2005 \u2013 injury related of course \u2013 and went out and gave way too much job security to\u00a0Billy Wagner<\/a>, who, it should be noted wore out his welcome with two previous employers and continues to talk like a player confident he\u2019ll outlast his manager.<\/p>\n

And he will!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve tried to be modest about begging you to buy\u00a0the book based on the website<\/a>\u00a0but I shouldn\u2019t turn down the opportunity to let you know\u00a0you can get a free one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said if you haven\u2019t picked up a copy of MBTN for your Dad yet what are you waiting for. Do what\u00a0Neil Best tells you<\/a>\u00a0to do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t want to pretend I saw this day coming years ago but I always thought the Mets took the coward\u2019s way out when, faced with the task of choosing a new closer they simply threw the most money at the biggest name out there and considered it done. It was after all the most … Continue reading “Exit Light”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-billy-wagner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":965,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbtn.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}