Billy Wagner Update Number 6,514

Hello everyone from the spring-like confines of Michigan. There’s sun here and everything! Of course, the piles of snow everywhere help tamp down the enthusiasm a bit, but still!

Moving on, I feel obligated to file a report on the status of Billy Wagner, as I am constantly quizzed on it both on-line and in the real world.

After the jump, I’ll fill you in on the latest developents.

As you all know, Wagner is still on the Braves 40 man roster, which today is effectively the same as their active roster. He remains on this roster because of two things: 1) The Braves do not want to relinquish their claims on his services so long as there remains a chance that he will change his mind and come back to pitch and 2) This remains a possibility because Wagner has not filed his retirement papers with the league. There has been speculation that Wagner has not done so because of a $250,000 bonus clause in his contract, but that cannot be confirmed. What is true is that this will soon become a “fish or cut bait” issue, as the active roster is cut back to the 25 man limit for opening day and the Braves truly need his spot. While the Braves may be able to keep him only on the 40 man roster, I think this would require his assignment to a minor league team which I further think would require his consent. As you can see, this gets a bit muddy, at least from my perspective.

The easy solution to the problem would be for Wagner just to file his papers. If he truly has no intent to fulfill his obligations relative to the second year of the contract, I personally don’t see where he is entitled to any further bonus. If he is truly this “team guy” that he seemed to be last year (and not the problem child that he was painted to be earlier in his career), then I don’t understand him trying to push this issue (if that is indeed what he is trying to do).

It appeared in January that he was going to file the papers. In fact, his agent was quoted as saying that he had filed the papers (read about it here). . Alas, that was NOT the case. He was quoted in mid-February that he had no interest in playing, “case closed” (read about it here). . But as of today, he’s still on the roster. Case NOT closed.

I decided to seek out direct sources on this, since the mainstream media can’t get an answer. Billy and his family were close-mouthed, but I was able to get his dog “Slider” to comment. He said that Billy was going through a “ruff” time, but that’s all he’d say. Grrr…

So, what do you think? Will the Braves pay the bonus? Will they finally take him off the roster and take their chances? Will Billy finally submit his papers? Something else? Let us know what you think!!!