TIME IS RUNNING OUT

Shedding light on the most striking aspects of Billy Wagner's Hall of Fame snub

Shedding light on the most striking aspects of Billy Wagner's Hall of Fame snub
Billly Wagner didn't make the cut. Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images.

Five votes. Five lousy votes. Billy Wagner fell five stinkin’ votes short of being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the final 2024 vote announced Tuesday.

Wagner was named on 73.8 percent of ballots cast by Baseball Writers Association of America members. It takes 75 percent to get elected.

What does a guy gotta do around here to get into the Hall of Fame? This was Wagner’s ninth year of eligibility. One more year, if he fails to garner 75 percent in 2025, he will drop off the ballot and his Hall of Fame future will fall into the hands of a special election for veterans.

Wagner’s credentials are undeniable, historic and should have been enough to get him across the finish line. He pitched 16 years in the big leagues, his first eight with the Houston Astros (1995-2003) before shorter stints with the Philadelphia Phillies (2004-05), New York Mets (2006-09), Boston Red Sox (2009) and Atlanta Braves (2020).

He may have worn different caps over his career, but in Houston we know that he was first and foremost an Astro. And he belongs in the Hall of Fame next to his Astros teammates Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.

For cryin’ out loud, he averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings, blowing strike three past one-third of all hitters who dared to step into the batter’s box against him. Opposing hitters batted .187 against him, the lowest in history for pitchers who hurled 800-plus innings. He averaged a stingy 5.99 hits per nine innings. He finished in the top 10 for saves in the National League ten times.

Were the baseball writers watching the games and not stuffing their faces with hot dogs?

Wagner’s number that stands out most for me is seven. One measure of a player’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame is how he compared to the best players of his era. Apples to apples. Wagner made the All-Star team seven times. For comparison with his Hall of Fame teammates, Craig Biggio (third ballot inductee) was an All-Star seven times. Jeff Bagwell (elected on seventh try) was named an All-Star four times.

Here is my standout memory of Wagner.

I got lucky and was invited to sit in the front row behind home plate at Minute Maid Park. Billy Wagner was called to pitch the ninth for the Astros. It was something I’ll never forget, the sight and sound and sheer ferocity of his 100 mph fastball.

You could hear Wagner exhale as he unloaded the pitch. The ball appeared to jump and whistle over the short 60-feet, 6-inch distance from the pitcher’s rubber to home plate. When the ball hit the catcher’s mitt, it sounded like a rifle going off – crrraacckkk! A cloud of dust scattered from the catcher’s mitt. The batter stood frozen, his knees buckling at the prospect of having to swing a wooden fly swatter against a cannonball defying the principles of speed and distance.

I remember thinking, how can anybody hit a 100-mile fastball?

And how does Billy Wagner throw a baseball that hard? Heck, I’m bigger than he is!

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Dana Brown has a tough task at hand. Composite Getty Image.

If the Astros were going to win one series and lose the other on their six-game road trip out of the All-Star break, they got it right in taking two out of three games at Seattle then losing two out of three to lousy Oakland. Had they inverted those results, the Astros would not be alone atop the American League West starting this weekend’s series against the Dodgers at Minute Maid Park.

By the schedule the Astros’ sledding now gets tougher. The Dodgers are rolling toward their 11th National League West crown in 12 years, despite their pitching staff having been battered by injuries every bit as much as the Astros’. The Astros will face three rookie starters this weekend. National League Rookie of the Year candidate (non-Paul Skenes division) Gavin Stone goes Friday. Saturday it’s Justin Wrobleski making his fourth big league start, Sunday River Ryan makes his second. 325 million dollar addition Yoshinobu Yamamoto last pitched June 15. Tony Gonsolin is out for the year without throwing a pitch. Clayton Kershaw’s first pitch Thursday marks the first of his season. Tyler Glasnow’s Wednesday return from the Injured List means the Astros won’t face him this weekend.

Aside: Astros’ fan favorite Joe Kelly is back in the Dodgers’ bullpen. He was activated from the IL out of the break, so the opportunity to welcome him back to Minute Maid Park looms!

After the Dodgers, the Pirates hit town with Skenes slated to pitch Monday opposite Jake Bloss. Gulp. Hey, in one game, you never know. Skenes has been the most electric rookie pitcher since Dwight Gooden with the Mets in 1984.

Sleepless in Seattle

The Mariners’ unraveling has reached historic proportions. It’s not easy losing six straight matchups with the lowly Angels but the Mariners were down to the challenge and pulled it off. The M’s have stumble-bummed their way to a 9-20 record over their last 29 games. That’s actually a better winning percentage than the Astros’ had after staggering from the starting gate to a 7-19 mark. Like the Astros did, the Mariners can right their ship, though if they don’t add quality offense before Tuesday’s trade deadline it seems unlikely. Seattle has scored more than two runs in one of its last eight games, the only win among those eight when the Mariners got to Ronel Blanco and Seth Martinez Sunday to avoid an Astros’ sweep. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers whipping up on the laughingstock Chicago White Sox this week has their World Series title defense very much alive and a threat to overtake both the Astros and Mariners.

The trade deadline is this Tuesday

Tick-tock toward Tuesday’s 5PM Central Time trade deadline. General Manager Dana Brown is on the clock. Let’s start with starting pitchers. Tarik Skubal! Garrett Crochet! Jack Flaherty! Any would be a fabulous addition. If Brown acquires one, he will have done phenomenal work cajoling the trade partner into thinking the Astros’ offer the best. Frankly it seems impossible. The Orioles are in the starting pitcher market. Their farm system runs laps around what the Astros have. Numerous other teams on the hunt for pitching have higher rated minor league talent. The Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys are having a fabulous season, but until the Astros Thursday moved up soon to be 24-year-old Jacob Melton (who was batting just .248 with a .307 on-base percentage at Double-A Corpus Christi) there was not one non-pitcher of any consequence younger than 25 on the roster. Pedro Leon, Shay Whitcomb, Will Wagner, and include Joey Loperfido: it would be shocking if any of them can be the best player in an offer good enough to land one of the potential big trade fish. All four of them wouldn’t be enough to land a Skubal or Crochet.

On the hitter side, if the Blue Jays shop Vlad Jr. and/or the Rays take offers for Paredes, of course Brown better try. Either would be a sharp upgrade over Jon Singleton, and Guerrero can’t become a free agent until after next season, with Paredes under team control through 2027. Reality check time. Seattle’s offense is in dire straits. The Mariners have four prospects rated higher than any Astros’ prospect. If the Mariners didn’t make a winning offer over what the Astros proposed, Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto would look like a timid clown.

That said, there will be several second and third tier starters and relievers moved who would boost the Astros. If Spencer Arrighetti and Jake Bloss are both still in the Astros’ starting rotation after the deadline, Dana Brown will have failed. That said, the Astros could well stand pat and win the Mild, Mild West. They could also finish third.

Go for the gold!

With the Olympics underway, a medal podium-style ranking of the Astros’ greatest trade deadline acquisitions:

No medal but cannot be omitted: Randy Johnson. It was a brief fling with “The Big Unit” in 1998 but it was spectacular. It elevated Houston as a baseball city. In 11 regular season starts Johnson went 10-1 with a 1.28 earned run average. He threw shutouts in his first four Astrodome starts. He spiked attendance like no other player in franchise history. Even though the San Diego Padres beat Johnson twice (Johnson pitched fine, the Astros scored two runs total in the two games) and bounced the Astros in a National League Division Series, and prospects Freddy Garcia and Carlos Guillen included in the deal both went on to have excellent careers, it was a trade that in hindsight you make 100 times out of 100.

Bronze: Jeff Bagwell. Reliever Larry Andersen was outstanding in helping the Boston Red Sox win the AL East in 1990, but the BoSox got swept in the ALCS and Andersen left as a free agent. Bagwell has the greatest offensive resume in Astros’ history (I know, I know, postseason aside) and is quite arguably one of the 10 greatest first basemen of all-time.

Silver: Yordan Alvarez. He has longevity to prove but to this point in his career, while not the all-around player Bagwell was, Yordan is clearly the more destructive force in the batter’s box. Throw in his three monstrously significant home runs in the 2022 Astros’ title run, and his awesome 2023 postseason, and what could still lie ahead for him and the Gold could be his if we revisit this topic 10 years from now. Imagine the Dodgers if they hadn’t gifted Yordan to the Astros for Josh Fields.

Gold: Justin Verlander. Astros’ World Series championships pre-JV, zero. With him, two. Even though his World Series resume is terrible. The finishing piece to the Astros’ initial championship winner in 2017 with a 1.06 ERA in five starts ahead of winning the 2017 ALCS MVP, a second crown in 2022, two Cy Young Awards and a Cy runner-up. Interesting decision to make for the cap on his Hall of Fame plaque. Much more body of work with the Tigers but the championships and legend cemented with the Astros.

*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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