The latest news here in Boston is that Billy Wagner will be heading to the Red Sox after all.  Wagner has a no-trade clause with the Mets, and a club option for $8 million next season. The trade was initially thought to be a no-go, because in order for Wagner to waive his no-trade clause, he demanded that the Sox decline the option, and the Sox refused to do so.

Huh?

Billy Wagner has been a very good closer over his career, but he’s also coming off Tommy John surgery, and while his two innings of work this season have been impressive, I can’t imagine why he thinks he’ll make more than $8 million next season.  He’s insane not to demand that the Sox pick it up, and the Sox should consider themselves lucky that he’s not doing so.  Similarly, the Sox are crazy for not agreeing to decline it immediately, given the Eric Gagne debacle of a few years ago, and the fact that they already have Jonathan Papelbon under their control (though he’s arbitration eligible).

Wagner knows he’d be a setup man in Boston and wants to be a closer somewhere next season.  He has stated that he wants to reach 400 saves, and hopefully become the leader in saves by a left-hander.  Is it possible that he cares about his legacy in baseball more than money?  Man, that would be refreshing, but it’s just so hard to believe.  The cynic in me thinks he’s talked it over with his agent, and his agent thinks there’s someone out there who’ll pay more than $8 million for his services next year.

I just can’t figure out who.

ESPN has this story about Jason Varitek resigning with the Red Sox. The quote that interests me is this one:

“Friends who spoke with Varitek over the winter say he never understood why the Red Sox wanted to cut his pay, why they were only willing to guarantee his deal for one year, why the economy and his 2008 struggles had cut into his market value or, remarkably, why his decision to decline arbitration was costing him so much money and limiting other teams’ interest.”

I’m really hoping those “friends” were somehow misquoted, because otherwise, Tek might be the dumbest person on Earth. I mean, he already admitted not knowing that when he declined arbitration, any team that signed him had to give up a draft pick. That in and of itself is inexcusable, but you could deflect the blame onto his agent for not explaining all of the details.

This cluelessness borders on criminal negligence. How can you not know why the Red Sox wanted to cut your pay, when you were statistically one of the worst offensive players in Major League Baseball last year, but were making $10 million dollars? How can you not know that the Red Sox, who have an aversion to long-term contracts, wouldn’t want to guarantee more than one year to a 36-year-old catcher who can’t catch up with a decent fastball anymore? How can you not know why other teams don’t want to give you that same guarantee, especially when they have to give up a draft pick to go along with it?

This is like O.J. not knowing why the Goldman family is upset with him, why he’s no longer the spokesman for Avis, why he doesn’t get phone calls from ex-teammates anymore, and why he hasn’t been contacted about appearing in the next “Naked Gun” sequel.

A while back I mentioned that if you’re a baseball fan, you should be rooting against the Tampa Bay Rays because any brief success that the Rays enjoy will perpetuate the myth that parity exists in Major League Baseball and that there’s no need for a salary cap. The Rays, with their $43 million payroll, reached the World Series, while the mighty New York Yankees and their $209 million payroll missed the playoffs entirely. This is excuse enough for many people to claim that money doesn’t always win championships, and that the little guy always has a chance.

And that’s true, I guess. Money doesn’t always win championships, and the little guy always does have a chance, but money spent against that chance diminishes it a little bit with each dollar spent. With the gauntlet having been thrown down in Tampa, everyone expected the Yankees to respond. They’ve responded not with a gauntlet of their own, but by nuking the entire site from orbit, as they say.

It’s the only way to be sure.

The main reason the Yankees failed to make the playoffs last season was pitching. Their number one starter, Chien-Ming Wang, was lost for the season, and while Mike Mussina went 20-9 for the Bombers, the rest of their starting pitching was either hurt or, not to put too fine a point on it, terrible. In response, the Yankees dropped $161 million on C.C. Sabathia and followed it up with another $82.5 for A.J. Burnett. Some folks have questioned the Burnett signing, citing his history of injuries, but the fact remains that the Yankees spent nearly one quarter of a billion dollars for the best two pitchers on the free agent market.

Today the Yankees went a step further, signing the best hitter on the market, Mark Teixeira, to an eight-year deal worth around $180 million. That brings their spending total to over $420 million this off-season (in second place are the New York Mets with around $37 million committed), making The Onion’s fictional story “Yankees Sign Every Player In Baseball” somehow more plausible. Rolling into a new stadium next season funded in part by the city of New York (don’t worry, the mayor got a luxury box out of the deal), the Yankees are in the unique position of batting their lifetime .303 hitting All-Star second baseman ninth in the lineup.

Don’t hate the Yankees for this. They’re only working within the system established by Major League Baseball and allowed to continue by people who own baseball teams because they like to look like big shots and couldn’t care whether their team has a legitimate chance to compete so long as the checks roll in. The Red Sox would do it too, if they could, as would the Mets, the Mariners, and even the lowly Pirates.

Hope you enjoyed your time at the top, Tampa Bay.