Red Sox's chances of signing Wagner in doubt

Ken Rosenthal chimes in on the topic of the Sox placing a waiver claim on former Met's closer Billy Wagner. Wagner, one of the great closers of all time, pitched in his 1st game in over a year and a half, after undergoing Tommy John surgery. After pitching 1 scoreless inning and registering 2 K's against Atlanta on August 20th, he was promptly placed up for grabs. Mets fans know this is not the first time that one of their players has been hung out just to see how much he's worth, and so should Kenny boy. While everything in this post of his may appear to be true, reading him does to my eyes and brain what fingernails on a chalkboard do to my ears.

Mets Players Refute Kenny Boy's Claim

David Wright of the NY Mets disagreed with what Kenny Boy had to say yesterday:

"I like playing for Jerry," Wright said. "I'd say that [report of Manuel's style wearing on the players] is false. I think Jerry brings a nice dynamic to this team. He keeps us loose, he jokes around, but it doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, he'll get on you if you need to be gotten on.

"So I have zero problems with Jerry. I think he's done a phenomenal job with the injuries and dealing with those and getting the most out of his players."

Sheff also stuck it to Kenny Boy:

"Who said that?" Sheffield asked testily.

Told it was Rosenthal, Sheffield said, "I never knew we had a Ken Rosenthal on our team so I don't know nothing about that."

Admiration and respect for Manuel in the clubhouse is not an issue, Sheffield said.

"I think [the Mets] love playing for him," he said. "I think I can speak for everybody in here."

Manuel did not address the column in his pregame meeting with the media, but Wright said there wasn't any need for the manager to respond to speculation and anonymous gripes.

"Speaking for me, I don't think he's ever really thrown me under the bus," Wright said. "If I play bad, I expect him to say I played bad. If I played good, I expect him to say I played good."

As for the idea that the players might not like playing for Manuel, Wright laughed.

"I think all these guys really enjoy playing for him," Wright said. "Again, that's kind of me speaking on behalf on the team. But you can ask everybody individually. I've never heard any whispers about guys not liking playing for him."

Once again Kenny Boy is wrong in his reporting.