Braves closer Billy Wagner should only be down for a few days, but the Braves can't afford to keep him on the roster that long. Swapping him for either Takashi Saito or Jair Jurrjens will mean the team can't use Wagner again until the World Series.
Here's a video of Wagner injuring his left side while stepping off the mound to field an Andres Torres bunt in the tenth. He immediately left the game.
Options for closer duties include Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, and Saito, as David O'Brien reports:
"I’m probably the worst one out there, compared to what they’re facing," Wagner said. "I wouldn’t want to face our bullpen. You’ve got unknowns out there, they don’t have no patterns. You can’t gear up [as a hitter to face them]. Fourteen years of Billy Wagner, you know what’s coming.
"You don’t know what Kimbrel, Dunn and Venters are going to do. You’re in a good situation, you’ve got a veteran down there in [Kyle] Farnsworth, you’ve got some guys that have been there. It’s fun. They’re very capable of doing whatever Skip asks, and I’ve got all the faith in the world in them."
Wagner plans to retire at the end of this season, no ifs, ands, or buts.
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