According to Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Atlanta Braves have not made a decision yet as to whether or not they will DL closer Billy Wagner. Wagner will be re-evaluated today and then the Braves will make a decision.
By Major League Baseball rule, if the Braves DL Wagner for the NLDS, he will have to miss the NLCS as well. The Braves want to be extra certain that Wagner can’t go in the NLCS before they make that decision.
Regardless if the Braves DL Wagner or not, the reality is that he won’t pitch in this series again. Bobby Cox said he would use a closer-by-committee approach, but I have to believe that Craig Kimbrel has to be the man in the ninth. He has been throwing darts in the playoffs and has struck out five in just 2.2 innings of work.
If Cox does decide to use a closer-by-committee approach, which I am not a fan of at all, he could mix and match Kimbrel and Jonny Venters late in the game. Takashi Saito could be an option as well, but he has pitched just once in the last three weeks, and he is not nearly as good of an option as Kimbrel or Venters at this point.
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