Will the indignities of 2013 never cease? If it wasn’t enough that the likable, nay, saintly Giants are in last place and the avaricious. buy-the-pennant Dodgers are in first, multiple sources reported today that Brian Wilson, the popular former (or is that formerly popular?) San Francisco closer has signed a minor league contract with L.A. Wilson, according to the Chronicle, had three offers, none of which came from the Giants.
Wilson himself confirmed the deal over Twitter this afternoon …
Thank you to the fans in San Francisco. It was an honor to pitch in front of you for all those years …
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilson38) July 30, 2013
Even though I’ll be wearing a different color your impact in my life will never be forgotten.
— Brian Wilson (@BrianWilson38) July 30, 2013
Wilson, the Giants’ closer during their 2010 championship season, ranks third on the team’s all-time saves list, but he hasn’t pitched since early last year, when he injured his elbow during a game. He subsequently had Tommy John surgery, and the Giants declined the option to negotiate a contract through arbitration, making him a free agent. The Giants could have then made Wilson an offer, but GM Brian Sabean told the New York Post in January that was not going to happen. “I’m going to be brutally honest, as I always am. I don’t (think Wilson will return),” Sabean said. “In this case, where you are getting a second Tommy John … it’s the type of rehab where he’s still not further up along to judge exactly where he may be able to come back in major league fashion, let alone as a closer.”
The Mets also gave him a look that month, but declined to sign him.