FanHouse Lee Smith

The story of the Detroit Tigers has been pretty much the same over the last two seasons. In 2007, their bullpen cost them a chance to reach the playoffs and get back to the World Series, and in 2008 it was the bullpen bringing down a team that many thought would be the best in the American League after a winter trade for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. So obviously general manager Dave Dombrowski's to-do list this offseason consists of fixing the Tiger bullpen if he wants his team to have a chance in 2009.

It's too bad that the Tigers missed out on all the best closer candidates this winter, though. Francisco Rodriguez became a Met. Brian Fuentes became an Angel, and Kerry Wood signed with the Indians. So with the big names gone, who should the Tigers bring in to compete with/provide insurance for Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney? Well, if you ask the Detroit Free Press' Jon Paul Morosi, he'll tell you Jason Isringhausen.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is expanding to include the giant resume of Rickey Henderson. Much to the chagrin of Corky Simpson -- who is "not a Rickey guy" -- Henderson easily cake-walked to induction in his first year of eligibility, garnering a whopping 94.8 percent of the vote.

Joining the stolen base, walks, and runs scored king will be Red Sox slugger, Jim Rice.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

The 2009 Hall of Fame ballot was released Monday, and with it is certain to come heated debate right up until and after the voting results are revealed on Jan. 12, 2009. This year's class of candidates is similar to last year's, in that it's a shallow group.

There is only one sure-fire Hall of Famer among the 23 candidates, which means this is a critical vote for the borderline players who have been up for election on multiple occasions. Now is the time for those borderline guys to get over the top or make a big push to lay the groundwork for election in future years.

After the jump is a breakdown of the ballot, complete with what I think will happen and what should happen with this year's class of Cooperstown contenders.

After shutting himelf down on Sunday, Billy Wagner received some grim news when he was examined by doctors on Monday: he has a torn flexor pronator and MCL in his left elbow, meaning he needs to undergo Tommy John surgery before he can throw another pitch.

This is where things get murky. Wagner is already 37 years old and is only guaranteed money through 2009 (the Mets hold an $8 million team option for 2010, but at this point, it seems unlikely they'd want to exercise it). Considering pitchers generally require a solid 12-18 months to recover from Tommy John, is Wagner really up for a grueling year of rehab just to test the open market as a 39-year-old free agent?

Omar Minaya won't rule it out, especially if Wagner wants to chase history. From the New York Daily News:

"If he wants to pitch again, he'll pitch again," Minaya said. "I believe Billy is a good enough athlete. He's determined." [...] "He was really looking forward to getting to 400 saves (Wagner is sixth all-time with 385) and I thought he was one year away from that," Minaya said. "I still think when guys have those numbers out there, you don't know. It's a lot of work. This kind of surgery is one you have to really work hard."

In my last post about Jose Contreras' trip to the disabled list, I marveled at the fact White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was able to string together 75 consecutive words without swearing. I'm pretty sure that's a career high for the Sox skipper. Though it also worries me because that's not the Ozzie Guillen we've all come to know and love.

Thankfully, even though Ozzie's cleaned up his language a bit, he has yet to stop holding grudges. Particularly against Texas Rangers, as Rangers closer C.J. Wilson joins a group that includes Buck Showalter and Vicente Padilla before him as somebody who just ticks Ozzie off.

A week ago today, in the last game before the All-Star break, Wilson came on to close a game in which the Rangers had a four-run lead. Well, after allowing three-runs to score, Wilson finally got the third out of the inning with the bases loaded and proceeded to celebrate as though he'd just won the World Series. Ozzie didn't like it and said something then, and now a week later with the Rangers set to come to Chicago, Ozzie would like C.J. to know he still hasn't forgotten it.

"You can be cocky, be yourself or have your own showtime," Guillen told Chicago reporters Friday. "But when you don't respect the opposition and do what he did, that's not professional. That's the reason I was screaming to him. When you're nobody and show people up like that. ... Wait till you're somebody in baseball, and then do whatever you want to do.