Mets' Billy Wagner will be out through 2009 season

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer1 hour, 15 minutes ago

New York Mets closer Billy Wagner needs elbow surgery that will sideline him through the 2009 season. The five-time All-Star has been sidelined since Aug. 3 and the Mets said Monday that he has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left elbow and a torn flexor pronator, which is a muscle in the forearm.

Wagner, a 37-year-old left-hander, will have surgery later this week.