Associated Press

BOSTON -- Two $20 bills are taped above Billy Wagner's locker in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse -- rewards for betting a few teammates that the Virginia Tech football team would beat Nebraska and Miami.

The former Ferrum star will enjoy far greater rewards if he returns for another major-league season, but he isn't sure he will.

Rehabbing from Tommy John surgery gave the reliever the chance to live a "normal life" with his wife -- who was known as Sarah Quesenberry when she was a Ferrum basketball player -- and four children on their Crozet, Va., farm. He enjoyed it so much that he is contemplating retiring at season's end.

"My agent wants me to continue to pitch. I'm looking more to going home and coaching my kids and being a husband and father," Wagner, 38, said at Fenway Park before a Boston loss Wednesday. "My wife, who I thought was counting down the days till I'm done playing so I could help her, has kind of changed her mind and said, 'You've worked too hard to get back.' So we've got a lot of talking to do in this offseason.

"The 11 months [of rehab] allowed me to be home with my kids and my family, and I really enjoyed being a part of their life. That meant more to me than the career. I think my kids are ready for me to be home. They really enjoyed me coaching their basketball teams and being around, and I had a blast."

Wagner's season isn't over yet. The Boston Red Sox clinched the American League wild card Tuesday night, so he is headed to the postseason for the sixth time in his major-league career.

Making the playoffs feels a bit different to him this time, because his new team did not acquire him from the New York Mets until Aug. 25. But it is still meaningful.

Like his teammates, Wagner remained in the clubhouse after Boston lost to Toronto on Tuesday night, waiting to find out if visiting Texas would lose to the Los Angeles Angels. Texas did lose that game, giving the Red Sox the wild card and setting off a clubhouse celebration in Boston.

"You don't know how many times you're going to get this opportunity, so I wasn't missing this one," Wagner said. "Especially coming off Tommy John, you were just going to be happy to pitch.

"And now to be put in this situation where you can contribute and go to the postseason again, it's just a blessing."

On a table not far from Wagner's locker, there was an unopened bottle of "Absolut Boston" vodka. The note next to it read, "Please sign for Wags." A number of teammates had already autographed the bottle.

"If this is my last year, I want to take some mementos and look back some day and say, 'I had a great run,' " said Wagner, who ranks sixth on the all-time saves list with 385. "It's been a tough year and I've been blessed, and it's something to look back on and say, 'This was really a special year.' "

Billy and Bean

Because of tears to his medial collateral ligament and to a forearm muscle, Wagner underwent elbow-ligament replacement surgery on Sept. 10, 2008.

He was determined to make a comeback.

"When people put you down and say, 'You're too old. You're not going to be able to make it back. You're not going to throw hard,' it motivates me," he said.

The six-time All-Star stayed home for much of his rehab, working out at the University of Virginia and at a physical therapy facility in Charlottesville.

Wagner finished up his rehab during the summer at the Mets' spring-training facility in Florida, and pitched for the Mets on Aug. 20. It was the left-hander's first big-league appearance since Aug. 2 of last year.

The day after his return, the Red Sox put in a waiver claim for him. Wagner, who had a no-trade clause in his contract, discussed the opportunity with his Richmond-based agent, former Virginia Tech pitcher Bean Stringfellow.

Wagner hesitated, unsure if his elbow could stand up to repeated use during a September drive for the wild card.

Doctors "said it probably wouldn't be the best thing for me to do -- it probably wasn't going to be wise if I'm thinking about playing more than just this year," Wagner said. "I came back so early, everybody was worried about, could it hold up?"

Stringfellow warned that pitching frequently in September could bring a career-ending injury, and advised against the trade.

"We both agree, I'm one pitch away from my career being over," Wagner said. "I have a chance to reach 400 saves and maybe get to the Hall of Fame. ... We put ourselves in a situation to achieve some of these goals, but now we're putting myself in a situation that could possibly end my career. It was a tough decision."

Wagner told Stringfellow that he didn't know if he would play next year, and that he wanted the chance to win a World Series ring with Boston.

Quest for 400

The status of his elbow wasn't the only reason Wagner waited four days to approve the trade. Boston already had an All-Star closer, Jonathan Papelbon, and wanted Wagner for a setup role.

Wagner, in the final year of a four-year, $43 million contract, wanted Boston to agree not to pick up his $8 million option for next season.

The former Division III All-American would like to join five other relievers in Cooperstown, and getting at least 400 saves would enhance his resume. He wouldn't be a closer with Boston next year, so he wanted to be free to sign elsewhere.

"In case I do decide that I want to pitch next year, it'll give me an opportunity to close," he said. "I didn't want to come back here and set up. Not that I haven't enjoyed being here. It's just that I've spent 15 years as a closer, and I'd like to end that way."

But why not just remain a setup man next year for a perennial World Series contender? Why is 400 saves so important?

"If people want to say it is about the numbers, it is," said Wagner, who has zero saves this year. "When you've played 15 seasons and you get to that point where you have a chance to maybe get to the Hall of Fame, ... it's about the numbers. I haven't seen a middle relief guy put in there.

"If people want to call me selfish for that reason, then so be it. I'll agree with them. But I've been good for a long time doing that job, and I would like to ... end my career in that fashion."

Boston agreed not to pick up his option, but did not give in to his other demand. The Red Sox can still offer him salary arbitration, which will make him a slightly less attractive free agent because Boston would be owed draft picks from the team that signs him.

Helping out

Entering Saturday, Wagner was 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 13 ²₃ innings with the Red Sox. His ERA for the season is 1.72, once his two Mets appearances are added in with his 15 Red Sox appearances.

"He's done a great job, having to pitch in a pennant race during a stage of his rehab where a lot of guys are on minor-league rehab assignments," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.

The setup role was hard to adjust to.

"When you're in the ninth, the hitters have a little sense of urgency and they may swing at pitches that are balls. They don't do that in the seventh and eighth," Wagner said.

John Smoltz and Brad Penny fizzled when they left the National League to pitch for Boston this year, and have returned to the NL. But Wagner has not struggled in his first taste of the AL.

"It's different for a reliever," Wagner said. "You don't have to face these guys three or four times in one game. ... Whereas a starter, they've got enough at-bats against you throughout the game to kind of figure you out."

Wagner has remained the power pitcher he was before the surgery. His fastball was clocked at 96 mph in his first Mets outing of the year.

"I've been able to keep my velocity," he said. "I still pretty much go right at the hitter, and use my fastball and slider."

For whom will he throw that fastball next season?

"I'd like to play close to home, but you never know. There's also part of me that says I would like to end my career in Houston as the closer," said Wagner, who began his big-league career with the Astros.

Then again, he might just return to Virginia and stay put.

"I honestly think, in my heart of hearts, that it's probably time to end," he said. "If I get the right opportunity to play where I'd like, that might have a big significance.

"But you probably don't know most of the people that are in the Hall of Fame, so for me to sit there and say I'm going to play for this opportunity, that may never come. And then if I do, most people wouldn't remember it in 15-20 years."