Mets’ Wagner out through ’09

New York Mets closer Billy Wagner needs elbow surgery that likely will sideline him through the 2009 season.

The five-time All-Star has been out 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. The 37-year-old left-hander will have surgery later this week.

“The tear is now big enough that the doctors are recommending so-called Tommy John surgery,” Mets general manager Omar Minaya said.

When the Mets first put Wagner on the disabled list Aug. 5, they announced his injury as a strained left forearm. Minaya said Monday an MRI that day revealed the tear but that Wagner and the team thought there was a chance he could pitch through it.

Wagner is owed $10.5 million next year, the final guaranteed season in a $43 million, four-year contract with the Mets, and the team holds an $8 million option for 2010 with a $1 million buyout. Minaya thought there was a chance Wagner could return next September.

New York began Monday with a two-game lead over Philadelphia in the N.L. East. The Mets are 22-11 in Wagner’s absence. Luis Ayala, acquired from Washington last month in a trade, is 5 for 6 in save opportunities for the Mets.

Yankees will stick with Girardi

The New York Yankees plan to retain Joe Girardi as manager next year.

“Joe will be back,” co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said at the club’s spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. “He’s done everything he could. That’s the bottom line.”

Girardi is in his first season managing the Yankees after agreeing to a three-year contract last October. The team is likely to miss the playoffs this season for the first time since 1993.

New York has been hit hard by injuries. The offense has struggled and the back end of the rotation has been ineffective.

Pirates’ Wilson likely done

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson will likely miss the remainder of the season because of a hairline fracture in his right index finger.

The Pirates said Wilson will not be placed on the disabled list and they hope he could be available late in the season as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner.

Wilson injured the finger Aug. 31 while fielding a ball. It was believed then to be just a bruise.