Brian Wilson rumors: Unlikely to sign until regular season

Former San Francisco Giants closer and current free agent Brian Wilson is unlikely to sign his next contract before the start of the regular season, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Heyman notes that Wilson would prefer not to sign with his next team until he's 100 percent healthy. This could take until several weeks into the regular season, as the right-hander is currently about "80 to 85 percent," according to Heyman.

Wilson appeared in two games for the Giants last season before being shut down with an arm injury that required him to undergo the second Tommy John surgery of his career.

Wilson threw for the New York Mets in January, but the team wasn't impressed. Following that disappointing experience, Wilson's camp appears to prefer to keep from showing the free agent until he proves healthy. At this point, Wilson is waiting to regain the level of arm strength he had prior to surgery.

As Heyman points out, Wilson underwent the procedure last April, so he's still not 12 months removed from surgery. It generally takes pitchers at least a year before they regain full arm strength following Tommy John.

Entering the 2012 campaign, Wilson had been the Giants closer since the 2008 season. From 2008-11, the 30-year-old maintained an ERA of 3.00 with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.65 while compiling 163 saves.