Brewers - Signed Gagne
Milwaukee Brewers - Signed P
Eric Gagne to a 1-year contract.
This is reportedly worth $10 million, with a little bit more in incentives (little bit more being relative). He hasn't passed the physical yet, but considering that Gagne's number of arm surgeries is higher than the number of O.J.'s recent accomplices that have turned state's evidence, it shouldn't be taken for granted that he'll be wearing an M on his cap come April. Hell, in a just world, he wouldn't be wearing an M on his cap even if completely healthy, as I still think the Brewers should bring back the fantastic mb glove logo, which, in addition to being awesome beyond belief, would also indicate for once and for all that these are Brewers that can actually win games, not the Brewers that sign Jeffrey Hammonds to the biggest contract in team history for no particular reason.
Red Sox fans no doubt have a pretty low opinion of Gagne, with the Gag-me nickname coming out in abundance in August and September. If really healthy, however, Gagne's a better pitcher than that. One might say that $10 million is a lot for a risky player, but where the Brewers are right now, the marginal revenue product for wins is extremely high and there's not a lot of players on the market that can bring those wins in. When you're not talking about the elite free agents, I rather spend money on a guy who might be great rather than a guy who will dependably not be.
The worrisome thing is that the Brewers are giving Ned Yost a bullpen with a lot of options. One thing that doesn't strike me as a good idea is giving Yost choices to make. The best thing to do for Yost Mitigation is instead of last names being on uniforms, stitching on detailed directions on how to manage that particular player, for Yost to follow. Kind of a manage-by-numbers thing. You can even give Yost tickets when he follows the directions and allow him to exchange the tickets for a Milwaukee Brewer kazoo or a little plastic soldier with a cheap parachute.
2008 ZiPS Projection - Eric Gagne
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W L G GS IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
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Projection 2 1 30 0 30 27 12 3 10 31 3.60
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Opt. (15%) 3 1 33 0 34 27 9 2 9 38 2.38
Pes. (15%) 1 2 25 0 24 24 12 3 10 23 4.50
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Top Comps: Rafael Betancourt, Robb Nen
Dan Szymborski
Posted: December 09, 2007 at 02:08 PM |
18 comment(s)
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I like the signing for the Brewers, given the lack of draft pick compensation for Gagne.
Seems like the Brewers have an excess of starting pitching though. How bout a David Bush for Mark Teahen swap?
Just staying healthy would get him a lot of the way there, since after next season, he won't have the whopping 2 IPs pitched in 2006 weighing him down when it comes to Elias ranking time.
Cubs have them beat so long as they don't let Dempster pitch in high leverage situations.
Tight.
The Gagne K'd the batters
Gagne thought it was all in good fun
*pop* goes the elbow
He could be convinced that an asteroid was going to crash into Miller park, yet he still wouldn't let his setup guy go longer than three outs, just so he'd have Matt Wise available to pitch in the flaming ruins tomorrow.
Harveys, did you get Szym's permission to post under his name?
(I kid, of course. An HW post on the subject would've been far more vitriolic. ;-) )
Well, yeah, and bullpens are unreliable almost by definition, but the Brewer pen definitely has "major improvement" potential, a la the Indians from '06 to '07 (Borowski's crapitude notwithstanding); Riske, Gagne and Torres is a nice collection of arms. Certainly beats the hell out of the Brian Shouses, Seth McClungs and Derrick Turnbows of the world.
Now, do the Brewers go after a third baseman or a left fielder?
This is the Brewers we're talking about. The answer is "yes".
Hell, even Corey Hart started out at third.
Oddly enough Prince Fielder never played third, but they did give him two games in the outfield. Must have been a sight. Hell, he even made a play while out there.
I'm trying to think of a configuration that makes this sane.
Gagne said he feels better now than he has in years.
“It’s just good to go into the offseason healthy,” he said. “I really feel great and my body feels good.”
See? Not hurt with Boston 2007, just choked.
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