Is Gagne Worth it?

Since coming to the Red Sox, Eric Gagne has given up 7 earned runs in 4 innings. In 4 of his 5 appearances for the Sox, he has given up at least one run, and the only outing of the five that he did not allow at least two baserunners, he gave up a game tying homerun to Miguel Tejada. Things are just terrible for Eric, but Boston is going to stick with him. And they should. Gagne has been one of the most dominant closers over the past five years, and in 2003, he converted all 55 of his save opportunities and had 137 strikeouts in just 82.1 innings. He was named the NL Cy Young award winner in 2003 and had a string of 84 consecutive converted saves. Since then he has battled arm issues, and has been limited to just 56.2 innings over the past three seasons.

The Sox obtained Gange in a trade with Texas where they sent rookie pitcher Kason Gabbard, and two minor league outfielders to the Rangers. Gabbard had pitched extremely well for Boston in the 41 innings he saw, going 4-0 in seven games and holding opponents to just a .196 average. After seeing Gagne struggle, many fans are upset by the trade feeling that Gabbard would have been better to hold onto, but this hindsight is misled. Gabbard pitched out of his mind for the Sox and most likely would never have continued that trend. Boston used to high stock to snag a guy that may not still have the dominance that he had with the Dodgers, but someone that could provide some quality late innings relief and take some of the load off of Okajima who currently has thrown more innings than in any other season in his career. Gabbard has reasonably good stuff, but his fastball peaks out around 88 mph, and will probably end up a lifetime 3rd or 4th starter. The reality is that he pitched well, but he just doesn't project well in the future. Julian Tavarez pitched well for a stretch of about 7 games, but he's back in the 'pen where he belongs.

As for Gagne, yes he has struggled, but the guy has proven (even this year with Texas) that he can get it done. This is a new role for him, but maybe now after blowing save chances as a setup guy, he will realize the importance of his position. I think that it is good for him to get these bugs out of his system so he can get the right mentality to go out there and dominate. From what I have seen, it seems like he's throwing his pitches lackadaisically and he is missing his spots and leaving pitches up in the zone. Some of it is even good hitting by the Orioles. In the game where he surrendered 4 er's, a lot of the pitches that were hit were scooped off of the ground and driven to right field...simply good hitting.

Look for Francona to continue to stick with Gagne and also look for Eric to gain some confidence. The playoffs aren't far off, and that is why he was brought in. He has done it in the past, and I fully expect him to shape up into what everyone expected in the next few weeks.