Although it hasn't been officially announced yet, the Yankees are very close to landing the Texas Rangers closer, Eric Gagne. The Yankees are one of the three teams chasing him right now with less than 24 hours remaining until the trade deadline; the others being the Mets and the Red Sox. However, Eric Gagne has a partial no-trade clause that blocks trades toward specific teams. The team that is blocked by this clause out of the three? The Boston Red Sox. This opens the door for the Yankees and Mets to duel it out throughout these last few hours to grab the all-star closer. Yankee fans can pretty much smell Gagne's odor at this point just like they smelt Abreu's odor last year.
The question then comes, is this a good move for the Yankees? Before we get into what Gagne can bring to the table for the Yankees, let's look at what the Yankees will possibly lose in the trade. The positive is that the Yankees have made it perfectly clear to Texas that there is no way they are parting with pitchers Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. Texas has moved down the line of prospects to ask for the next two guys, Ian Kennedy and Alan Horne. The Yankees are again hesitant to give up these guys as well. Horne has an ERA lower than 3 with the AA Trenton Thunder and Kennedy has recently been promoted to the AAA Scranton Yankees after posting a 5-1 record with a 2.59 ERA in AA Trenton. Kennedy is clearly the prize prospect that the Rangers are looking at and with Kennedy's ceiling higher than the ceiling of Yankee Stadium, it seems like the Yankees will give up too much.
To give a little background, Eric Gagne has been a dominant closer since his move to the spot with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002. His best season perhaps was 2003 when he recorded 55 saves with a 1.20 ERA; he won the NL Cy Young Award that year. In 2005, Gagne's career took a turn for the worst when he suffered a sprained ligament in his right elbow. He had to undergo Tommy John surgery once again which ended his season (His first Tommy John surgery was back in 1997 before he made it to the majors). When the problem seemed to be fixed, in spring training the following year, it was decided that he would undergo a second surgery in less than a year. He made his way back later that year only to once again get injured after just two games. This time it was his back when doctors stated that Gagne had two herniated discs. The Dodgers decided paying Gagne wasn't worth it just two years following a 2004 season where he saved 45 games posting a 2.19 ERA. Gagne's injuries did not hold back the Texas Rangers who signed the free agent in the 2007 off-season. They were partially right, although Gagne was injured again in 2007, he has come back with a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves so far.
This takes us to his possible arrival to the Yankees. If this trade takes place, what will become of Gagne and the Yankees bullpen? There is no question Gagne will have an immediate impact that will help the Yankees' struggling bullpen. Gagne will most likely be used as the setup man to Mariano Rivera for the rest of the season giving the Yankees a pretty much guarenteed scoreless 8th and 9th innings. This is huge for a team who is expected to make the playoffs every year.
Those are the positives. As far the future, this is exactly what the Yankees shouldn't be involved in... more drama and more uncertainity. Gagne has made it clear that he only wants to be a closer and anything else will not leave him satisfied. The current Yankee closer, Mariano Rivera, is in his last season of his contract. Although he is 37 years old, Rivera has done more for the Yankees than any other player in over 20 years. Of course, baseball is a business, and Rivera has not been as dominate as he has in the past. Furthermore, the Yankees weren't expected to resign him after the season anyway. Rivera's factor in this potential mess is only immediate. Who knows whether this could mean locker room drama for the next two months. Gagne will not be happy setting up for Rivera and the Yankees will most likely refuse to take Rivera out of the closer spot. Can tempers heat up in the locker room or even worse, the dugout? It's certainly a possibility. Rivera is known to speak his mind and if he senses tension between himself and Gagne, he will no doubt confront him. The Yankees' chances of making the postseason will become slimmer and the 2007 season will be one the worst of recent memory.
Success this year, is more important to the Yankees than it has been for the past few years. There can be many changes in the off-season this year including Alex Rodriguez's status, Rivera's contract up, Jorge Posada's contract up, and manager Joe Torre's contract up. Success can be a selling point for these guys to return to the team as well as a higher interest in the Yankees managerial job. Not that that job is unwanted, most managers would kill to manage the Yankees, but you can't deny it would be so much sweeter if the team was coming off of a championship.
As for Gagne himself, he will assume the closer's role for the long term starting in 2008. The Yankees will believe the postion to be filled and will not seek other players for that role. How is this bad? The question is more like, how is this good? With Gagne's injuries, he is as reliable as a Ford with more than 25,000 miles on it. If the Yankees put their confidence in Gagne for the next 5 or 6 years and Gagne goes down to injury, who will be the closer? There are no potential suiters for the job currently. The Yankees will be forced into making a desperate move to grab a closer via trade and probably trade some high quality prospects in the process. Worse, when Gagne comes back from the injury, what will happen then? No doubt Gagne will be the one to go and teams will be turned off by his injury history and give the Yankees peanuts for the former Cy Young winner.
If, if not when, Gagne is traded to the Yankees tomorrow, it will definitely raise the spirits of Yankee fans everywhere. The problem is, the future consequences will be far greater setting the Yankees back a few more years in their quest for 27. Gagne's arrival will spell trouble for the Yankees which is why Yankee fans everywhere should pray that the Mets push just alittle bit harder to grab the injury prone former Cy Young winner.
Sports Moment of the Week
Carlos Zambrano won his 14th game on Sunday taking the lead in wins in the majors. He has won 8 of the last 10 games he started and has turned his season around after the Cubs went 1-4 in his first 5 starts.
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