I'm not a big believer in the "save" stat. I could sit here and lecture you all day about leverage index and things of that nature, but I'll simply say that any stat that a player can "earn" by retiring the bottom of the order with a three-run lead is not one worth keeping track of. Sometimes, however, things are obvious enough that even the worst stats can capture the essence of the situation. In Milwaukee this year, Eric Gagne has blown five saves. Think about that. Five blown saves before Mother's Day. Of those five saves, three of them have come with leads of two runs or more. We're not talking about a guy that's being thrown to the wolves and racking up blown saves as a result and we're not talking about a Joe Borowski (circa last year, that is) type that has a high ERA but generally gets the job done. Gagne is almost pathologically unable to finish out games at this point in his career.
After he blew a two run lead to the Astros on Sunday, I thought for sure the Brewers were going to yank him out of the closer's role. There comes a time when enough is enough and $10 million be damned, you've got to win baseball games, right? Apparently not. Doug Melvin says Gagne's job isn't in jeopardy and the team isn't even discussing removing him from that role. Interested in watching a talented young team implode before Memorial Day through injuries and bad decisions? If yes, then definitely check out the Brewers.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-06-2008 @ 9:18AM
Bruce Ciskie said...
Pat--
As someone who's frustratingly watched this team lose games in many spectactular ways, I can honestly say that Gagne is the least of our problems.
We have a manager who can't manage, a leadoff hitter who can't hit, and a bunch of starting pitchers who can't get through the sixth inning without getting lit up like a Christmas tree.
Yes, Gagne's blown a few saves. But a couple of them (most notably, Sunday) weren't his fault.
Gagne overcomes either the ridiculous squeeze from the home-plate ump (suddenly, the belt was too high and the knees were too low) or the hideous call at first base (not only did the throw beat Blom, but he didn't even touch the base). But overcoming both was going to be very difficult. I'll take how he's throwing the ball right now.
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5-06-2008 @ 9:48AM
kantwistaye said...
In defense of Gagne, he's actually pitching pretty well lately. His last two blown saves were due to poor umpiring and poor defense, neither of which he can help. He started out rough, but this is an instance where the numbers don't tell the whole story. Gagne deserves to be the Brewers closer, and this is one instance where they are making the right choice.
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5-06-2008 @ 1:15PM
gomermaid said...
Why do you think he's not with Boston anymore? I think the miracle is that this guy was able to rack up a horrendous record in Boston and then turn around and sell himself to Milwaukee for 7 figures - that is some smoke and mirror trick.
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