Posts tagged EricGagne at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Brewer fans and weary bloggers rejoice! Eric Gagne's shoulder tendinitis is apparently bad enough for the Brewers to put him on the 15-day disabled list, which means that for at least two weeks there's going to be no more Gagne induced blown saves, causing an Brewer fans heartburn and me to go to my cookie-cutter "Gagne Blows Save!" template that I've rolled out about in about six posts this year (because I enjoy kicking a guy when he's down ... lay off me).

The real question right now is whether or not this is a real injury or what I'm going to start calling an "Isringhausen Injury." If you're not following, the Cardinals basically invented an injury for Jason Isringhausen so they could put him on the DL and get him time to work in the pen and a couple rehab assignments without keeping him on the roster or having to DFA him to get him into the minors. Well, either that or Gagne's really hurt and maybe that's why he's pitching so poorly this year.

Whatever the reason, he's on the DL now and Tim Dillard has been called up to replace him. He made his major league debut last night and is probably going to be used as a middle reliever, leaving some kind of committee involving Salomon Torres, David Riske, and Brian Shouse to close games out until Gagne comes back, at which point he'll be reinserted into the closer role and probably finally get Ned Yost fired.

Last night, the Brewers have a 7-0 lead in the ninth inning. Ned Yost rightly assumed that he had been given a nice chance to get Eric Gagne in to finish out a game without the pressure of a close score. Gagne was typically awful, giving up a two-run homer and putting two more guys on base, and was pulled for Salomon Torres to get the last out. Apparently, however, the hook was due to a health problem because Gagne's not with the team tonight in Pittsburgh and has instead flown back to Milwaukee for evaluation on his stiff right shoulder:

"It's all in the front of the shoulder," Gagne said. "Now we're just waiting to see. It's just one of those things (where) you usually warm up and it goes away, but it was getting tighter and tighter (Tuesday)."

This is probably a blessing in disguise for Milwaukee, except that it's not really in disguise because everyone knows that Gagne has been awful this year. It doesn't sound like he's going on the DL, but then again it's unlikely that the team would keep an empty roster spot for any extended period of time. Then again, they've stuck with Gagne for this long and he's actually been worse than an empty roster slot, so who knows?

I've always been one for letting my employer decide when I'm no longer capable of doing my job, but Eric Gagne and Jason Isringhausen apparently feel differently, being "honest" enough to let their managers know they're no longer worthy of the closer role. (Update: Gagne can apparently close again!) Either way, not a lot of confidence. What they did is rare in the sense of being voluntary, but it certainly underlies the basic fantasy notion that saves are easy to come by.

In Milwaukee, if you're looking for saves, you actually love Gagne flip-flopping; Ned Yost will probably go back to the well with him, and you'll have an easier time going after the guy who will probably end up getting the saves. Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota and David Riske are the official closer by committee. (The reality is they shouldn't have let Francisco Cordero walk, but that's neither here nor there at this point). I've been saying that Riske is my guy since early in the season, but in fairness, he hasn't pitched perfectly. Then again, neither has Torres, so I'm sticking by my guns here and saying Riske ends up with the most saves in the Milwaukee pen this year (unless Yost does something cr-r-r-r-azy and puts Carlos Villanueva in the spot).

The Cardinals end of things appears to be a little more cut and dry, in the sense that Ryan Franklin is the new go-to guy from the bullpen in St. Louis. Russ Springer and Randy Flores are apparently in the mix as well to a degree, but when you look at Springer's walk count -- five! -- since Izzy went down, it's hard to imagine Tony La Russa trusts him. Plus, Franklin is actually locking down the ninth. And the guy you want to grab for your fantasy league.

If you haven't been paying attention, let's get a brief timeline of the Eric Gagne saga down. Between March 31st and May 4th this year, Gagne blew five saves in 14 chances for the Brewers. Despite cries from Brewers fans and all corners of the interwebs, Ned Yost refused to remove his Canadian closer from the role. On May 10th, Gagne asked Ned Yost to remove him from the ninth inning spot. Yost announced the move yesterday. Tonight? Gagne's ready to close again! From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Brewers blog:

"I had my mental break (Sunday)," said Gagne. "I'm good to go now.

"I know I'm a great closer. I know I'm going to work out of it. It's just a confidence thing. The only way you'll be all right is keep going out there in a closing situation."

Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

I have no idea what Ned Yost is planning on doing with this new development, but he'd be crazy to put Gagne back in the closer's spot. The other options in their pen aren't great, but Gagne's been an unmitigated disaster since the trade deadline last year and the Brewers have plenty of problems without having to worry about him.

What a terrible time to be a relief pitcher. We're only a month and a half into the season and already people are being pulled out of position for poor performance, scolded for showing emotion, and blamed for managerial jobs being put on the line. The worst examples of this have been St. Louis's Jason Isringhausen and Milwaukee's Eric Gagné.

In today's Dugout, we discuss the many reasons how and why St. Louis's Jason Isringhausen and Milwaukee's Eric Gagné are the worst examples. Oh boy, are they a couple of bad examples.

(Oh yeah, and if you don't get Izzy's screen name, say his last name out loud slowly.)

More, after the jump.

Our NL Central man-about-town, Pat Lackey, has long voiced every baseball fan's collective wonder: Just how in the name of everything holy is Eric Gagne still closing baseball games? It's been clear for over a year that the man is not the Eric Gagne of old, but Brewers manager Ned Yost seems to be the only one not paying attention. Four or five blown saves later, and Yost still won't take the man out of the ninth inning spot.

So guess what? Eric Gagne did it himself:

"I don't sit here and make decisions five minutes after a tough loss," Yost said after watching Gagne saddle the Brewers with a defeat that never should have happened.

Minutes later, Gagne took his manager completely off the hook with a pronouncement that was evident to anybody who has watched his work of late. "I don't deserve that ninth inning right now. It's very simple," said Gagne, who surrendered two ninth-inning runs that allowed St. Louis to pull out a 5-3 victory at Miller Park. "It's embarrassing."

Ah, embarassing indeed, but who should be more embarassed? Gagne, whose tools are just clearly not there anymore? Or Yost, whose tools are supposed to involve proper decision-making and talent management? Who's done a worse job?

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

St. Louis Cardinals (23-15) at Milwaukee Brewers (17-19) - 2:05 PM ET

Milwaukee, already known for its consumption of beer and brats, has been the Tums capital of America this weekend. First, Jason Isringhausen blew a save on Friday after having the Brewers at two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning ... which led to Jason being demoted from the closers role. Then the very next day, there was Eric Gagne blowing yet another save, which was Gagne's ... oh I've lost count this season, how many blown saves is that? Gotta be between 50 and 80 (actually, he only blew a tie game in the ninth, but Gagne did get the loss). And that led Gagne to muse that maybe he should go the same path as Isringhausen. So can anybody here close today's game? Hey, at least extra innings will be fun.

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.

In general, most baseball fans respond to the early-season unexpected in the same way: with a shrug and an, "it's early." That's fine to an extent, but when does that stop? I'm asking, particularly in regards to the NL Central where the Cardinals sit up top with a 20-12 record and the Brewers sit at 16-15, almost as close to the 12-19 Pirates as the division leading Cards. Clearly, anything can happen from this point on in the season, but is it still "early?"

Honestly, I don't know that it is. The Brewers have some serious problems that can't be glossed over by Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder finding their missing swings. Their rotation was dangerously thin before Yovani Gallardo got hurt, and now they've got no real #2 to step up behind the oft-injured Ben Sheets unless Manny Parra finds his stride. The bullpen is just as suspect, with Eric Gagne leading the league with five saves. You can say it's early, but we're almost to the quarter pole and this team has some real problems.

So what about Cards? 20-12 is nothing to sneeze at, but much of their early season success has come with Todd Wellemeyer, Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, and Braden Looper doing good impressions of league average starters. How likely is that to continue? It can't be that likely, can it? These guys, and the Cards, are coming back to earth.

Do you hear that? It's actually the sound of Cubs' fans smiling. I didn't even know you could hear people smile until now.

This is getting ridiculous. Tell me if you've heard this story at all recently: the Brewers entered the ninth inning today with a one run lead. To close the game out, they turned to "closer" Eric Gagne. A walk, a hit batter, and a fielder's choice later, the game was tied and headed to extra innings, where the Brewers bailed Gagne out in the 12th.

Today's scene took place in St. Louis against the Cardinals, but it's the fourth blown save by Gagne this year and the third time the Brewers bailed him out and still managed to win. It's nice for the Brew Crew that they've been able to overcome Gagne thus far, but it's not something I'd be counting on happening again and again.

I want to say it's hard to read Gagne's performance thus far this year (12 strikeouts in 8 and 2/3 innings is impressive), but man, he hit Cesar Izturis today and Izturis turned into the tying run. That dude's a worse hitter than like half the pitchers in the National League. When you're beaning Cesar Izturis, it's a pretty good indication that you have no idea where the ball is going when it's leaving your hands. It's time to give someone, Salomon Torres, David Riske, Brian Shouse, no, anyone else a shot at nailing down the end of these games.