Associated Press: July 31, 2007
"Eric Gagne's comeback has landed him a new role on a new team: helping the Red Sox close out the Yankees. Gagne, pitching like his old self following two elbow operations and back surgery, was acquired by Boston for the stretch run on Tuesday from the Texas Rangers...
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"Once one of baseball's premier closers, Gagne waived the no-trade clause in his contract to join a Boston bullpen that already had two All-Star relievers: closer Jonathan Papelbon and setup man Hideki Okajima.
But the Red Sox, who entered Tuesday leading the AL East by eight games over New York, didn't want to take any chances of blowing their big lead and acquired Gagne to bolster the back end of their bullpen after consecutive implosions last weekend by Papelbon and Manny Delcarmen.
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"Gagne will serve as Papelbon's primary setup man and will close on days Papelbon needs rest.
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"We actually love our bullpen," Boston manager Terry Francona said of his relievers, who have the lowest ERA (2.74) in the majors. "I think it just got a lot better. Papelbon, Okajima and Gagne -- these are guys that you don't match up. You just let them pitch really good baseball."
Eric "The Difference Maker" Gagne with the Red Sox:
ReplyDelete6.0 IP, 14 H, 10 ER, 15.00 ERA (and he's blown three out of the seven games he's been in)
Joba Chamberlain this year:
6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA
... but yeah, we definitely should have given Texas Melky to get good ol' Greg. Right.
Thank God they beat us on this guy.
ReplyDeleteIf only we'd let them snap up Pavano.