Houston Astros Baseball

Sign Gagne Already !!!

With the closer market collapsing in front of our eyes, the acquisition of a quality closer seems very near. Eric Gagne was my favorite if Cordero was unavailable or too expensive, in this case both. Gagne, wasn’t spectacular in Boston which will prove to only help us or any team interested in Eric. Although Gagne’s meltdown in Boston was seen by the entire country I believe that he is MUCH better than his numbers for The Red Sox would indicate. First, lets put this all into context. Eric Gagne was traded to his boyhood favorite team in the heat of a pennant race and placed in a set up role, not as closer. With the pressure of the 2nd largest market team and the addition of a playoff race I believe that Gagne was poorly represented. This of course, serves all of those looking to sign him as a good thing. Even though his agent, Scott Boras is one of the most hated agents in baseball, and Drayton wouldn’t want to deal with Boras, this deal could help both sides and should be examined. His value has undoubtedly declined which would indicate that he should receive around a 2 year 10-11ish Million dollar deal. All this for a closer who currently hold the HIGHEST save percentage in history. I have written all about Gagne and compared him to the current market competition, and to me Dotel, Wood, and Percival all seem like bigger risks to me. If you look at Gagne’s 2007 season and break down the numbers you will see that his stats look similar to a power hitters slump. His bread and butter, the strikeout, hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, with Boston Gagne had a better K/9 ratio that his career avg. at 10.61K/9IP. His HR/9 were down as well. Gagne faltered because of an inflated WHIP. If you are unfamiliar, WHIP basically holds a pitcher responsible for all batters that reach base with a hit, hit-by-pitch, or walk. For Eric, his WHIP in Boston was FAR greater than his career avg. Some have attributed this to loose command in response to the pressure and expectations of Boston. You test this against a low market team, like The Rangers and you can see how he pitches when he is on.


2007 (W/ Rangers) 2.16 ERA/ 1.05WHIP/ 7.8K/9 /3.2BB/9 - 16/17Saves

It’s crazy to think that he actually struck more people per 9IP when he was with the Red Sox. In my opinion, by bringing Gagne to both the NL and a low market team, he will have the perfect setting to stage his comeback. Gagne will have a chance to show the world why he was one of the only closers to ever win a Cy Young award.

To read more about his career and comparable stats to other available closers check out some older posts.

http://houstonstros.blogspot.com/2007/11/closer-to-closer.html

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