and to the Rangers, of all places...

Speaking of closers.......

If the Red Sox can have the sense to make Jon Papelbon a starter, and the Cards have the sense to make Adam Wainwright a starter.....

Can the Dodgers do the same with Jon Broxton?

2 Considering that we have about 9 potential starters right now, and the fact that when he starts Broxton's fastball is about 92-93, instead of 97-98 when he is pitching out of the bullpen, I would be against making Broxton a starter. Who would you take out of the rotation to put Broxton in?

I imagine based upon the drop in velocity that Broxton starting would be similar to Brad Penny, certainly useful, but not as useful as having something that may approach Gagne at his peak coming out of the pen.

2
They talked about that, but they said that his weight made it nearly impossible for his stamina to hold up over 5-7 innings.

I want to be mad at Gagne for deserting us. But if someone offered me $4M more in guaranteed money (and there's every chance this could be his last contract), I'd take it. If I didn't, my family would make me do so.
He's a great example of the business of baseball. We paid him $20M for two years of nothing. But we also got two years that were worth $20M for next to nothing.
In the words of REM: ohhhh... life.

Depo is a heartless robot for letting Gagne go

4. Right. Tell that to Big Brad Penny. Seriously.

6 - Eric Gone-eh?

Thanks for pulling up that post from the archives, Jon. He will be missed.

At least he didn't go to the Gnats.

8
Yeah, I remembered that old moniker earlier today. It's finally ripe.

Bon chance, Monsieur Gagne!

2

I personally dont think papelbon or wainwright are going to excel at starters. but considering both of those clubs have needs in the rotation, i guess its reasonable to give them a shot.

The Texas Rangers: where all pitchers go to die

{sigh}

Yeah, but what does Bruce think?

10- ripe indeed. And it would be poor of me to wish him to "rot" in Texas.

:-(

Au revoir Monsieur Gagne. Bonne chance.

I guess the bottom line is that Texas gave Gagne 4 million more Respect points than we were willing to

1) Guess we now know for sure about the hometown discount.

2) Think he'll like those Texas summers? He probably doesn't quite understand how they can be.

$8 million?? So long, farewell... that's Juan Pierre money, and you my friend are no Juan Pierre. But if we could combine your arm with Juan's speed, we'd have a pretty decent fielding CFer. I have nothing "french" to add as I don't really like the french language. I was bitten by a french language as a young child. My neighbors have a french language, but the darn thing barks all the time and digs under the fence. vr, Xei

After the disappointing circumstances that surrounded Gagne for the past two seasons, I can hardly pretend that I am surprised at his departure and I suppose I don't begrudge him for taking the money and heading off to the baseball wasteland of Arlington. After all, I suspect that Gagne will never be able to fully recapture the magic of the 2002-2004 seasons. And that is what I really wanted back, the thrill and excitement that he brought to the Dodgers and Dodger stadium. I wish him well, but I would guess that he is leaving his best days behind him here at Chavez Ravine.

So now we are left with the nostalgia of the streak, the excitement of the Guns n Roses entrance, and the beauty of watching professional hitters flail madly at his circle change. I will miss it. Besides the constant presence of the Dodger infield - Garvey, Lopes, Russell, & Cey - that I followed in my earliest day of being a Dodger fan, and the sheer drama of the Gibson homerun, Gagne's dominance is the most memorable part of my time as a Dodger fan. During that glorious three season stretch, I would always carve out a few minutes of free time - no matter how busy I was or no matter what I was doing - to sit down and marvel at Gagne's late inning heroics. Electric moments, where the fans are transfixed on the action on the field and an entire stadium is focused on a tiny leather ball, are rare in baseball and for three seasons we were lucky enough to have Gagne deliver those moments in Dodger stadium on a near nightly basis.

Au revoir Monsieur Gagne!

The article Jon linked to says six million, which is it?

Well, I've got a new most hated player now. The Rangers don't happen to play in LA any time in '07, do they?

$1.4 million for Saito and Broxton.
$8 million for Gagne.
You do the french!
vr, Xei

Well, I've got a new most hated player now.

why?

This on Dodgers.com:

No team was more active at the Winter Meetings than the Dodgers, and registered MLB.com users can chat with general manager Ned Colletti today at 2 p.m. PT. Fans can ask the GM about the team's playoff run in 2006 and its prospects for 2007.

So, do they really mean to delimit what fans can ask the GM about...?

25 Never mind that, what are the prospects for 2007 of the team's playoff run in 2006?

Gagne signed with Texas to avoid this guy:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yggnu2

24 Gagne is a traitor.

28 Because he went to a team that thought he was more valuable? Doesn't that make the majority of baseball traitors?

21- AP says $6m guaranteed plus $5m incentives.

Jonny6, very well said. I agree with every word you wrote.

I badly wanted the Dodgers to give Gagne one more year. But my feeling now is we made him a very fair offer and Texas was willing to double the guaranteed money.

We can't blame him for taking it. We can't blame the Dodgers for not going higher.

We got Gagne on the cheap for three great seasons and paid him nicely to sit for two more. So I think we're even. No one owed the other any favors.

And finally I must admit that living in Georgia I am rooting for Broxton to step up and carve out his own bit of Dodger closer history.

"In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot."

For a short time, 9th innings were not feared with dread but anticipated with joy and excitement and for that I thank Eric Gagne.

I hope he can find some decent maguro and toro in the plains of Texas.

28. Hes not a traitor. But this is a sad day. farwell gagne....

Nothing to add but, Adieu!

Will Colletti recieve the same raking over the coals treatment Depo would have had this happened on his watch?

Merely a rhetorical question.

Rangers offer: $6 mill guaranteed, $5 mill in incentives.

Dodgers offer: $4 mill guaranteed, $6 mill in incentives.

They are very similar offers and Gagne should have given us a hometown discount like he said he would. I blame this on Boras, however.

28 Gagne55: Does this mean you'll be changing your handle now since you feel so strongly?

35 I don't think any fallout came from trading Izturis, so I doubt anything will come of this.

Weirdly appropos that Gagne and Tower Records should be mentioned in the same breath, now that Tower is shuttering their doors. In another year's time I'm sure we'll have all but forgotten those glorious salad days. 2003 seems like an eternity ago.

I loved Gagne, and loved the electricity and excitement he generated. We never had a Bonds or Sosa or McGwire or Pujols to give us yearly home run records, but we had Gagne and his consecutive saves record, and that was just as exciting, in a way.

I'm sad to see him go, but at the same time, in my heart of hearts, I know that he'll never again be the pitcher that we remembered, and that makes his departure a little easier to swallow.

5-

But if someone offered me $4M more in guaranteed money (and there's every chance this could be his last contract), I'd take it.

I wouldn't.

38 Even though most of me agrees with you, some of me still yearns for the Gagne of old and thinks it could happen, just like the original Tommy John was able to come back.

But if you're right, then his departure should lift our memories of him to mythical, James Dean-like status, much like how we view Gibby these days.

For some reason I read Tower Records and thought of Empire Records that corny movie with Liv Tyler. I know people who swear by that one but I think it is horrible.

Losing Gagne is blunted by the fact that he hasn't been around for 2 years. It isn't like we have to quit him cold turkey, we have been weened off of him for a very long time. That said, he was easily the most exciting Dodger of the naughts and I can only hope that one day some young guy can electrify on a daily (well regular) basis like that.

39 My point is that i don't believe it's $4 mill more guaranteed-- only $2 mill more.

Including incentives, the Dodgers could've paid Gagne $10 million per year. $4 million plus gauranteed. Considering Saito and Broxton together make only $1.4 million, I think we are better off without Gagne. Of course the savings is going to pay Luis Gonzalez for a gimpy year so that pretty much offsets the gains. vr, Xei

Sad day indeed though not devestated. I'll root for him to suceed, but I'm not sure he'll stay healthy again.

He'll always be the Dodger of the '00s.

43 On the bright side, if Gagne does recover his old form, the contract is only for one year and we could bid on him next year ;-)

who knows...maybe we will get him back in a year

36 I'm just speculating but...

Maybe the incentives the Dodgers were offering were harder to meet than those offered by the Rangers?

Also, we have no idea what role Gagne was promised with the Dodgers. Saito is signed and the buzz going forward seems to be about Broxton (not to mention Yhency Brazoban coming back).

We never had a Bonds or Sosa or McGwire or Pujols to give us yearly home run records, but we had Gagne and his consecutive saves record

Gee, what do all these guys have in common...

41 - Exactly. It's one thing to lose Gagne after him coming off another dominating season, but another to lose him after his replacement (well, his replacement's replacement, anyway) had a dominating -- dare I say Gagne-like -- season of his own. Long-live Saito-time.

39. Okay. But it's certainly an understandable choice. For the player, this is the real world. Not just a game but the life they have for themselvers and their family. I'm sure he values being a Dodger. Just not $4M in value. You might say he has plenty but that's his life and his choice. This could easily be the last dollars he earns. He's not Juan Pierre rich.

We don't even know where Gagne is at this point. He signed before working out for any teams, which makes me skeptical, and has thrown 16 innings in two years.

I'll miss him a tremendous amount, and I wish him the best, but this is hardly a dark day. I hate overpaying for closers anyway.

He signed before working out for any teams

But his agent had some old workouts on glossy video

51. Right. If you want to be mad, be mad at The Rangers for wildly overpaying him.

Once (Dreifert) bitten, twice (Gagne) shy. Good miss.
He will be average at best in Tex.

How do you spell bitter in SF?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/09/SPGG8MSNNB1.DTL

Good grief .... from the headline, I thought something terrible had happened to Vin! :-(

13

Do high-K rate pitchers who don't allow a heck of a lot of balls to be put in play really die in Texas?

(not saying Gagne will be his old self, don't if he IS his old self, maybe Texas won't be so evil to him)

I hate overpaying for closers anyway.
Same here, unless the closer in question is guaranteed lights-out for a long stretch of time.
Mo Rivera and Trevor Hoffman are guarantees.
Gagne is not.
Actually, this may be the best ending for the Dodgers. He was too popular to trade, even though he is damaged goods. And his salary requirements meant using him as anything other than a closer would be an inefficient use of resources. (Not that I believe the richest man in the pen gets the saves, but that seems to be how it goes.)

27 Huh?

56 - Make that "should get the saves..."

If, and this is a big if, Gagne can pitch, he'll still be dominant. Extremely small sample size here, but here's what Gagne did from 2004-2005.

15.3 innings, 25 K, 4 BB, 2HR

14.7 K/9 even with his lost velocity. If he can pitch, he should, at the very least, be better than Otsuka.

57- It's Gagne blowing the All Star game save, serving one up to Blalock--a Ranger.

According to Chris Haydock on his interview on MLB.com.

1. Andy LaRoche is recovering from shoulder surgery on his non-throwing surgery in AZ, should be ready to go by ST.
2. They project Greg Miller as a starter and will be working on building his innings, would not surprise him if he gets on the MLB roster after ST.
3. Justin Orenduff is recovering from shoulder surgery and will go to Vero Beach in January, while hopeful that he will be ready by ST, the latest will be in May-June when he starts throwing again.

Yeah, I don't see how anyone can say Gagne will be average at best. If he somehow comes all the way back then expect all the experts to chime in that the Rangers made the best signing of the off season. It's like Jon said, Gagne could split the atom. Meanwhile, if Gagne doesn't pitch an inning in the bigs then a lot of people will probably just pretend that 6 million didn't exist. If the Dodgers made that signing I would be happy. Better to spend 6-11 million on Gagne than ten cents on Pierre. Better to overpay from prime, than get fat and grizzle off the floor at a discount.

There are some players that got stronger over night and then had physical ailments that made them sit out a year. Testing could keep some players from ever duplicating some of their previous feats.

54 So here's to the 2007 Giants, a team with no plan -- and worse yet, no pride. See you in fourth place, with a very unhappy superstar making everyone miserable.

Wow. What a bummer for SF. I'm so upset.

{closes door, laughs hysterically}

64

Well ... I do feel sorry for fans of the Giants (not the pro-Barry ones) who have watched their team turn into an AARP road show with no chance of contending.

60 Danks.

That does it, from now on I'm leaving after the 7th inning.

I wonder if anyone will do a "Goodbye Gagne" song like the great "Goodbye Garvey" song of the early 80s. I think I have it on one of my Dr. Demento tapes I made off the radio.

I will miss you Mr. Gagne. Thanks for the thrills. I was out there on June 6th hanging on the fence watching you warm up for the last time in Dodger blue (for now anyway). You were clutching your elbow and forearm, I was concerned. You then blew away Carlos Delgado on a breaking pitch and I thought all was back in order, your first save on our way to the big dance.

Ah...I wish you all the best and hope you weren't juicing. In fact, I hope you have a great year and we sign you next time around. It was fun listening to that silly song when you came into a game. And that Game Over stuff on the scoreboards? You backed it up brother!

I will still wear your jersey with pride. I hope the Dodgers didn't make a two million dollar error.

65

{spit take}

You feel sorry for Giants' fans? Someone get me the number for the Nobel Peace Prize committee.

I feel sorry they have a team to root for -- even a fourth-place team.

70

Yes ... I do feel sorry for them ... a bit.
Its a different flavor of sorry than what I feel for fans of the Royals, Pirates, Devil Rays .... but still.

You don't think there are Giants fans who can't stand Bonds?

In all my years attending Dodgers games, I never saw the stadium as electified as when Gagne came in to close out the 9th. As a fan I'll miss those lockdown 9th innings with the fans jumping around - and I'll miss the fist pumping, the dirty hat, and his fighting with Giants players.
As the Eric Gagne Look Alike Contest First Runner-Up, I'll also miss his beautiful face. It's not often you get mistaken for your favorite person on your favorite team.
I wish Gagne the best of luck and hope he ends up back in Dodger Blue.

let someone else (Texas) take the one year risk on Gagne at $6+ million. He will be a free agent at the end of this year. It just didn't make economic sense for us to sign him, when we have Saito/Broxton at $1.4 million and Gagne will get anywhere from $6-11 million. We don't need him at that price and he can get more elsewhere. It's like trying to wear a sock for a hat, it's just not a good fit. Perhaps in a year your head will shrink, so don't burn any bridges Ned.
vr, Xei

It is interesting that so many are hoping to see Gagne back in blue soon. I do too I guess, but I just assume that the Dodgers don't have much better than a 1/30 chance of resigning a player after he leaves. Think about it this way, if Gagne puts himself in a position where anyone is going to sign him, he will be very expensive.

We lost Gagne, but to the other league. The Padres signed away Greg Maddux, and added Jose Cruz Jr. yesterday.

Cruz Jr? Nobody wanted him for the league minimum for half the year last year when we realeased him in July. DePo loves those guys who can hit one out even if they hit .220.

Gagne might not have been a necessary part of the overall Dodger plan for 2007, but it stings to lose him from a fan perspective. He was also all over the marketing of the team for a few years, I guess Nomar will pick up the slack now. Who else is there really? I guess Martin who can develop a LoDuca sort of fan love. Nomar (ugly mug like Gagne) and Martin. Furcal too. The schedule poster from 2005 has Gagne, Izturis, Drew, and Kent on it. We still have Kent.

25- I guess we should be expecting another appearance from Bruce.

I think this was a good choice by the Dodgers. Nobody really trusts that he can be healthy from this point forward. I will still miss him, however. Dodger Stadium rarely rocked as much as when everyone anticipated his entrance from the bullpen.

On a side note, Josh Rawitch has obviously been reading the comments regarding Ken Gurnick over here:

http://tinyurl.com/pqjup

do you think they'd play "Welcome to the Jungle" when he comes out in texas too?
i'd feel like he'd be cheating on me then.

Ok, I'm not so mad @ Gagne anymore. Have a nice time in Texas, Eric.

do you think they'd play "Welcome to the Jungle" when he comes out in texas too?

I think Gagne's new song for fans in Texas will be more along the lines of "Patience" or "Don't Cry"

71 There have to be Giants fans who hate Bonds, and they should vote with their pocketbook and refuse to go to Giants games in 2007.

As wierd of an offseason as this has been, I still would have to consider the Dodgers as the favorites (slight) to win the NL West at this point. We may be slightly lighter on offense, but should be upgraded in the starting pitching department with the signing of Schmidt. The Padres look pretty sick again on offense and still don't have what I would call a starting second baseman. They are upgraded in starting pitching (Maddux) but not as much as we are. The Giants should be worse than last year. The Rockies have a pretty weak looking offense and should be a non contender. The DBacks have some very exciting young players but I am going to predict they will need another year before contending with the Dodgers and Padres.
vr, Xei

82 - Should Marcus Giles get non-tendered today, he'd most likely go straight to SD. That would be a nice boost to their offense.

C'est la vie. Like Edith Piaf, Gagne should say, "Je ne regrette rien."

Texas is taking a measured risk with a a significant potential for reward -- or nothing. I wonder whether the insurance company is standing with them in taking this bet. LA didn't need to take that risk, because we have Broxton and Saito.

He could certainly come back. But we might not need him for a few years. Hating him hardly seems appropriate, but to each his own.

82 How so? I know I underestimate the Padres almost every year, but this is their offense:

C - Bard
1B - Gonzalez
2B - Walker
SS - Greene
3B - Kouzmanoff
LF - Branyan/Sledge
CF - Cameron
RF - Giles

The Padres pitching is scary, but that looks like a terrible lineup.

81
I have a friend who is a Giants fan who has not been to a Giants game since '99 and refuses to buy any SF gear until he is off the roster.

80

My favorite is "Estranged." I love the dolphins in the video. In fact, the song sounds like dolphins.

Goodbye, Eric. I could tell three years ago that you only cared about money. Guess you're no different from the rest.

85
If the Dodgers offense is 90% as good as last year and our bullpen somehow doesn't implode, we will win 94-99 games.

80 Achy Breaky Heart

I'm more bitter about Gagne leaving than Drew. But I'm still very grateful he was here. Farewell indeed.

88 - I disagree. 90% of the 820 runs we scored last year would put us at 738 runs, which would have been the 25th best offense in baseball and the 11th best in the NL. No way we win 94 games with an offense that bad. This pitching staff isn't as good as the one we had in 2003.

69 - I was there on June 6th for his last appearance and save as well. Hmm, June 6, 2006, 6-6-6 ominous sign wasn't it?
I will miss the excitement he generated during his heyday from 2002-04. I believe the Dodgers made a fair offer of just $2m less guaranteed than Texas offered. You just hope a bullpen of Saito, Broxton, Beimel, Brazoban et al can hold the fort along with whatever pseudo starters don't make it into the rotation. At least the "hated ones" didn't get Gagne, I think the world would have tilted off its axis seeing Gagne in their hideous black and orange uniforms!:)