Eric Gagne will save 40 games this year

[logan82]

There was a report somewhere that Gagne wanted 2 years at $16M. I forget where and I am not sure of the validity of the report.

 

I am with whoever said they don't want Gagne to get 40 saves because it means we are in to many close games.

[valpocrewsader]

Yeah, 2 years / $16 million sounds familiar to me, too. I swear I just read that somewhere, that Doug had that option but went with one year instead ... thought maybe it was the 2008 Baseball Prospectus, but I just scanned through the Brewers article and didn't see it in there.

 

EDIT: http://forum.brewerfan.net/viewtopic.php?t=10994

[Dragonbait]

The best reason for the one year deal...

 

If Gangé turns out to be the Boston Gangé,

we dont have to worry bout him after this

year.

 

The Brewers are still taking a chance on a

guy who's had surgery two years ago,

and had a pretty dismal second half

 

The one year deal makes more sense and

has a bigger upside for both sides.

[Fanof17andBrew]

40 saves means way too many close games for my liking. I'd prefer it if Gagne only had to have 30 opportunities all year, and the rest of the Brewer wins were by more than 3 runs. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

I agree, 30 will likely be the max amount of saves you can hope for.

[Weirdos19]

The Brewers will have 50 saves as a team this year.

 

Gagne- 32

Riske- 6

Turnbow-6

Torres- 3

Mota- 3

[logan82]

The Brewers will have 50 saves as a team this year.

 

Gagne- 32

Riske- 6

Turnbow-6

Torres- 3

Mota- 3

That is a whole lot of saves. I doubt that anybody other than Gagne gets more than 2 saves unless Gagne gets injured at some point.

[Gopher74]

I really wish the Brewers had signed him for 2 years and 16 million dollars.

 

I don't think Gagne gave the Brewers an option to sign him for 2 years (unless it would have for $20M+). In all likelihood we will have Gagne for one year. If he is awesome, he will get more than Cordero this offseason, if he sucks then we won't want him.

It was reported that Gange gave him the option of signing him for 2 years at 16 or 1 year at 10. They chose 1 year at 10.

[Gopher74]

Fanof17andBrew wrote:

I agree, 30 will likely be the max amount of saves you can hope for.

Why would that be the most you can "hope" for? We've had a guy with over 30 saves how many times in the last 5 years on teams that are far less likely to win 90 games?

 

I'd say if he only saves 30 games, it'd be a huge disapointment. I know that we say we don't "want" to have that many games that are close, but that's just not feasible. Even the best teams save that many games.

[AdvantageSchneider]

The Brewers will have 50 saves as a team this year.

 

Gagne- 32

Riske- 6

Turnbow-6

Torres- 3

Mota- 3

That is a whole lot of saves. I doubt that anybody other than Gagne gets more than 2 saves unless Gagne gets injured at some point.

 

I actually think there will be a lot of guys getting saves besides Gagne. I believe I heard Doug M. state that they wanted guys with closer experience like Torres, b/c they didn't want to overwork Gagne. I think he even mentioned that Gagne would not go back to back saves, or at least would not be like Co-co in going for 3-4 straight save opportunities.

 

I don't think Mota or Turnbow will get any saves, but I would bet Torres and Riske get a few.

 

Also, if any GM gives Gagne a deal like Coco got, 4 years, that GM should be burned at the stake by their fan base. Given his injury history, 2 years max for the rest of Gagne's career. I don't care what he does this year.

[Time for a Miller]

Saves is poor way to measure a relief pitcher's preformance even if you look at % of converted saves. I think % of converted saves would give you a better picture then just looking at the total number of saves though. Cordero can throw one pitch and get a save or Shouse can pitch the 7th, 8th, and 9th inning and get a save in an 11-3 win. That is a fluky statistic. But I digress.

 

Gagne can probably hit 40 if he stays healthy and he gets the "oppurtunities." It's difficult to tell how many oppurtunites he'll get though. With a combination of bad defense and an explosive offensive scores could tend to be more lopsided and I don't know if Gagne will get used in non-close (3 run lead) save oppurtunities. I would like to see some statistics on how many times a team enter the ninth inning with a 3-run-lead or less and some comparison with there offensive, overall record, etc.

[logan82]

I don't remember Melvin saying anything about Gagne not going back to back days. Doesn't mean it wasn't said. In general once teams pick a closer that guy is going to get every save except in extreme circumstances.

 

50 saves for one team is quite a bit. Not to many teams get 50 saves in one year. Most that do don't have an offense as potent as the Brewers. If our starting pitching gets better like we expect, I see us winning more games with fewer save opportunities.

[BrewCrewForever]

It's crazy that Gagne was able to get 55 saves in one season. That of course was when he was at his absolute best (and on HGH). I'm a huge Gagne fan though I think he is going to pitch well for us this season and if so I hope that we try to keep him. We seem to go through closers like crazy.

[Patrick425]

So, what's the deal? I logged in here today expecting to see a 12 page thread about how the Brewers blew $10 mil on Gagne and rants abouts who should be the new closer. I guess I'll have to go to brewers.com. to get that kind of insight.

You guys really disappoint me.

[RU Rah Rah]

Admirable restraint, I'd call it. (Or maybe we just haven't gone back and looked at the IGT?)

[BrewCrewForever]

I still think he will save 40+. Just had a bad day where he couldn't locate his fastball. He also seemed to shy away from his change and curve early in the inning, not sure why that is what makes Gagne so good is that awesome change. Although he blew it and gave up the 3 run bomb to Fukudome he did come back and get out of the inning which was a positive.

[Ennder]

His velocity was decent and that is about all you can go by in the first few weeks of the season. I expect location to be an issue with guys who don't play in winter leagues.

[JohnBriggs12]

He had much better location after the HR. He also might have gotten squeezed on a pitch or two to Fukudome so he had to come in behind in the count. His velocity was good though. I liked the way he didn't crack after allowing that tying HR and got them to the 10th.

[Fatter than Joey]

Fukudome also hit Sheets pretty good as well. If anything was distressing about Gagne was when he didn't cover 1b on Pie's "hit" and he looked pretty bad when his shirt came untucked.

[jjfanec]

Gagne should have got to first, but Prince could have easily stepped on the bag. He just made a bad play, but unlike so many times that bad play didnt cost us. But I did like how Gagne bounced back from probably about as bad a start as you could draw up.

 

Apparently we should be really worried about Gagne though, and oddly enough the Cubs should not worry at all about Kerry Wood. His poor pitching was just nerves but Gagne's was a result of being a bad pitcher (according to Ken Rosenthal) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7975414/Opening-Day-results-can-offer-insight-and-confusion

[TheBrewer]

Lets hope he does better and gets another chance in the next couple days. I know one MLB anaylist I can't remember who said during ST Gagne was throwing all FB's in one of the latter outings and got hurt with that. Well he was obviously trying to work on his FB location and command that, why is he doing that in a real game situation as someone said he threw 12 straight FB in the Fukudome AB. Maybe he couldn't establish that?

 

Castro did say when he was warming up he had trouble on the mound because of the rain etc, and then when he pitched same deal and his glasses looked foggy. And a side note after the HR he did lean over like he was sick. (there was the flu going around the clubhouse).

 

I think this can be tied to a number of things for which this is game 1 of 164 etc. If he blows a few more in the next couple weeks then I'd really worry, but keep in mind he's the same pitcher from Texas that converted 16 of 17 games and did very nice. So that can't just be written off as a fluke. And he's more healthy now then he was back then. I'll give him time, I think he'll be fine. Not the electric guy from the Dodgers in those days, but he'l finish with around 34-40 saves, 8.0 K/9. At least I hope .....

[zzzmanwitz]

I've heard multiple times from different "experts" that are shocked and dismayed that the Brewers let Cordero go and then signed Gagne for 10 million. It was practically the same money for both of them! Will we ever have an analyst that I can enjoy listening to because they actually understand the game? If I had as little knowledge about my area of expertise as these guys do, I would have been fired a long time ago.

[jjfanec]

I just find it interesting that Gagne is so suspect to the "experts" and rightfully so to some regard. Yet, Wood is getting this free pass like he is going to automatically be a lights out closer. I have questions about Gagne like ever one else. I am not expecting him to be like Cordero was the first half of last season when I felt like we could just give him the ball and it was over. I do expect him to be a middle of the pack closer.

[Chio151]

Yeah, but Cordero wouldn't have taken a one-year deal. I think that's the key.

 

We'll need some money for the young stars in the coming years.

[BrewCrewForever]

I say we give Gagne the month of April. If he continues to blow more saves during April in May you give the ball to Riske or Turnbow for saves. But I think Gagne will settle down and be fine.

[uwisfan]

I've heard multiple times from different "experts" that are shocked and dismayed that the Brewers let Cordero go and then signed Gagne for 10 million. It was practically the same money for both of them! Will we ever have an analyst that I can enjoy listening to because they actually understand the game? If I had as little knowledge about my area of expertise as these guys do, I would have been fired a long time ago.

The problem with Cordero is that his agent really jerked the Brewers around. The Brewers offered him a record contract, but his agent allowed Cinci to just barely outbid them, and then told the Brewers that Cinci is offering more (without specifying it was pennies higher). The Brewers were not extended the same luxury of just inching the offer a little higher, but had to bid higher, so they just gave up and were stunned to see that Cinci just edged them out.