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ERIC GAGNE TRADED TO RED SOX

By Evan Brunell | July 31st, 2007

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5:16 PM A potential roster crunch was just solved … unfortunately. Brendan Donnelly is undergoing Tommy John surgery and will be out for the year. He did quite well for the BoSox and will be missed. However, it does ease the crunch on the bullpen. The bullpen will now have one person exiting (Snyder? Delcarmen?) instead of two.

4:15 PM It just took me a half hour to log into this via myphone but Eric Gagne has accepted the deal! He waived the no-trade clause, it is said, because the Sox guaranteed all incentives. Welcome to Boston! We’ll see if he arrives in time for the game tonight (flying in from Cleveland).

3:18 PM Last update for a bit. The Red Sox are currently in negotiations with Gagne about coming to Boston. The stumbling blocks of Gagne wanting to close and the money due him are issues that the Sox will have to dispel. While Murphy and Beltre are expected to head south with Gabbard, only Gabbard has been the principal name discussed, according to a direct source. Don’t forget that we will get draft picks in the off-season once Gagne departs to close elsewhere.

2:52 PM The Jermaine Dye deal is all but dead, says Ken Rosenthal. In more pressing news, there are reports coming out that the Red Sox are sending Texas a third player - Engel Beltre. Beltre was one of the more coveted amateur Dominican Republic signings last year, inking for $575,000 with the Red Sox. The outfielder is hitting .215/.314/.413 for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox. Only 17, he projects to be quite a power hitter, a five-tooler in every aspect. He’s only 17, though, so this is all projection. I’m okay with this. Not pleased, but okay.

2:27 PM Old friend Mike Edelman says Jermaine Dye is en route to Boston for Wily Mo Pena, Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. There is no official source, but word is leaking out about the deal. You know how I would feel about that deal.

2:15 PM Hat tip to Steven Roth, Fire Brand commenter, who also keeps up with the Northeastern Huskies Hockey (go Husky Hockey!) here at MVN. He says this trade could very well make Manny Delcarmen expendable, meaning Jermaine Dye could be en route to Boston. This is a very good point. Stay tuned.

2:03 PM Nevermind the 2 PM update! The Rangers and Red Sox have agreed to a deal, pending Gagne waiving his no-trade clause. The Red Sox will undoubtedly have to sway him by guaranteeing some of the incentives due him ($3.625 million). Once it becomes official, expect a lot more news. Until now, let’s just pray it becomes official. If it does, talk about quite the pitching staff. I would expect Gagne to take Gabbard’s roster spot for now. This would keep Jon Lester in the rotation, and Curt Schilling would be primed to return to the staff. Julian Tavarez may garner a spot start if Schilling is not ready.

2:00 PM Two hours to the deadline. No news. Closest deal seems to be Jack Wilson to the Tigers, but that’s not official.

1:11 PM Since it looks like the Red Sox are solidly in the Eric Gagne sweepstakes, I figured he deserved his own column here.

Yesterday, it was rumored that Gagne was headed to the Yankees for Tyler Clippard, a C-level prospect and one of the Jeffs (Marquez or Karstens). While the players involved in that trade have been borne out to be true, no trade has been consummated, and the Yankees are apparently bullish on getting this deal done now.

The Red Sox are leading for Gagne with a deal revolving around minor league outfielder (and two cups of coffee with the Red Sox) David Murphy and current starting pitcher Kason Gabbard. Moving Gabbard would hand Jon Lester a rotation spot. Murphy is an average starter on a bad team, and a very good backup on a good team. Gabbard I have long felt is another Kenny Rogers/Jamie Moyer, and I love the kid. I will be sad to see him go, especially for an half-year rental.

But boy, what an half-year rental that will be. Gagne would pair with Hideki Okajima to drop the hammer on opposing batters as part of a devasating setup tandem to Jonathan Papelbon. Gagne has pitched 33.1 IP this year of a 2.16 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 23 H, 12 BB and 29 K. Not the Gagne of old, but still darn good.

He holds no-trade protection to the Red Sox and has been said to have been adamantly against going somewhere where he will not close. However, speculation is that if the Red Sox guarantee him money that he would otherwise earn under games-finished incentives, he will head north for a chance to win a World Series. In addition, he would supplant Hideki Okajima as the backup closer for Papelbon if Papelbon works too many days in a row, so he would also notch some saves, as few as they may be.

The Chicago Cubs are also hot in pursuit of Gagne, and could squirrel him away. It is unknown whether or not Gagne has no-trade protection to the Cubs, but the Cubs would make Gagne their closer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Trades, David Murphy, Eric Gagne, Kason Gabbard, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Rumors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

27 Responses to “ERIC GAGNE TRADED TO RED SOX”

frank says:

July 31st, 2007 at 1:26 pm

Do it Theo, do it! if it requires giving Brandon Moss or someone else please do it, with him, Okajima and Paps, we will only have to play 6 innings…
Mr. Furious says:

July 31st, 2007 at 1:34 pm

I too like Gabbard ALOT. He looks like a Moyer, Rogers, Glavine-type to me and would not be my first choice to head out of town in any rental deal.
Dave. B says:

July 31st, 2007 at 1:46 pm

I’m sorry but Gabbard is a fringe pitcher on a good team. He is nohting like Moyer Rogers or Glavine. He only has one plus pitch (the change) and 2 other pitches that he can throw for strikes. He pitches to contact and let us not forget, he is an old prospect. What you see now is what you are going to see. He isn’t going to improve all that much in his career. The reason why he has been so good this season is the .225 BABIP he is sporting. His FIP is 4.39. I would expect that to go up the more players see him. His upside is a #4, lets not get to excited about a guy that we have seen little of.
jvwalt says:

July 31st, 2007 at 1:49 pm

I like Gabbard, but to me there are some red flags. His career K/BB and H/IP numbers are not great. A lot of young pitchers (especially those with unusual deliveries) have early success before the league catches up with them. And for every Glavine or Moyer, there are dozens of Tony Fossasses and Javier Lopezes — “crafty lefties” who are purely situational pitchers. Not saying I’d like to see Gabbard leave; but I’d rather trade him than Lester, Buchholz, Masterson, or MDC.

I’m also one of the persistent minority who thinks Papelbon would be more valuable as a starting pitcher. If we get Gagne, maybe he could be the 2008 closer with Papelbon becoming the #3 starter.
Mike Edelman says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:25 pm

I’m also hearing that the Red Sox have made a deal for Dye. They’d supposedly be sending Wily Mo, Hansen and Murphy. No official source yet though.
Jim OBie says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:30 pm

One point about Gagne. He definitely spells Paps as a closer since we don’t want to run Paps out there evey night.
frank says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:42 pm

Peña, Delcarmen and Hansen for 2 months of Dye, No f$cking way, r u kidding right?
Dave. B says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:46 pm

That can’t be true. ESPN is talking about how the ChiSox are now talking extension with Dye. How did they go from not willing to give up Masterson to being willing to deal MDC and Hansen? And as i right this i found this:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7078822
Evan Brunell says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm

I hope so, Frank.
Evan Brunell says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:49 pm

Yay! Still an hour and 15 to go, but we may just wiggle out of Dye :)
M.A.G. says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:50 pm

Apparently we have Gagne for Murphy and Gabbard.

Great deal. I like Gabbard, but he was expendable.
Sean O says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:52 pm

Game over!
frank says:

July 31st, 2007 at 2:59 pm

Dye possibilities fading
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

With an hour before the trade deadline, indications are that a deal that would bring Jermaine De to Boston is increasingly unlikely. Word out of New York was that Dye’s agent, Robert Bry, was working on a contract extension with the Chicago White Sox.
Dave. B says:

July 31st, 2007 at 3:17 pm

I’m a huge fan of Beltre, not too excited he was involved. He is probably the worst of their 3 nice young players from the DR so i guess its acceptable.
M.A.G. says:

July 31st, 2007 at 3:33 pm

I don’t like to see Betre going neither. But I think we have better OF prospects, so I guess I’m ok too.
Dave. B says:

July 31st, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Are you sure we will get draft picks? I really have no clue. I feel like he wouldn’t be a Typa-A free agent based on just 33 innings or whatever. I honestly have no idea how that whole thing works.
JaredK says:

July 31st, 2007 at 3:45 pm

Yup, too bad he was included but you potentially have Ellsbury in CF as well as Lin (who I am very excited about) and there is talk that Moises Tejada may be moved to center at some point. So much projection with these guys and they may get a better player with the comp pick….nice job Theo!
frank says:

July 31st, 2007 at 3:49 pm

from rotoworld:
ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Red Sox have gotten Eric Gagne to waive his no-trade clause and join the team.
The Red Sox apparently will pay Gagne the extra $3.6 million — on top of the remaining $2 million he’s owed in salary — he would have earned had he met his bonuses for games finished, which he has little chance of doing while setting up in Boston. The Rangers will get Kason Gabbard, David Murphy and Engel Beltre. They’ll likely have Joaquin Benoit replace Eric Gagne in the closer’s role, with C.J. Wilson a possibility to get the occasional save chance against lefty-heavy lineups.

YES!YES!YES!YES!YES
jvwalt says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:00 pm

Gagne not only strengthens the bullpen, but he’s also the one guy I was afraid the Yankees would get. So the deal works both ways. And I’m happy the Sox didn’t overpay for 2 months of Jermaine Dye. If everything stays this way, I’ll be very happy with the results of Deadline Day. Two other thoughts:

– The willingness to trade Gabbard seems to indicate that the Sox braintrust are very confident in Schilling’s return. Otherwise, the deal opens a big hole in the rotation.

– Not sure what the Yankees are doing. They haven’t exactly started playing for 2008, but they’ve missed out on opportunities to significantly strengthen the club for 2007. They deleted Proctor without adding a bullpen arm. Sure, they’ve held onto their top prospects, but the already-aged lineup will be even older by the time Hughes and Chamberlain arrive. Assuming that they do arrive; I saw one online comment that put both of them in the 2008 Yankee rotation, which seems wildly optimistic.
Sean O says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:10 pm

Just to clarify:

In the same hour, Boston received Kevin Garnett and Eric Gagne.

heh heh.
M.A.G. says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Well, Theo, congratulations for a job well done.
Steven Roth says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:30 pm

I’ll be at the game with Evan so I hope Gagne pitches tonight!
M.A.G. says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:37 pm

Okajima, Papelbon, and now Gagne. This is really a bullpen to be feared!
Mr. Furious says:

July 31st, 2007 at 4:46 pm

Well, adding a player ike Gagne to the team and the player of biggest consequence we gave up being Gabbard, I guess that’s a pretty good deadline for the Sox. I’m glad we didn’t give up anymore pitching for Gagne, Dye or anybody else…
jvwalt says:

July 31st, 2007 at 5:19 pm

Other news: Gagne arrives tomorrow, and Brendan Donnelly is being shut down. He’s having Tommy John surgery. Apparently this has been known for at least a couple days; at the post-deadline presser, Theo thanked Donnelly for keeping it quiet until after the deadline. And according to Theo and Tito, Donnelly’s elbow has been screwed up for some time and he’s been trying to pitch through it.
Evan Brunell says:

July 31st, 2007 at 5:25 pm

That was big for Donnelly to do that.
Sports news without access, favor, or discretion. » Trade Deadline: A Big Trading Day, And In Baseball Too says:

July 31st, 2007 at 6:44 pm

[…] Yep, the Red Sox now have Eric Gagne. It seems strange he hasn’t pitched for the Red Sox or Yankees before, doesn’t it? […]