Good Riddance Gagne

For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Eric Gagne has recently signed a one year contract for the Milwaukee Brewers for $10 million.  Consider his performance with the Red Sox last season and that is a ridiculous.  Add in that he was mentioned in George Mitchell’s report on steroids that was released today and that was laughable.  It seems we now know why Gagne had shoulder problems a couple years ago.  Steroids aside though, I am glad to see him go.  Though it can’t be determined for sure (it will take a few years to know) the Red Sox trade for him last summer has to be one of the worst ones in recent history.  The Red Sox gave up a starting pitcher, and two outfield prospects for basically a few losses and a sandwich draft pick.  If they didn’t make that trade last summer, it makes you wonder what the team would look like right now.

The Red Sox would have under their control lefty starter Kason Gabbard, outfield prospects David Murphy and Engel Beltre.  Coincidentally, those are the positions the trade for Johan Santana are centered around.  If the Red Sox had not made this trade, they could potentially have added the left handed ace already.  None of these prospects are currently as good as Lester or Ellsbury, but they would have a lot more to work with.  Beltre has tremendous potential and could have been used as a piece in the deal with Lester and other prospects or could have been a comfort to the Red Sox organization knowing that in the future they have another player that can make a potentially strong impact.

So, Gagne for one draft pick?  Who knows, this could be the best deal ever, with that pick they could have the next Roger Clemens (oh wait, he used steroids, bad example) they could get the next Johan Santana.  Overall, this seems like it was a bad trade only made more laughable with the release of today’s report.