Nothing like sitting in depositions, and having your Blackberry go off to inform you of a big signing, when you are away from your blog...and a reminder of how glad I am to have zywica on board, for just these sorts of occasions...
Apparently a $6 million base, with another possible $5 million in incentives.
This confuses me, really. I don't understand why Gagne is such a priority, unless it is to facilitate an Otsuka trade. And even then, Gagne seems like a pretty huge roll of the dice, considering how long he's been out of commission.
At this point, you have to figure that the pen looks something like this:
Gagne
Otsuka
Littleton
Francisco
Benoit
Mahay
Wilson
But you also have Rick Bauer, Scott Feldman, Mike Wood, Francisco Cruceta, John Rheinecker, John Koronka, and probably some others I can't think of offhand Update [2006-12-12 16:49:38 by Adam J. Morris]: such as Nick Masset and Kam Loe.
And this also assumes that Josh Rupe goes to the rotation, rather than staying in the pen.
I know the new C.W. is that a one year deal is never a bad deal, but...I guess I just don't get this. It is $6 million spent on an area where you already have such a glut of talent that you were looking to deal people anyway.
I guess it makes it more viable for you to package a couple of relievers for Jon Lieber or someone like that. And if Gagne is great this summer, and you still have Otsuka, it allows you to put together a more attractive trade package with those guys come the trade deadline.
But still...I don't know. Unless you are flipping Otsuka for a starting pitcher, I just don't see that this deal does that much.
And even if you flip Otsuka, it means that you are counting on a guy who hasn't been healthy for a couple of years. And Gagne probably won't even garner you a draft pick if he leaves after 2007, since he missed almost all of 2006.
I don't know. I'm not fired up about this signing. I'm not disappointed. It just seems...weird. It opens you up to do some other things down the road, which is always nice, but it doesn't seem to make this team any better for 2007.