:cry: Eric Gagne has probably worn the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the last time. Along with his elbow reconstruction and rehab, he has now undergone major surgery to repair two herniated discs in his lower back. The Dodgers retain a $12 million option on his services for next year, which they almost certainly will not exercise, thus making him a free agent. His agent, Scott Boras, is already persona non grata at Dodger Stadium for holding out the Dodgers #1 pick in 2005 until they lost him, along with pulling some other stunts. So there will be no "flex" in that contract. The Mighty Gagne is gone... :cry: :cry: :cry:
That's a shame, he was incredible for a couple of years before the injury playing pepper. Scott Boras is persona non grata in a lot of places. He's right up their with Satan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Tojo, and the rest of 'em as far as I'm concerned. Terry
8) Dodgers at the All-Star break... Good areas: 1. Nomar Garciaparra -He's home and leading the National League in B.A. as well as taking a 21 game hitting streak into the break. This is the best position player ever to wear the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 2. Andre Ethier -This rookie is the Dodgers best player after Nomar. All he's doing is batting .336 as the regular leftfielder and he hits lefties better than righties. He's now been moved to the #4 position in the batting order to protect Nomar... 3. Russell Martin -Another rookie; he's batting .305 and the pitchers love him. He throws out base stealers and he's a clutch hitter. He will be the LA catcher for a long time... 4. Brad Penny -Is the closest thing to an ace/stopper that this team is going to have. He has a chance to win 20... 5. Cesar Izturis -Little Cesar is back and Rafael Furcal will have a hard time holding his starting ss position. Izturis was the best defensive ss in baseball, and he's now performing miracles at 3rd base... 6. Takashi Saito -This former Japanese star has saved a very bad bullpen that lost both of its aces for the year; Eric Gagne and Yhency Brazoban. 7. Aaron Sele -The old pro began in Triple-A, but has now won a permanent place in the starting rotation. He's 6-2 and undefeated at Dodger Stadium... - As you can see, this is a very different team from the one which started on Opening Day. Of the seven star players that I mentioned, NONE were in the Opening Day starting lineup! Sele, Martin, and Ethier weren't even on the roster and Saito was considered the bottom of the bullpen... - Operaman is back. For the third time in four years, the Dodgers recalled Giovanni Carrara from the minors after bringing him out of involuntary retirement. He's a good pitcher. Why don't they cut the crap and just give him a guaranteed contract? They go through this every year and he doesn' want to play for anyone else anyway... - The roster will get crowded after the break. Ricky Ledee and Jason Repko are due to return from the 60-day disabled list. Repko was a starter batting over .300 and sparking the offense when he went down, but he's probably lost his job to Andre Either. He's only 25 and in his second year, so he and Ledee could be trade bait. Somebody will get a wonderful, young, everyday player in Repko if they trade him... - There are no plans to play Odalis Perez because of his attitude. The Dodgers may have to eventually eat his contract... - Jayson Werth, who was the starting leftfielder two years ago, will never get his job back. He broke his wrist being hit by the pitch in Spring Training last year, but the Dodgers now have Ethier, Kemp and Repko out there with more on the way. There's no room for him... Dodger Needs: Dodgers desperate for at least one more starting pitcher and may deal for bullpen help too. They've had the most productive offense in the National League all season, but the pitching problems are making them a team thats just slightly over .500. With just a little more pitching, this is a very good team... (5* scale) (my evaluation) Starting pitchers: Brad Penny **** Derek Lowe *** Aaron Sele ** Brett Tomko ** (DL) Mark Henrickson * Chad Billingsley * Relief pitchers: Takashi Saito **** Giovanni Carrara ** Jonathon Broxton ** Joe Beimel ** Danys Baez ** Current DL: Bill Mueller Jayson Werth Jason Repko Brett Tomko Yhency Brazoban Eric Gagne Ricky Ledee The rest of the pen is dog doo-doo. The Dodgers will make some trades and/or take a chance on one of the cast-offs, like Sidney Ponson or Russell Ortiz......... ..........DD
Jo'Co.... <t>That is awful about EG. The guy was amazing. Hope there is some way he makes it back.<br/> <br/> Should be a good series coming up in St.Louis after the break. The Dodgers are a dangerous club.</t>
:roll: Scratch any thought of the Dodgers obtaining Ponson. Its never going to happen. Dodger GM Ned Colletti once obtained Ponson for pennant race help when he was at San Francisco, but he flopped, badly. Today's LA Times claims that Ponson has a known drinking problem...