This is one of a series of posts in which we grade each team’s wily hot stove maneuvers and tragic offseason blunders.

As we know, “Milwaukee” is Algonquin for “the good land.” And Milwaukee does indeed look like the good land in 2008. Last year they ended up leading the NL Central for all but 29 games, only to falter in August and cede first place to the powerhouse 85-win Cubs. But this year will be different. Why?

First, there’s the hotly anticipated full season of Dreamy-Eyed Ryan Braun. Then there’s the fact that the Brewers finally took my advice (preen, preen) and moved the defensively challenged Braun out of the left side of the infield and into the left side of the outfield. Then there’s the fact that he’s just 24.

Then, there’s Prince Fielder, who, while the baseball world’s attention was focused on the dreamy eyes of the aforementioned Dreamy-Eyed One, hit 50 homers last year. He’s still only 23.

And then there’s Rickie Weeks, who spent most of last year struggling as he recovered from wrist surgery he’d had in August 2006—but who went on a tear the last two months of the season, and who’ll be leading off on Opening Day. He poised for a breakout season at age 25.

Hopes are also high for 21-year old starter Yovani Gallardo, who did quite well in his debut last year. Gallardo has been lights-out at every level, and should be ready to take on a full workload this year, despite his tender age. He’s got a fastball in the mid-90s and a big curveball in the 70s, and in September of last year, he put together a 21-inning scoreless streak with the big league club. He’ll likely be joined in the starting rotation by another young hurler, Carlos Villanueva, giving Milwaukee’s rotation a youthful new look.

Finally, 30-year old Ben Sheets is healthy and ready to have a good year, after a few seasons sprinkled with injuries. He’s in the last year of his contract and would no doubt like to prove himself worthy of big money; if he stays healthy, that shouldn’t be a problem. Over the past three years, he hasn’t pitched more than 156.2 innings per season, but his K/BB rate and his ERA have been decent over that span. Plus, the last time he was in a contract year, he pitched 237 innings with a 2.70 ERA and a ridiculous 237 strikeouts. If he can get even a little close to those numbers again, the Brewers will have a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation.

Yet despite all the good news, there are still some lingering concerns and question marks heading into camp.

The Brewers landed Gabe Kapler this winter, who is making a return to the majors after a year spent managing Boston’s Single-A club, the Greenville (SC) Drive. This upped the team’s already high dreaminess quotient considerably, and, more to the point, gives them the extra outfielder they need. Their preferred starting CF, Gold Glover Mike Cameron, starting the year serving a 25-game suspension after testing positive for a banned stimulant after last season, his second failed test. In his absence, centerfield will be staffed by Tony Gwynn Jr and Gabe Gross. Corey Hart platooned in right field last year, but Brewers brass seems to be going into Spring Training thinking of him as an everyday guy. Once Cameron returns, however, the Brewers will have six outfielders. Someone will have to go to the minors, or become trade bait.

But the outfield is just one issue still facing the Brewers. The bigger question is the bullpen. New closer Eric Gagne showed up in the Mitchell Report, and has yet to publicly comment on it; but, more alarmingly from the point of view of those paying him $10 million, he has yet to show he can still be an effective pitcher. With the Rangers last year, Gagne seemed to hold is own; but with the Red Sox, he fell so completely apart that he almost single-handedly cost them the division title. If Gagne goes back on the roids miraculously improves, Milwaukee’s expensive gamble will look canny. If he stays true to form, however, they’ll have made a very expensive, all-too-predictable mistake.

GM Doug Melvin also traded for reliever Guillermo Mota this offseason, who served a 50-game ban last year for failing a steroid test, and Salomon Torres, as well as signing free agents Randy Choate and David Riske (which has always seemed, to me, like a terrible last name for relief pitcher). None of those guys is going to cause dancing in the streets of Milwaukee. Unfortunately, try though Melvin might, there’s just no way to replace a set-up-man and closer combo of Scott Linebrink and Francisco Cordero—and no way for the Brewers to keep both of them. But despite the criticism of Linebrink’s four-year deal with the White Sox, $4.75 million a year isn’t that much for a set-up man. I admit that four years is a long time to commit to a reliever, and that the fact that Linebrink has a no-trade clause is preposterous, but despite talk of his “decline,” he’s still only 31. Couldn’t the Brewers have scooped him up for a lesser deal before other teams were allowed to negotiate with him? It’s not like they’re a tiny market team; their payroll is just shy of $80 million a year.

Looking ahead, their best prospect is another Fielder/Braun type named Matt LaPorta, another masher with no defense. But with Fielder at first base and Braun now in left field, the Brewers are running out of places to stash these guys. If I were the Brewers, once LaPorta has more professional games under his belt, I might find an AL team looking for a young DH and try to make a trade.

Projected Lineup, Rotation, and Closer

1. 2B Rickie Weeks - 16 HR, .374 OBP
2. SS J.J. Hardy - 26 HR, 30 2B, .277 AVG
3. 1B Prince Fielder - 50 HR, 1.013 OPS
4. LF Ryan Braun - 34 HR, .370 OBP
5. RF Corey Hart - 24 HR, .298 AVG
6. 3B Bill Hall - 14 HR, 35 2B, .254 AVG
7. CF Mike Cameron - 21 HR, .328 OBP
8. C Jason Kendall - .301 OBP, .309 SLG

SP1 Ben Sheets, 3.82 ERA, .253 BAA
SP2 Yovani Gallardo, 3.67 ERA, 1.27 WHIP
SP3 Carlos Villanueva, 3.95 ERA, .236 BAA
SP4 Jeff Suppan, 4.62 ERA
SP5 Dave Bush/Chris Capuano/Claudio Vargas/Manny Parra

CL: Eric Gagne

Acquisitions: Mike Cameron (CF), Eric Gagne (RP), Jason Kendall (C), David Riske (RP), Guillermo Mota (RP), Salomon Torres (RP), Gabe Kapler (OF)

Losses: Francisco Cordero (RP), Geoff Jenkins (LF), Scott Linebrink (RP), Matt Wise (RP), Johnny Estrada, (C).

Grade:B+

The Brewers will score runs with their speed and power, and their starting rotation looks solid. They’ll have several guys competing for the starters’ slots in camp, including lefty prospect Manny Parra. Shifting Braun to left field and Bill Hall to third base, and acquiring Cameron, should give the Brewers’ defense a needed boost. There’s been some disagreement about the deal for catcher Jason Kendall, but he moved back towards his career averages in the second half of last season. I see upside there. However, I have to dock the Brewers some points for gambling money they can’t afford to waste on Gagne. I suppose someone was going to sign him, but I can’t believe he commanded 10 million dollars. Were they out-bidding some other team?? Plus, I can’t help but notice that not only have they signed three guys with PED problems, but their farm system is no cleaner: of their top five prospects, one’s been slapped with a 50-game suspension for using PEDs, and another has been caught smoking pot multiple times. And then there’s the way they picked up Manager Ned Yost’s contract option, but forgot to announce it. Despite their decent offseason, it just feels like the Brewers don’t quite have their house in order.

But the bottom line is that the Brewers are a young club that, last year, broke a 15-year streak of sub-.500 seasons, broke a franchise home run record, and broke the Brewers’ attendance record. They’ve got solid pitching and great offensive ability. Their greatest weakness last year was their horrible defense, which they have addressed this winter about as well as could be hoped. This year, if a few of their pitching gambles work out, they could definitely make the playoffs.

- Hot Offseason Action Index -

It wasn’t too long ago that Eric Gagne was baseball’s premier closer and one of the few relievers to ever win a Cy Young. Then came two years in which he battled injuries, and a pretty good (but not stellar) start to the 2007 season in Texas. Yet in July, enough teams felt that he had enough left to vie for his services at the trade deadline. The Boston Red Sox bested their perpetual competitors in all major acquisitions, the New York Yankees, to win Gagne’s services for the remainder of the season, sending starting pitcher Kason Gabbard, minor league outfielder Dave Murphy, and highly regarded prospect Engel Beltre to Texas in exchange for Gagne. Boston also had to buy out the performance incentives in Gagne’s contract, since they wanted him to be their set-up man, not their closer. At the time, the deal was considered by most (though not all) to be a major coup.

How quickly things change. For reasons even he couldn’t understand, Gagne imploded in Boston. Red Sox fans quickly turned on him, moving from shock to hate to please-kill-him-it-would-be-more-merciful in record time. Time after time after time, Red Sox manager Terry Francona gave Gagne the chance to redeem himself. Time after time after time, Gagne failed. In fact, Eric Gagne was solely responsible for knocking several games off of Boston’s division lead over New York, almost single-handedly fostering an unnecessarily dramatic pennant race at the end of a season in which the Red Sox had commandeered the top spot in the AL East since mid-April.

Now the Red Sox have offered Gagne arbitration. Gagne may accept, but is expected to decline (not least because his agent is Scott Boras, and when do Scott Boras clients ever accept arbitration?). According to Jon Heyman (via mlbtraderumors, which I know all of you are refreshing every 10 minutes, don’t pretend you aren’t!):

The Brewers and Astros are among teams bidding for Eric Gagne, who has to be a closer wherever he goes (he was almost perfect as a closer in Texas last year, then perfectly awful as a setup man in Boston). Perhaps he could return to Texas, too, where he thrived.

And the Dallas Morning News reports that the Rangers have already contacted Gagne about returning to Texas, where he certainly had more success than in Boston. Last year, they gave him a one-year, $6 million deal with $5 million in performance bonuses.

So I ask you: if you were a baseball GM, would you take a chance on Eric Gagne? Do you think he struggled in Boston just because he wasn’t in the closer role? And if so, how much would you pay him?

What is going on with Eric Gagne? My one-woman quest to find out.

Despite arriving in Boston to much fanfare, Eric Gagne has nearly been run out of town by apoplectic fans who have seen him almost singlehandedly cut the team’s division lead over the Yankees. But why? Why does this venerable closer suddenly suck? He didn’t have a stellar start to the season in Texas, but he was solid. So why the sudden suckage north of the border? Is it a mental block because his role is different? Could it be a physical ailment? He’s been injured so often these past couple of years. Is he 31 and past his prime?Is he just tired? After all, his last full season of work was in 2004.

Multiple times now, Gagne has gotten two outs but been unable to get the third. Does he have a third-out problem? Or is it a first-pitch strike problem? He struggled to throw first pitches for strikes last night, but many times he has actually been ahead of the batter when he’s ended up getting rocked. Is he working too slowly? He seems to plod agonizingly around the mound, as if daring the networks to go to commercial between his pitches. The guy sitting next to me at the ballgame last night suggested that Gagne was rattled by the Fenway crowds; but though Gagne looked visibly confused last night when the Fenway Faithful gave a furious roar of joy for no immediately obvious reason (the manual scoreboard had just been updated to show Tampa Bay pulling ahead of New York), I don’t think the closer temperament requires library-type silence to get the job done.

So why, Eric? Why?!

I’ve narrowed it down to five possibilities:

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, oooof. As in, a solid punch to the gut. Which is how Theo Epstein, Terry Francona, and all the Sox fans and media prognosticators who lauded the Eric Gagne trade are feeling, or ought to be feeling, right now.

After last night’s game, Eric Gagne’s ERA with the Boston Red Sox now stands at 9.00.

And that’s not the kind of 9.00 ERA you get when you first join a team and give up 1 run in your first inning of work or something. Nay, it’s the kind of 9.00 ERA you get when you give up 14 runs in 14 innings of work.

When the trade first when down, I wrote a post in this space wherein I denegrated the deal, arguing that at most, the Sox could expect to get about 20 innings out of Gagne the rest of the season. Well, a month and a half down the road, Gagne is right on pace for 20 IP, but even I didn’t imagine he would be right on pace for 20 runs allowed.

My argument at the time was that I thought Kason Gabbard had too much upside to give up for only 20 innings of relief work plus a few innings in the playoffs, but lets face it: in hindsight even trading a bucket of used baseballs for Gagne would have been too high a price, given Gagne’s performance, let alone a major-league-ready starting pitcher and two other prospects.

I mean seriously, how high does a pitcher’s ERA have to go before a manager says “This man is no longer my set-up man. At best, he is my mop-up man/long reliever”? Apparently, that point is somewhere beyond one earned run per inning pitched for Terry Francona.

Oddly, the AP article on last nights game began with the sentence “Once the best closer in baseball, Red Sox reliever Eric Gange as suddenly become shaky.” As if this shakiness were some crazy new development. But Gagne has been either shaky or injured for going on 3 years now, so apparently the AP and I have different definitions of the word “suddenly.”

Although I do feel compelled to make one tiny point in defense of Gagne’s otherwise atrocious performance thus far with the Sox. To wit: the route J.D. Drew took to Russ Adams’ back breaking double which wound up just clearing his glove was one of the worst I’ve seen in a while. It was like he’d never played right field before. These ex-Dodgers are really killing the Red Sox, at least insofar as a team with the best record in baseball can be said to be getting “killed.”

Boston is losing today’s game against Tampa Bay as I write. Nevertheless, It was a special night in the Fens last night. An evening of hope for a region of panicked Red Sox fans.

Jon Lester took the mound in Fenway Park for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer. That in itself was an achievement. But it’s what he did next that electrified the old ballpark.

A full seven innings pitched on an economical 97 pitches (62 of which were strikes). Four strikeouts. One walk. Only two hits and just one run.

He used his fastball, his curveball, and his changeup and consistently hit his spots all night, alternately fooling hitters and freezing them. He strode in from the bullpen and tipped his cap to the standing, cheering Fenway Faithful and then, perhaps fighting down some nerves, walked the first hitter he faced. Then something shifted. For the rest of his time out there, it was clear he was in charge, as he retired 9 straight batters and then, after the Devil Rays run scored their one run, another 12 straight.

Unfortunately for Lester, he was up against Scott Kazmir, the Devil Ray’s one legit starter. Kazmir has always enjoyed success against Boston despite his tender years, and last night was no exception. On a strict pitch count, he left the game after six innings and 95 pitches, having struck out eight and allowed no runs, despite giving up four hits and walking three. The Red Sox were pleased to see the arrival of Tampa Bay’s bullpen (aka “batting practice pitchers”) but didn’t make any headway until the bottom of the ninth.

Manny Ramirez started the frame by watching strike three sail in—it looked low, and he argued, but he was out. Then Mike Lowell—himself a cancer survivor—launched a bomb over the Green Monster, over the Monster seats, over everything. Aerial footage from the Hood blimp showed it coming crashing down on Landsdowne Street, where ball scavengers tussled over it. Inside the confines, the crowd erupted. At home on the couch, I rejoiced, then worried—the last thing we needed right now was an extended, extra-innings slog that would sap our bullpen before today’s day game and what’s sure to be a tough, four-games-in-three-days battle with the Angels this weekend. We had to end this thing now.

Varitek follows with a ground-rule double. Youkilis then makes the second out of the inning when he—like Ramirez—strkes out looking. As an enraged Youkilis storms back to the dugout, looking more like a wrathful Russian Tsar than ever, Coco Crisp steps in to the batter’s box. Crisp has had some great defensive plays this season—and added another with a running basket catch last night—but has never had in Boston the kind of offensive output he had in Cleveland. His fingers fluttering over the handle of the bat, he waits.

Ball one. Ball two. Crisp takes a pitch for a strike. Ball three. Then another called strike. The count now full, Crisp swings at the next pitch and fouls it off. Crisp attacks the next offering, looping the ball into shallow right! Jason Varitek motors around third, but the Captain’s not known for his speed. His teeth gritted, he chuggs home as the throw comes in. The throw is short! Varitek slides home! Red Sox win!

A few thoughts.

1. Pitch counts are stupid. The Devil Rays are trying to “save Kazmir’s bullets” but costing him wins. Not to mention all the wins the team costs him by just sucking, period. I feel bad for Scott Kazmir.

2. This could be the moment the Sox get hot again. With the Yankees utterly crushed by the Orioles last night (12-0), Boston brought its lead in the division back to 5 games. I would love nothing more than for this game to galvanize the Red Sox and send them screaming into their upcoming series with New York.

3. Lester has disappointed, frankly, with his peripherals so far, despite being a highly touted prospect at the start of last season. Last year with the Sox, his 7-2 record and impressive string of five straight wins (making him the first rookie lefty in franchise history to win his first five decisions) was undermined by his 4.76 ERA and 43 walks in 81.1 innings. And as you might expect from someone who walked so many batters, but also struck out 60, he threw a lot of pitches and didn’t get very deep into games. This season, his record is 1-0 with a 5.14 ERA in 5 starts. He’s shown flashes of real brilliance, but has had trouble staying consistent. If he can get in a groove and go out there every five days and start stringing some innings together, this could finally be the season Jon Lester breaks out. Looking ahead, I would love to see the 6′4″ lefty helping to anchor the rotation in 2008—especially if Curt Schilling will be elsewhere. Beckett, Matsuzaka, Lester, Wakefield, and Buchholz? Rowr.

3. Boston’s bullpen looked good last night. After Manny Delcarmen got two outs in the eighth, Terry Francona called on veteran Mike Timlin to finish the job. Part of the reason the Sox wanted Eric Gagne was because it looked like Timlin’s days as a lights-out setup man were done. Timlin’s health hasn’t been great this season, giving him a rocky start. But lately, when he can pitch, he has pitched, giving up just two earned runs in all of July and August. Last night he came in and struck out B.J. Upton on four pitches–without throwing a ball. Not bad for a guy who only needs 7 more appearances to reach the 1,000 mark. If this is Timlin having a last gasp of glory, his timing couldn’t be better.

4. Eric Gagne was, well, Gagne-esque. After unleashing an expletive-filled tirade against himself on Sunday (when he blew his second save opportunity of the weekend), he came out last night and dominated. Maybe it’s because he was pitching the ninth inning. Maybe it’s because Friendly Fenway greeted him with a chorus of boos and it ignited within his breast a fierce desire to prove them wrong. Maybe it’s because he knew, deep inside somewhere, that Sarah Green had castigated him in an as-yet-unpublished column and he wanted to make her look stupid. Whatever the reason, I don’t care. He gave up a scary looking double—it one-hopped the low wall in right before J.D. Drew made a sweet one-handed grab, but was just feet away from being a game-tying homer— but also struck out the side. He threw heat, he threw changeups, and the Devil Rays looked like the overmatched scamps they are. It was hot.

5. Nevertheless, runners left on base continue to plague the Sox. Boston stranded 7 last night. Manny has grounded into 19 double plays–only six players in all of the major leagues have more. And David Ortiz still isn’t hitting like David Ortiz. Worry, worry. Fret, fret. This season’s going to go right down to the wire.

This week’s Metro column, in which I parse the Gagne-to-Boston deal for hidden significance. Did Boston or Texas come out on top? I report. You decide.

For what it’s worth, the more I think about it, the more I’m impressed with the Rangers’ handling of this trade deadline. Some of the pieces they had acquired earlier just made no sense for them to have—and they had the stones to admit it (unlike certain other GMs, who insist on retaining the services of, say, Julio Lugo). They tried their best to move Sammy Sosa, and when they couldn’t find any takers they had the hard conversation with the former superstar and told him he’d have to sit out more games to give the younguns a chance to play. They dumped Kenny “He’s Still Around?” Lofton for decent minor league catcher Max Ramirez. And they moved two of their biggest stars–Gagne and Mark Teixeira–before they walked, leaving the Rangers with nothing. What exactly Texas got for Gagne is the subject of my column, so I won’t go into it again here. But I’m still marveling at what they got for Teixeira–though the Braves seem very happy with the deal, as their new first baseman has already has three homers and eight RBI in his first six games with Atlanta.

Nonetheless, the Rangers did a great job of getting value out of Teixeira after he turned down their contract offer. For him (and Ron Mahay, don’t forget), they got: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, a six-foot-four switch hitting catcher/first baseman; Elvis Andrus, a shortstop who, at just 18, is rumored to have more tools than Home Depot and has already been compared to Derek Jeter; Matt Harrison, a lefty starting pitcher who likes to throw hard and—even better—throw strikes; 19-year old Neftali Feliz, who admittedly has yet to make it to the minors, but still struck out 70 batters in 51 and a third innings of work. and another left-handed pitcher, Beau Jones, who hasn’t quite lived up to the lofty expectations the Braves threw at him, but has managed to keep his ERA under 3 in 48 and 2/3 innings of relief work in Single A while notching a strikeout about once per inning.

Not too shabby. And if Engel Beltre is all he’s cracked up to be, they really cleaned up on prospects…but now I’m giving away the column.

I will analyze trades and rumored trades going down today, updating as news breaks. Latest news will be on top.

Red Sox acquire Eric Gagne from the Rangers for Kason Gabbard and minor leaguers David Murphy and Engel Beltre
I’m a big Kason Gabbard fan, so I think that the Rangers come out the winners in this one, especially given their desperate need for major-league-ready starting pitching. The Sox did avoid giving up any of their A-list prospects and moving Gabbard is helpful in the short term to clear room in the rotation for Schilling’s impending return, but they had to renegotiate Gagne’s contract to get him to waive his no trade clause, bumping up the price tag by several million, and they have consistently under-estimated Gabbard’s potential. If Gabbard ends up being a decent major league starter, the Sox may well regret giving him up for just two months and ~20 innings of Gagne.

Astros dump Morgan Ensberg on the Padres for a player to be named
The Padres continue their endless quest for a third baseman, which has been going on for more than two years now. No word yet on which minor leaguer the Astros are getting but it was probably nobody special since the Astros had designated Ensberg for assignment and had to trade him.

Padres get Rob Mackowiak from the White Sox for a player to be named
The Padres continue their search for answers in the outfield. Mackowiak is an even better option that yesterday’s acquisition, Scott Hairston, for the 4th outfielder role, so Hairston is probably headed to the minors. The White Sox are clearly sellers this year, so anything they can get for their impending free agents is a plus.

Braves get Octavio Dotel from the Royals Kyle Davies
This deal has been agreed to by both sides, but the Braves have to wait until the Teixera deal is finalized because Davies could potentially become the alternate player if the Rangers reject Matt Harrison for health reasons. This deal makes sense for both teams - the Braves have soured on Davies but the Royals would get a live arm to upgrade their ever-beleaguered rotation. There is speculation that Moore could have gotten a bit more for Dotel than Davies, but that his familiarity with Davies from his days in the Braves organization and his gut-feeling that Davies can be a star swung things in favor of the Braves.

Dodgers deal Wilson Betemit to the Yankees for Scott Proctor
At first glance this seems like a good deal for the Dodgers. Betemit had lost his starting job and had nowhere to play, and the Dodgers bullpen has been devastated by injuries and having to move Chad Billingsley, Mark Hendrickson, and Brett Tomko into the rotation to replace injured starters. However, Betemit’s low batting average of .231 conceals the fact that he has an extremely respectable OPS of .834, and by all rights should be starting at 3B over Nomar Garciaparra, who has a pathetic OPS of .690. Betemit’s OBP is .359; Nomar’s is .330. Betemit’s SLG is .474; Nomar’s is .360. Betemit has 10 home runs in 156 at-bats; Nomar has 4 home runs in 358 at bats. Meanwhile Scott Proctor has been one of the most abused pitchers in baseball since the beginning of 2006, and his peripherals are way down across the board since last year. So basically, this is a great deal for the Yankees. Betemit is a huge upgrade over Miguel Cairo as a utility infielder, and offers insurance at 3B should A-Rod opt out of his contract. Given a full year as a starter, Betemit should be able to hit 30 homers with a decent OBP.

Red Sox ship Joel Piniero to the Cardinals for a player to be named
This deal makes sense for both teams. The let’s-convert-piniero-to-a-bullpen-ace plan had been a complete bust for the Red Sox this season, so much so that they had busted Piniero down to the minors July 25. But for the Cardinals, Piniero immediately becomes something like their third best starting pitcher, so giving up a player-to-be-named seems like a pretty cheap price for a team with no starting pitching to speak of to gamble on Dave Duncan’s ability to help a player that is only 28 years old and has already started 148 big league games.

Eric Gagne Dodgers reliever Eric Gagne allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth inning Monday to earn a save in his second and final rehab assignment for Triple-A Las Vegas. Gagne got former major leaguer Curtis Pride to ground out to shortstop to end the 8-6 victory.

Gagne said he is scheduled to return to the Dodgers on Thursday, when they return home to play Philadelphia. The former All-Star has looked great during his rehab stint and is primed to regain his role as the Dodgers’ closer upon his return to the majors. It’s likely that it’s too late to pry Gagne away from your fantasy brethren, but it’s worth a shot. Try packaging two good relievers and see if you can catch someone off guard.

Mark Prior Pitching at the Cubs’ Class A affiliate, Prior struggled to get out of the second inning of his rehab appearance on Monday. The 25-year old righty threw 44 pitches in two innings, giving up four hits and three runs. He’s been on the disabled list all season as he works his way back from a sore shoulder.

With the Cubs mired in a season-long slump, don’t expect Prior to be rushed back into the rotation. The Cubs plan to start Prior in atleast two more rehab games before assessing his situation. Prior is a top-notch starter that is worth acquiring if you have trade bait and can afford to stow him away until he reemerges in the majors in mid-June.

Jorge Cantu Devil Rays 2B Jorge Cantu starts a week-long rehab assignment Monday at Double-A Montgomery and is expected back from a broken left foot around June 5.

Despite putting up remarkable numbers, Cantu is still an under-valued fantasy commodity. With eligibility at 2b and 3b, Cantu is coming off of a season in which he led the Devil Rays in homers, RBI’s, hits and doubles. Try to trade for Jorge before he regains full strength and starts mashing again at the Trop.

Carl Pavano Carl Pavano had a bone chip removed from his right elbow by Dr. James Andrews last Thursday, according to the New York Post.

Run for your lives! Anytime you hear the words “Dr. James Andrews” in regard to one of your pitchers, you might as well grab a drink, toast to better times, grin and bear it. Pavano is still hopeful to return before the end of 2006, but at this point, the injury-plagued Pavano holds little to no fantasy value. Stash him only if you have ample room on your DL.

Rich Harden Oakland ace Rich Harden could return to the Oakland rotation as early as this upcoming Sunday. He has been out of action and on the disabled list since late April due to a strained back muscle.

Now may be the perfect time to try to acquire Harden. With a lengthy injury to begin the 2006 campaign, fantasy owners may be growing restless with his prolonged abscence and may not have heard the good news about his return. Offer a respectable trade for Harden in an attempt to make an antsy Harden owner bite without thinking things through.

Stay tuned for my next article in which I’ll tell you which players WILL be injured by the end of this month.

Bust out your goggles. Start growing a goatee. Practice your fist pump. Yes, its true - Eric “Game Over” Gagne has completed his rehab assignment for the Las Vegas 51s and is set to return to the Dodgers this week.

For those of you who haven’t been following the story, Gagne has hardly pitched in over a year, ever since he sprained his knee in Spring Training of 2005, tweaked his elbow trying to pitch on a bad knee, and then tweaked it again trying to come back too early.

It remains to be seen if Gagne will be able to return to the form that made him the game’s best closer by far from 2002 to 2004 and carried him to a National League Cy Young Award in 2003.

But for those who may have forgotten just how good Gagne was during those three years, it is worth pointing out that since August of 2002, Gagne saved 116 games and blew only 2 save chances, and during part of that stretch compiled a Major-League record streak of 84 saves in a row without a blown save. Compare that to current Dodger closer Danys Baez, who has already blown 5 saves in 14 opportunities, and it becomes clear why the Dodgers are so anxiously awaiting Gagne’s return, even if he is only 80 percent of what he was before.

But hopes are high that he can be as good as ever. Gagne says he is pain free for the first time in a year, and his pitches apparently are still as nasty as ever. In the words of Las Vegas catcher Eric Langhill, who caught Gagne on Monday, “His fastball’s got life to it. His changeup is like a Nintendo changeup. His curveball is like a Nintendo curveball.”