Can Somebody Please Explain This To Me?

The Milwaukee Brewers and reliever Eric Gagne have agreed to a 1-year, $10 million dollar deal. The team says it needed help in the bullpen after losing Francisco Cordero to the Cincinnati Reds earlier this offseason for $46 million over 4. Let's not forget Gagne will compete with Derrick Turnbow to be Milwaukee's closer. He's not been handed the job yet. And let's also not forget this happened just hours before the New York Yankees signed reliever LaTroy Hawkins to a 1-year, $3.75 million dollar contract.

Here's why I'm so perplexed. First, how on Earth is Eric Gagne worth $10 million dollars right now? Yes, he turns just 32 next month. And yes, at one time he was arguably the most dominant closer in the history of baseball. But this is also a guy who's been with 3 teams and recorded 17 saves since June of 2005. This is a guy whose right arm looks like it's been stolen from the Frankenstein monster and then attached to his body. This is a guy who was so bad for Boston down the stretch that he was relegated to mop-up duty late in the season and in the playoffs. This is a guy who had only 5 appearances out of 25 with the Sox where he didn't allow a baserunner and not once did he retire more than 3 batters. How does that make him worth an 8-figure salary, especially considering he could end up being Derrick Turnbow's set-up man?

Second, supposing Gagne is worth $10 million, how is LaTroy Hawkins worth only $3.75? Hawkins has appeared in at least 60 games for each of the last 8 seasons. During that stretch he has had at least double digits in holds, or double digits in saves every year. He posted a 2.90 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .228 average after the All-Star break and allowed just 3 baserunners over 5 innings in the 2007 playoffs for Colorado. The only way Hawkins will close for the Yanks this season is if Mariano Rivera misses the team bus or takes a liner off the noggin, but still, New York's backup plan could be much worse.

Perhaps Gagne regains his previous form from earlier this decade. After all, I'm sure the Brewers would take even 75% of his '03 season (55 saves, 1.20 ERA, 137 K's, 57 baserunners in 82 1/3 IP, plus a Cy Young Award). But in my opinion, the odds of Gagne being worth more than 2.5 times what LaTroy Hawkins is when '08 is in the books, are not good.