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12-12-2006, 01:15 PM
Report: Gagne agrees to $8M deal with Rangers
ESPN.com news services
The Rangers reportedly have lured a second player from the Dodgers in as many days.
Le Journal de Montreal reports that former Dodgers closer Eric Gagne (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6342) has agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal with Texas. The Rangers reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year, $6 million contract with former Dodgers center fielder Kenny Lofton (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=4789) on Monday.
Gagne had season-ending surgery July 8 to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. He is expected to be healthy and ready to pitch when spring training begins in mid-February.
Gagne was limited to 14 games and eight saves in 2005 and two outings with one save this year. He had surgery in April to remove a nerve from his pitching elbow -- the same arm that required elbow-ligament replacement surgery in 1997.
Gagne became a closer in 2002 and was an immediate success, saving 52 games that year, a franchise-record 55 in 2003 and 45 in 2004. He set a major league record with 84 consecutive saves from late 2002 to mid-2004.
He won the NL Cy Young Award in 2003, when he went 2-3 with a 1.20 ERA and 55 saves, two shy of the record Bobby Thigpen set with the Chicago White Sox (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=cha) in 1990.
ESPN.com news services
The Rangers reportedly have lured a second player from the Dodgers in as many days.
Le Journal de Montreal reports that former Dodgers closer Eric Gagne (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6342) has agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal with Texas. The Rangers reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year, $6 million contract with former Dodgers center fielder Kenny Lofton (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=4789) on Monday.
Gagne had season-ending surgery July 8 to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. He is expected to be healthy and ready to pitch when spring training begins in mid-February.
Gagne was limited to 14 games and eight saves in 2005 and two outings with one save this year. He had surgery in April to remove a nerve from his pitching elbow -- the same arm that required elbow-ligament replacement surgery in 1997.
Gagne became a closer in 2002 and was an immediate success, saving 52 games that year, a franchise-record 55 in 2003 and 45 in 2004. He set a major league record with 84 consecutive saves from late 2002 to mid-2004.
He won the NL Cy Young Award in 2003, when he went 2-3 with a 1.20 ERA and 55 saves, two shy of the record Bobby Thigpen set with the Chicago White Sox (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=cha) in 1990.