Éric Gagné

Éric Gagné
File:Eric gagne.jpg
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. 38
Relief pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
September 7, 1999, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics (through July 13, 2006)
Saves	161
ERA	3.27
Strikeouts	629

Éric Serge Gagné (born January 7, 1976 in Montreal, Québec, Canada), pronounced "GAHN-yay", is a right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He has played his entire career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but is currently a free agent. For three years (2002-2004), he was statistically the most outstanding closer in the game, winning the Cy Young Award in 2003 (a rare feat for a reliever). His 3 seasons from 2002-2004 are considered by many to be one of the best 3 year stretches for a relief pitcher in the history of MLB. More recently, he has struggled with injuries.

Early life

From a French-Canadian family, Gagné grew up playing ice hockey in his small hometown of Mascouche, located not far from Montreal. A fan of the Montreal Expos, he started playing baseball as well as hockey. As a teenager he was a brilliant pitcher in high school, eventually becoming a star with Canada's Junior World Championship teams. He turned into one of the best baseball pitchers of all time.

Minor Leagues

Gagné was a 3rd-round draft choice of the Chicago White Sox in 1994, but the following year he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent. Gagné, who spoke only French, went to study at Seminole Junior College in Seminole, Oklahoma. As a student, he taught himself English by watching various TV sitcoms, such as Will & Grace and Kenan & Kel, and pitched for the college's "Trojans" ball team.

He then went on to pitch in the minor leagues but missed the entire 1999 season due to Tommy John surgery. He joined the Los Angeles Dodgers team for a part of the 2001 season; in his first year in the major leagues, he appeared in only five games as a starting pitcher. Over his first three seasons he met with only mediocre success, winning 11 games while losing 14. At one point, the Montreal Expos offered a trade to the Dodgers which would have sent outfielder Jesus Milan in exchange for Gagné, but the Dodgers backed out at the last moment.

Major League Success

At the start of the 2002 season, he was converted from a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher, and soon became the National League's leading reliever, earning 52 saves for the season.

In 2003, as a closer, Gagné was called upon 55 times to save a baseball game and converted every one of them en route to becoming both the first pitcher to record 50 saves in more than one season and also the fastest pitcher to ever reach the 100-save plateau. His 55 saves in 2003 also equaled the National League record set the previous season by John Smoltz. Between August 26, 2002 and July 5, 2004, he converted 84 consecutive save chances – another major league record. Remarkably, more than half (55%) of the batters he retired during the 2003 season came by strikeout. The streak is considered among the most impressive in baseball history.

Gagné finished the 2003 season with an 1.20 earned run average and had 137 strikeouts and 20 walks in 82 1/3 innings pitched. This translated into an incredible 1.66 strikeouts per inning pitched. For his performance, he won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award and became the first relief pitcher in 11 years to win the Cy Young Award. With Ferguson Jenkins, he is one of only two Canadian pitchers to win the most prestigious pitching award in baseball. Ironically, he is the only pitcher to win the award while having a losing season (his record was 2-3).

Despite this, he lost his arbitration case over the winter.

On July 15, 2004 – just ten days after his saves streak ended – Gagné collected his 130th save as a Dodger in a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona, surpassing Jeff Shaw for the most career saves in team history.

During his career, Gagné has converted 161 saves out of 167 save opportunities for a conversion rate of 96%. It is not uncommon for even the most successful closers to have 6 or more blown saves in a season, let alone a career. By comparison, Mariano Rivera has a conversion rate of 88%, Trevor Hoffman's is 89%, and Billy Wagner's is 86%. Each of these elite closers has blown 6 save opportunities in a season at least once, although their careers outspan Gagné's.

Gagné has often been compared to Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley. Both were former starters who found much success after moving to the bullpen. Gagné's dominating stretch from 2002-2004 is similar to Eckersley's during the 1988-1992 seasons. They both have won a Cy Young Award as a relief pitcher, only a handful in the history of the game to do so. In fact, Gagné was the first reliever since Eckersley to win the award.

Injuries

Gagné battled injuries of several kinds in early 2005, pitching in only 14 games, though still very well (2.70 ERA, 8 saves in 8 opportunities). On June 21, 2005, it was announced that Gagné would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair a sprained ligament in his right elbow. Recovery would take a year or more; furthermore, a return to major league pitching after a second Tommy John operation (Gagné's first was in 1997) is still unprecedented. However, as surgeons began to perform the operation, they discovered instead a nerve entrapped by scar tissue and were able to release it with a less invasive procedure. Gagné was still unable to play for the remainder of the 2005 season.

Gagné expressed hope that an accelerated recovery would allow him to pitch for Canada in the World Baseball Classic in March 2006, but he eventually decided that it was not worth the risk, and to focus on preparing to pitch in the regular season.

After some encouraging outings in early spring training, pain in Gagné's pitching elbow forced him to undergo a second surgery, this time to remove entirely the nerve that doctors had previously attempted to stabilize. More recovery time ensued, but Gagné finally pitched in his first regular-season game of 2006 on June 3. He made two appearances for the Dodgers, pitching two scoreless innings and earning one save, but pain from the nerve in his elbow recurred, and he returned to the disabled list on June 13. A further (and apparently unrelated) setback occurred on July 4, when Gagné awoke with intense pain in his back. An examination revealed two herniated discs, and Gagné underwent a season-ending back surgery on July 8. [1]

Future

It is now uncertain whether Gagné will ever return to pitching form. If he does, it is also uncertain if he will be with the Dodgers, the only team he has ever pitched for. Gagné's contract included a team option for 2007 but the Dodgers exercised a $1 million buyout rather than pay his $12 million salary.[2] Gagné became a free agent, and can re-sign with the Dodgers or any other team. Gagné has expressed willingness to take a lower salary in order to stay with the team, but Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has not said whether the team is interested in bringing Gagné back.

Trivia

• When he would enter a game, the Dodgers would flash the words "Game Over" on the electronic screens in the ballpark and play his entrance music of "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.
• In a statistical oddity, Gagné had three consecutive seasons of exactly 82.1 innings pitched. [3]
• On 6 June 2006, he and catcher Russell Martin became the first all-Canadian-born battery (pitcher/catcher unit) in a MLB game.

See also

• List of players from Canada in Major League Baseball
• Players from Québec in MLB
• List of MLB individual streaks

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference
• Template:Espn mlb
• The Baseball Cube - Major and Minor League Statistics
• Detailed biography of Gagné