Gagne coming soon?

The rumor is Tyler Clippard, Jeff Marquez and a 'player to be named later' to Texas for Eric Gagne. The PTBNL is supposedly a 'C-level prospect.' Could it be Jeff Karstens, or Brett Gardner?

I don't know about this trade. The trio of Joba, Gagne and Mo could be unstoppable down the stretch. But for that to even be the case, they have to get good starting pitching and consistent hitting, both questions (although getting Hughes back will help). Marq, Clip AND another prospect seems like a bit too much, especially considering Gagne's a two month rental and he won't bring back any compensatory draft picks (because he missed so much time the last few years). Plus Joba is set to join the Big Club's bullpen (man, did he dominate tonight in his first relief appearance).

Back to Gagne, he will almost certainly become a free agent again - he wants to close and his agent is the infamous Scott Boras, so make no mistake, this is a two month rental. Now Marquez and Clippard might've never made it to the Bronx with the Yanks stacked pitching depth, but Clippard IS extremely healthy, unlike Gagne (who's pitched less than 50 innings the last 2.5 years). But alas, this is not the same Gagne who won the Cy Young in 2003 - he doesn't have quite the stuff (especially the velocity) he had then. Now granted, I wanted Cash to sign Gagne last offseason - and now it comes back to bite them (of course, he supposedly only wanted to close, not set up, so Cash had no choice). But I think they shied away from him because of his injuries. But it didn't stop them from signing Octavio Dotel for half a year, and Jon Lieber for two years (one of which they knew he would miss). I'm sure they could have convinced Gagne to set up (and occassionally close) for, not just the Yankees, but the best closer ever. These are the Yankees - they can take chances on injured players, just like their drafting strategy (Joba, Brackman). Now they're giving up young starting pitching to acquire it. If it does happen, I'll be excited for 2+ months, but I DON'T think Gagne will be the difference between the playoffs and not.