How Not To Close

The Brewers lost to the Cardinals today with (yet another) blowup from"closer" Eric Gagne, whose 6.89 ERA, 1.85 WHIP and 1.55 K/BB ratios are coming at the bargain basement price of $10 million for the year.

"I don’t deserve that ninth inning right now. It’s pretty simple," said Gagne after the game, echoing his fantasy league's owners, who have already endured five blown saves (out of 14 chances), the most in MLB.

The Brewers don't really have a very good option right now -- because they've got several. Between Guillermo Mota, Salmon Torres and David Riske, they've got arms who are prone to strikeouts, but no one that's too obvious for the job. Manager Ned Yost keeps going for Gagne in the hope that he'll turn it around, but with the Brew Crew already five games back in the division, time is of the essence. (And no, Derrick Turnbow is not the answer, not unless the question is who is the Brewers' AAA closer... and the guy who isn't even good enough to get claimed on waivers.)