Originally Posted by Strange Famous

I only started watching baseball this year - so I know that I might say ignorant things and talk crap... I still dont know the sport that well, Ive never played it and Ive only watched something like 20 or 30 complete games.

But I think Gagne will be a good player again. He strikes me as someone who threw/pitched fast... and now he has lost 5 MPH and he cant adjust straight away. Pitches that used to be strikes with that bit of extra heat are turning into hits. When he learns to throw with the fact he doesnt have the pace he did previously, I think he could be a great player again.

From what I saw, he was SHIT last year,,, but good players dont becopme bad players overnight. I think if he has time he can be a good 90 MPH pitcher, like he was a great 97 MPH pitcher. It wasnt an accident he was so highly rated a couple of years ago, he isnt a mug.

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And as for Lowell, as a Redsox fan - with all that I said above still counting about being very new to this sport - Im glad they held on to him. He is a leader, and stats tell part of the story, but you need leaders on the field... when its going well you can do without them, when its going badly they are the difference between ugly wins and deserved losses. Who were they going to sign who would slot in and replace him? You dont just have to replace a competent fielder and a clutch batter, but a leader of the team. It takes more than running around hard and doing your best to be a difference in the clubhouse amonst a team of millionaires (which all MLB players are after 2 years minimum), and this guy IS a difference maker.