From the Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes :
Free-agent closer Eric Gagne is expected to decide today where he™ll be pitching in 2007, his choice coming down to one of three teams that have made him offers: the Red Sox, Indians, and Rangers.
The Red Sox may be a dark horse in this three-team race, as Gagne is more likely to have his contract demands satisfied by either the Indians or Rangers. The Sox are balking at agent Scott Boras’s demand for at least $5 million in guaranteed money for Gagne, who has been limited to 15 1/3 innings the last two years because of multiple elbow surgeries and back surgery. The Sox were reviewing Gagne’s medical records, but without the chance to see him pitch — and Boras has no inclination to audition his client, who saved 152 games from 2002-04 with the Dodgers — a Gagne signing comes with significant risk.
Proving that Wilpon Inc. is a very forgiving company when employees are dealing with drug issues (either that, or the loss of Chad Bradford left them with few other options), the Mets have retained suspended free agent reliever Guillermo Mota.