...There wasn't anything wrong with his stuff: his four-seamer was mostly 92-94 mph and his "Vulcan" changeup was still an outpitch, 82-85 mph, with tumble and fade.

 The problem was pitch selection: He barely used the change, throwing mostly fastballs, even in obvious changeup counts (e.g., 1-2 to a left-handed hitter). Because his fastball is straight, hitters can time it if they know it's coming. The responsibility for pitch selection can fall on the pitcher or the catcher, depending on the team. But at some point, Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek or pitching coach John Farrell should have altered the pitching plan, or Gagne himself should have started shaking Varitek off when Varitek leaned too heavily on the fastball. None of this happened, and the results were predictably bad... 

Law was at the Brewers game on Thursday and along with some interesting observations on Manny Parra and Alcides Escobar (which you'll have to pay to read, sorry) Law updated his scouting report on Gagne, and it doesn't sound good:

• Eric Gagne threw in yesterday's game and continued a disturbing trend that started when he went to Boston last summer. Gagne faced four hitters, and went to two strikes on three of them. He threw two fastballs and one curve, but did not go to his changeup, his out-pitch during his dominant years with the Dodgers. His refusal to use that pitch in obvious changeup counts causes two problems. One, hitters can sit on his fastball, which he throws at least 80 percent of the time, and which has little movement. Two, it's a sign that he doesn't trust his change, which no longer has the great tumbling action it had when he was in L.A.; it's an above-average pitch, but he's not going to miss many bats with it. The Brewers are looking to Gagne to be their closer, but his stuff isn't going to produce the strikeout totals and quick innings most teams expect from that role.

Law's take on the Gagne's changeup seems to have darkened a little and with it, the overall outlook has taken a hit. We can hope that Gagne just isn't using the change much, and there have been reports this spring that he is one to work on pitches in spring and doesn't use his whole arsenal. But this makes it sound like he simply doesn't have a strikeout pitch anymore. If that is true, he probably will struggle at times in the closers spot.

There are no shortage of potential candidates for the job, including Derrick Turnbow, David Riskie, Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota or maybe even Luis Pena or Seth McClung before the year is out. But all of those choices come with big question marks and Gagne has the longest track record of success in that role. If Gagne does need to be removed, it certainly will lead to plenty of criticism of the 1 year, 10 million dollar deal he signed this offseason.