Eric Gagne is on his way back to the Brewers, ready or not. Since going on the disabled list over a month ago, Salomon Torres has firmly grasped the 9th inning role and manager Ned Yost has said that Gagne will not be getting it back upon his return. Which leaves the question: what will Gagne's role be with the team when he returns?

Gagne's rough start to the season, where he blew 5 of 15 save opportunities and racked up a  6.98 ERA, coupled with his disastrous second half with Boston last year, has a lot of people convinced that he is without value. There may come a time when the Brewers best move would be to just treat his 10 million dollar salary for this year a "sunk cost" and just part ways with him. I don't think it's time to go that route just yet, though.

Last year at this time, Gagne was having a successful, comeback season as closer for the Texas Rangers. Then he went to the Red Sox, and in about two weeks he had managed to work himself out of having the opportunity to pitch in close games. That lasting impression caused many to pan the Brewers acquisition of him in the offseason. The fact that he is less than a year removed from being a reliable option coupled with the fact that he is only 32 years old makes it reasonable to hope there is something left in the tank. His rehab starts at AAA Nashville were a mixed bag, the first solid and the second pretty bad.

It is reasonable to assume that something like his second appearance in AAA is still in the cards as a possible outcome in the majors at this point, which means he will have to be used carefully. That brings us back to the question of how the Yost should use him. Gagne's performance to this point of the season pretty much demands that if he is going to be brought back, that he be used only in non-critical game situations, at least until he proves that he has turned a corner. Sure, there might come a time when Yost is forced to use him in a key situation in the event that the rest of the bullpen is unavailable, an extra inning game for instance. In that event, Yost will have to bite the bullet and give him a shot.

If Gagne cannot establish himself as a semi-reliable option within a few weeks, then the team will need to just eat the remainder of the contract and bid Gagne farewell. Given the commitment they have made to him financially, it is in their best interest to see if they can't get some value out of him.