Schadenfreude 12 (A Continuing Series)

Joel Sherman, New York Post:

Red Sox Just Made It "Lights Out" In AL East

The home clubhouse door opened yesterday and the one player the Yankees absolutely, positively had to rid themselves of, Kyle Farnsworth, was present wearing his cut-off muscle shirt and bumpkin smile.

The home clubhouse door opened yesterday and the one player the Yankees absolutely, positively had to add to elevate their postseason chances, Eric Gagne, was being discussed because he will soon be part of the Red Sox clubhouse. ...

"You live with your decisions," general manager Brian Cashman said.

And we now find out if Cashman's career in the Yankees' front office is going to die with those choices. He decided to prioritize the 2008 Yankees over the 2007 Yankees. To get Gagne - just the kind of tough-minded, excellent, proven reliever the Yankees crave - Cashman was told a package must start with either Melky Cabrera or Ian Kennedy.

Cashman was uncomfortable relinquishing either. ...

Gagne's nickname is Lights Out and that is probably now also what you can say about the Yanks' chances of making up eight games on Boston over the final two months. Boston strengthened the area the Yankees needed to, forming a late-game trio of Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima and Gagne that is now the majors' best.

Privately, the Yanks were actually pleased Gagne was kept away from the Tigers and Indians, whom they are closer to in the Wild-Card standings.

Bill Madden, New York Daily News:

Jackpot For Bosox
Red Sox Bring In Gagne As Yanks, Mets Bow Out

... Both the Yankees and Mets coveted Texas closer Eric Gagne and made what they felt were aggressive offers for him. That the Red Sox were able to bag the rehabilitated Gagne - who's 16-for-17 in saves with a 2.16 ERA - and plug him in as a setup man between Hideki Okajima and closer Jonathan Papelbon to form what is now the most formidable back-end bullpen in all of baseball is a tribute to their superior farm system. ...

Having struck out in their attempts to trade for a reliever, gotten rid of burned out Scott Proctor and turned down a deal for Farnsworth, the Yankees have no choice now but to patch the set-up relief corps with rookies Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez. They're not catching the Red Sox, and too much probably needs to happen for them to beat out the Mariners, Indians or Tigers for the wild card.

But at least they didn't do something stupid for the sake of adding a rental arm that might not have been enough anyway.