Brewers sign RHP Gagne to minor-league deal

Feb 17, 2009 - 11:14 PM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Eric Gagne is getting another shot. This time, however, he'll have to earn his way to the major leagues.

The former Cy Young Award winner signed a minor-league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, with an invitation to spring training. He returns to a club for whom he spent the 2008 season, going 4-3 with a 5.44 ERA and 10 saves.

Once one of the most dominant closers in baseball, Gagne still holds the record for consecutive saves, converting 84 straight chances from August 2002 to July 2004 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But a variety of injuries over the next few seasons robbed him of his velocity, movement and, presumably, confidence.

He bounced around between the Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox before signing a one-year deal with the Brewers following the 2007 campaign. However, he lost his closer's job in early May after blowing five of 14 save opportunities.

Should he fail to make the Milwaukee this time around, Gagne would be able to exercise a clause in his contract that allows him to opt out and become a free agent rather than continue in the club's minor-league system.

"He's got to win a job," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin told MLB.com. "He came to me at the end of the season and told me he felt he didn't earn his (salary), that he didn't pitch the way he wanted to pitch for what he was being paid. He said he felt indebted to us to come back in and give it another shot for us."

Also on Tuesday, the Brewers reached a one-year contract with outfielder Corey Hart, avoiding arbitration. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Hart had been seeking $3.8 million, while the team offered $2.7 million, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Hart, 26, hit .268 last season with 20 home runs, a career-high 91 RBI and 23 stolen bases while earning his first All-Star selection.