The deal sucks. Anyway you look at it. Trading an arm, any arm, OUT of Torre's hand to get a below average firstbaseman in any way shape or farm sucks.
Jacko, I rarely agree with you, mainly because I believe you think like a fan of a small market team, but I am surprised you like this move. Is the overall difference between Phillips and Betemit [Phillips is a much better defensive first baseman than Betemit] worth giving up those innings? Where the Sox gave up nothing to get Gagne, we got Betemit. For our workhorse out of the pen. True, he wasn't the best pitcher on our team, but he could take the ball three nights in a row, he could pitch more than one inning, and we replaced him with NOTHING. A below average firstbaseman, when we had one.