Gagne, who last pitched in the majors in 2008 and retired for the first time in 2010, decided in February that he would attempt to get back to the leagues. He then impressed out of Team Canada’s bullpen during the World Baseball Classic, which led multiple teams to show interest in Gagne. The Dodgers, with whom Gagne spent the majority of his career, even discussed a minor league contract with him in early April, but no agreement came to fruition with them or any other major league organization. Undeterred, Gagne signed with the independent Long Island Ducks two-plus weeks ago. He didn’t fare well over 3 2/3 innings, though, leading him to wrap up his playing career for good.

Gagne debuted in the majors as a starter in 1999 and went on to pitch for four teams, with which he combined for a 3.47 ERA, 10.04 K/9, 3.16 BB/9 and 187 saves. He won a World Series with the Red Sox in 2007, but his best years came in Los Angeles. Gagne was especially dominant from 2002-04, a stretch in which he picked up 152 saves on 153 tries (including a staggering 84 in a row) and earned three straight All-Star nods and the National League Cy Young (2003).

While Gagne’s career was resoundingly successful, it wasn’t devoid of controversy. Gagne appeared in the Mitchell Report in 2004 for using human growth hormone, which he thought would help him overcome a knee injury, and then alleged that 80 percent of his Dodgers teammates used performance-enhancing drugs.

Gagne, 41, will look to use his stint with the Ducks as a platform to returning to affiliated ball. He has seen brief Canadian indy ball action in the past two seasons, though this seems to represent a more concerted effort at making it back to the majors.

It would obviously represent a surprise if the former closer is able to accomplish his apparent goal, though certainly plenty of players have engineered similarly unexpected comeback tales. Gagne last pitched in the bigs in 2008, and you have to go back to 2004 to find a fully healthy and effective season. His career ultimately unraveled as he struggled to stay healthy after Tommy John surgery in 2005, all while embroiled in PED-related controversy. (He later admitted using HGH, alleging that he was far from alone among his peers.)

At his peak, though, Gagne was a rare force from the back of the Dodgers’ pen. After moving out of the rotation for good in 2002, he engineered a three-year run in which he compiled 247 innings of 1.79 ERA ball with 13.3 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. He racked up 152 saves in that span and took home the National League Cy Young Award in 2003 — his best-ever campaign.

The 41-year-old Gagne appeared in one game with Canada in the World Baseball Classic, striking out two and walking one over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Gagne also briefly pitched in Canadian independent ball in both 2015 and 2016. The last time he’s pitched more than ten competitive innings in a season was 2009, though, and the last time he appeared in the big leagues was all the way back in 2008. By that point, his career had already unraveled amidst a series of injuries.

It would appear, then, that Gagne would be a longshot to return to the Majors — although, of course, it would be a great story if he did so, particularly if he returned as a Dodger. Gagne posted 161 saves with Los Angeles in eight seasons there, finishing in the top ten in Cy Young balloting three times and making three All-Star games.

Elsewhere around the majors…

• Houston’s acquisition of catcher Brian McCann from the Yankees in November played a key role in their December signing of designated hitter Carlos Beltran, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow informed Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “As we recruited Beltran, bringing McCann over was a big part of getting Beltran to accept coming over here,” said Luhnow. Teammates in New York from 2014-16, McCann and Beltran have already been quite valuable behind the scenes for the Astros, per Luhnow. “These two guys have been a tremendous boost to the environment in our clubhouse,” he stated. “I’m so glad they’re here.”
• When he accepted the Royals’ two-year, $12MM guarantee as a free agent last month, southpaw Travis Wood seemed like a decent bet to start 2017 in their rotation. But another offseason acquisition, trade pickup Nate Karns, has emerged over Wood and Chris Young as the clear favorite for Kansas City’s last starting spot, tweets Sherman. The right-handed Karns, 29, made 46 starts with the Nationals, Rays and Mariners from 2013-16 and logged a 4.19 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 3.69 BB/9 over 249 innings. The 30-year-old Wood worked solely as a reliever with the World Series champion Cubs last season, which came after he racked up 133 starts in Cincinnati and Chicago from 2010-15. He recorded the same ERA as Karns (4.19) to go with 7.11 K/9 against 3.15 BB/9 during that 776-inning span.
• Free agent reliever Eric Gagne, 41, is making a case for a contract in the World Baseball Classic, though the Team Canada righty and 2003 NL Cy Young winner realizes he’d first have to succeed in the minors to have any chance at returning to the majors. “I know the game, I know how it happens, I know they need spots on the 40-man roster and don’t want to release a young guy for a 41 year old, so of course I’d be willing to do anything,” the former closer told Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. Gagne, who hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2008, worked out for five teams before the WBC, writes Davidi, and has since fared well in the tournament. “Words are irrelevant at this point. Clubs are seeing it with their own eyes,” Gagne’s agent, Scott Leventhal, told FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).

More from the National League:

• Even though he’s 41 years old and hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2008, free agent reliever Eric Gagne is drawing interest from “multiple teams,” including the Padres, according to Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (Twitter links). The 2003 NL Cy Young winner and former Dodgers closer is in the midst of an eye-opening showing with Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Gagne threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings and ran his fastball up to 93.8 mph, per Statcast (via David Adler of MLB.com), in Canada’s loss to Colombia on Saturday.
• As the season approaches, the only certainty in the Padres’ infield is that Wil Myers will start at first base, observes AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Yangervis Solarte “is going to be out there on a very consistent basis,” said manager Andy Green, but it’s unclear if he’ll remain at third (where he spent nearly all of last season) or spend more time at second base. Meanwhile, unexpected 2016 success story Ryan Schimpf and Cory Spangenberg are competing to start at second or third, and Luis Sardinas and Erick Aybar are in a close battle for the No. 1 shortstop job.
• After coming over from Atlanta in an offseason trade involving Jaime Garcia, righty John Gant might be pitching his way into the Cardinals’ 2017 plans, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gant, who worked out of both the Braves’ bullpen and rotation in his 50-inning big league debut last year, is “really opening some eyes,” bench coach David Bell told Hummel on Saturday. That came after the 24-year-old tossed three perfect innings and threw 22 of 31 pitches for strikes in a start against his previous team. Overall, Gant has allowed a mere one run on three hits in eight spring innings. “I know he’s had success in the past but I think he’s really put himself into a position where we’re taking a close look at him,” continued Bell.

More from Washington and two other NL cities:

• Dodgers right-hander Brandon McCarthy has long been a control artist, which makes it rather startling that he walked 26 batters in an injury-shortened, 40-inning 2016. McCarthy returned from 2015 Tommy John surgery and also dealt with a hip issue, but it was a case of the yips that led to his spike in walks – including 15 over 8 1/3 innings (three starts) from Aug. 2-13 – as Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. “I think most of it was mechanical,” McCarthy said. “Usually, if you get the shanks in golf, something has gone wrong physically in your swing, and you lose your mental feel for what you are trying to do. It becomes sort of a self-fulfilling thing. I think that was really the extent of it.” McCarthy made a late-season mechanical adjustment and is optimistic the issue is behind him. The 33-year-old is now entering the penultimate season of a four-year, $48MM contract, but he’d have no qualms about retiring and leaving money on the table if he were to lose his desire to pitch. “The day where the motivation is not there to come in and do it, I have no problems ‘Gil Meche-ing it’ and just walking home and leaving it,” said McCarthy, referring to then-Royal Gil Meche’s decision to retire in 2011 and abandon a guaranteed $12MM. (For more on players who have battled the yips, check out FanGraphs’ Travis Sawchik’s piece from earlier this week.)
• The Mets are doubling down on last year’s roster, writes the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, who notes that they’re likely to open the season with 25 players who were on their team in 2016. “It doesn’t feel it’s stale, it feels as if we have consolidated our gains,” general manager Sandy Alderson said of the club’s roster, which managed 87 wins and a playoff berth last season despite myriad injuries. Of the 55 players the Mets invited to camp, just three weren’t in the organization a year ago, and the only newcomer who has much of a chance to make the team is left-hander Tom Gorzelanny, per Sherman.
• The Nationals are doing their due diligence on Eric Gagne as the former star closer looks to emerge from his yearslong retirement and return to the majors. Nats special assistant De Jon Watson was on hand at Dodgers camp Saturday to watch Gagne throw, relays Shaikin, who tweets that the right-hander topped out at 91 mph. Now 41, Gagne averaged just over 92 mph on his fastball in 2008, his latest major league action.

A few more notes on the Dodgers and Halos…

• Former closer Eric Gagne turned some heads with the news that he’s attempting a surprise comeback. Though he hasn’t thrown in the bigs since way back in 2008, Gagne has already pitched in the presence of the Dodgers front office and is readying to showcase for other organizations, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He’ll be repped by Scott Leventhal of All Bases Covered Sports Management, who tells Heyman that his client is willing to showcase for teams “on back-to-back days,” presumably to show his readiness to handle a reasonably significant workload at 41 years of age.
• While it seems that the Angels’ first base situation is ripe for a platoon, Maria Guardado of MLB.com writes, GM Billy Eppler is planning to watch the candidates closely this spring to see how the playing time should be divvied up. “It’s not something that we have to decide until the very end,” he said. “I’m very pragmatic with decisions. I like to wait until the 11th hour all the time, so we’ll just see how it goes. You’ll see plenty of Luis Valbuena, C.J. Cron and Jefry Marte, and a little sprinkle of Matt Thaiss early on. You’ll see all those guys, but ultimately we’ll save that decision for the last possible minute.” While there was some chatter at the time of Valbuena’s signing that Cron could be on the trade block, that never seemed terribly realistic given the relative lack of demand for limited sluggers and the Halos’ own roster needs with Albert Pujols working back from foot surgery.
• Angels righty Matt Shoemaker pitched off a mound for the first time since suffering a truly terrifying skull fracture last September, writes Pedro Moura of the L.A. Times. The 30-year-old underwent emergency surgery to halt bleeding in his skull after he was struck in the head by a 105-mph liner off the bat of Kyle Seager late last season. Shoemaker has been using a carbon-fiber headguard in an effort to protect him in the event of similar instances in the future, Moura notes, though he may experiment with other types of headgear during Spring Training games as well.
• Moura also notes in his column that potential closer Cam Bedrosian is a bit behind schedule as he battles a groin strain that he suffered on Tuesday. While not a significant cause for concern, Bedrosian’s general health is a key factor for the Halos this season after the righty’s season was cut short by a finger injury and then a blood clot in his right arm which required surgical repair. Prior to his injury, the 25-year-old was somewhat quietly one of baseball’s most dominant relievers in 2016, pitching to a 1.12 ERA with a 51-to-14 K/BB ratio in 40 1/3 innings. Bedrosian will compete with Huston Street and Andrew Bailey for the closer’s role with the Halos, as MLBTR’s Jason Martinez recently outlined when breaking down the Angels’ upcoming spring training battles.

“I feel great,” said Gagne. “It’s almost scary.”

Gagne, who will pitch for Canada in this year’s World Baseball Classic, told Gurnick he still features a fastball upward of 90 mph and a changeup. The right-hander has had throwing sessions with the Diamondbacks and Padres, per Gurnick, and is now serving as a guest pitching instructor with his longtime team, the Dodgers. Gagne threw in front of club president Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi on Sunday, tweets Gurnick, who notes that wasn’t an official tryout.

While Gagne’s latest major league action came back in 2008 as a member of the Brewers, with whom he scuffled (5.44 ERA, 6.13 FIP in 46 1/3 innings), he was once a dominant force in Los Angeles. Gagne was with the Dodgers between 1999-2006 and was at his best from 2002-04, when he converted a record 84 straight saves, earned three straight All-Star nods and won the National League Cy Young in 2003. During that 247-inning stretch, Gagne blew just one save in 153 attempts and posted a 1.79 ERA, 13.3 K/9 and 2.11 BB/9.

Gagne, who also pitched for the Rangers and Red Sox, combined for a 3.47 ERA, 10.04 K/9 and 3.16 BB/9 in 643 2/3 frames. He did appear in the Mitchell Report for using human growth hormone in 2004, though, and later claimed that 80 percent of his Dodgers teammates utilized performance-enhancing drugs.

Gagne's run of dominant closing for the Dodgers resulted in a 1.79 ERA, 13.3 K/9, and 152 saves over 2002-04, spanning 247 innings.  Each of those years, he made the All-Star team and received Cy Young and MVP votes.  He won the Cy Young in '03, saving 55 games with a 1.20 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 82.3 innings.  Gagne earned about $40MM in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.

The blemish: Gagne appeared in the Mitchell Report for using human growth hormone in 2004.  He later explained to T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times that he thought it'd help with a knee injury.

The Dodgers have contractual control over the 35-year-old first baseman until Friday, when his opt-out clause goes into effect.  Mientkiewicz says he doesn't understand why he has yet to be cut loose as Angel Berroa and Eric Gagne were both released upon their requests.

Mientkiewicz, known best for his defense, declined an offer from manager Joe Torre to stay on with the club as a coach.  In twelve big league seasons, the veteran has a career slash line of .271/.360/.405.

• Contracts like the eight-year pacts signed by Mark Teixeira and Joe Mauer may indicate what it'll take for the Brewers to lock up Prince Fielder long-term. Milwaukee "would like to seal the deal right now," avoiding the drama that will only increase as Fielder approaches free agency.
• Cafardo wonders if Pedro Martinez could end up pitching for the Dodgers at some point this season.
• Alex Gonzalez said "forget it" this winter when the Red Sox asked him to wait until they had dealt with Jason Bay. Gonzalez adds: "I was going to get a starting job, and in this market, I'm glad I didn't wait."
• Eric Gagne believes he can still succeed at the big league level, but he may have trouble catching on anywhere this late in the spring.
• Sergio Santos would have plenty of teams interested in him if he doesn't break camp with the White Sox. Santos, a former first-round pick as a shortstop, is out of options and competing for a spot in Chicago's bullpen.

The Dodgers signed the 34-year-old to a minor league deal in mid-February.  Gagne was set to earn $500K if he managed to break camp with the team and up to $500K in incentives.  The Rockies also offered Gagne a minor league contract around the same time.

Gagne's last stint in the majors was with Milwaukee in 2008, where he posted a 5.44 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 in 46.1 innings.

Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times first reported the deal and noted that it was official (via Twitter). Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports added detail on the terms of the deal (via Twitter).

The Rockies offered the 34-year-old Gagne a minor league deal as well, however he apparently preferred the familiarity of the Dodgers' organization. He's returning to where he enjoyed his most big league success, saving 152 games while winning a Cy Young Award during a three year stretch from 2002-2004.

Gagne, 34, hasn't been effective in the majors since the first part of the 2007 season. He pitched in the Can-Am league last year and is looking to return to the big leagues.