PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies' new closer hasn't finished games regularly in four years.
Apparently, that's of little concern to Philadelphia, which reached a preliminary agreement with Tom Gordon on an $18 million, three-year contract on Thursday, giving the team a replacement for departed closer Billy Wagner.
Gordon gets $4.5 million next year, $7 million in 2007 and $5.5 million in 2008. Philadelphia has a 2009 option $4.5 million with a $1 million buyout.
"From our scouting, he has absolutely no problem," Phillies general manager Pat Gillick said Friday. "He has absolutely no problem, and we don't see any decline in his talent."
Gordon also was negotiating with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians before agreeing to the deal with the Phillies.
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Terms of the contract were disclosed to The Associated Press by two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized yet.
"The market dictated you had to go further than you wanted to go," Gillick said.
Gordon's agreement is pending a physical, and he is likely to take one Saturday.
The right-hander spent the past two seasons with the Yankees as Mariano Rivera's primary setup man.
