alot has gone on in the good old hot stove since i last posted. the indians (thankfully) have been a part of free agent frenzy. and i am not talking about luis rivas and keith ginter, two infielders who recently signed minor league deals.

i am talking about the tribe signing keith foulke. i still have not heard any details about eric gagne. i did read an article in usa today's sports weekly that briefly mentioned eric choose the texas rangers over the tribe. oh well, that is his bad. now we have foulke. i do like the fact that we now have two options for the all-too-important closer role. management seems to be indicating that there will be a competition in spring training, but i have to believe foulke has the edge, and joe borowski will be the 8th inning set-up guy, the role that bob howry excelled in during the great yet disappointing (due to the collapse) 2005 season. foulke of course had a great 2004 season with the boston red sox.
in 83.0 innings pitched he struck out 79 batters and posted a 2.17 ERA while saving 32 games in 39 chances. he also got the last out in the world series that year against the cardinals. his best all around year was in 2003 for the oakland a's. he had a career high 43 saves in 48 chances while posting a 2.08 ERA. he had a very similar season numbers-wise with the (hated) white sox in 2001. for his career (1997 - 2006), he has 190 saves, blowing 35 opportunities. that equates to 84.4%. his lifetime ERA is 3.30.

in comparison, the man he is replacing (bob wickman) has 247 saves, 62 blown saves, an 80.0% success rate, and a 3.57 ERA lifetime (1992 - 2006). to bob's credit, alot of his blown saves were early in his closing days. with cleveland (from 2000 - 2006, less 2003 when he was injured for the entirety of the season), i calculated that he saved 139 games and blew 17 saves, good for a whopping 89.1% success rate.

so, the numbers are comparable. plus foulke has the intangible edge in regards to the whole world series ring thing, the being younger thing, and the not-scaring-you-to-death-despite-almost-always-notching-the-save-almost-every-time-he-takes-the-mound thing. if you have ever watched wicky pitch, you know what i am referring to. i am not too concerned about the injury thing. last season's injury is probably the only reason we have him now. keith actually wanted a one year contract with us. because of keith's injury, boston used jonathan papelbon as their closer to start the season. papelbon was unbelievably successful, and keith never could recapture his job, even after papelbon went down with a season ending injury. he did end the season on a strong note though, not allowing an earned run in his last 11 appearances (11-1/3 innings). he is just using us though. he wants to have another outstanding year as a closer (i AM all for that), so he can enter next year's free agent market and get highest bidder bling. it worked so well for kevin millwood in 2005, keith must figure he cannot loose. the difference, kevin is (reported to be) a good guy. i have read in previous years that keith is not. the stories i read years back stated that keith is a loner and plays only for himself. he cares jack squat about the team he plays for and his teammates. in general, he is a jerk. ok, I KNOW NEITHER GUY. i am strictly regurgitating what i have read. i cannot reveal my sources, as i cannot remember them. but keith was practically kicked out of chi-town, and that says alot (to me anyways:). he saved 76 games in two years for them, then lost his job in 2002. the trade to the a's occurred the following off season. he then joined a long list of players who have left oakland for much, much greener pastures, er paydays.

a semi interesting side note. in 1997, keith was invovled in a trade that also involved bob howry and roberto hernandez.

my point is: he has talent, but chemistry IS important also. then again, the tribe only notched 24 saves (yes, as a team) last year. this could be the rare case where the jerk factor cannot touch the what-can-you do-for-me-this-year factor. right now, on paper, our defense is the only thing that could conceivably hold us down. of course, paper and reality are often two majorly different things. ask the yankees.

as for all the other moves that went down with other teams: maybe later. i will state this: barry zito is NOT a staff ace, he just gets paid like one. it is funny, SF had an ace in jason schmidt, and 'let' him go to their heated rivals in LA. just because barry is filling jason's shoes doesn't mean SF will get jason-like results.

go tribe!

out