Sox sign Foulke... why hasn't this been posted already??

[Sooga]

Ok, so now the BoSox have a starting lineup of Pedro/Schilling/Lowe/Wakefield/Kim, and they got Sauerbeck/Embree/Williamson/Timlin to clean up the middle innings and bonafide top flight closer in Foulke to seal the deal.... This is the best pitching staff in the majors, and IMO it's not really close. The Yanks will probably cobble together a good rotation, but their bullpen is still pretty weak. Anyway, add to the BoSox pitching their powerful offense, and they're looking mighty scary for next year....

In L.A. news, the Dodgers signed Juan Encarnacion. Big woop. They're still gonna need to sign about 90 more homers to get that lineup anywhere close to competetive.

[andyfox]

The Yankee bullpen is much stronger than last year, with Quantrill, Gordon, White and Heredia. They've lost Clemens and Pettitte, but have replaced them with Brown and Vasquez. They now have Sheffield in right field instead of Karim Garcia/Juan Rivera and will probably get Kenny Lofton to, in a sense, replace Nick Johnson.

I don't see the Yankees being, on paper, significantly weaker than they were last year. The only thing is the extent of the changes may be a bit of a shock to the system. But maybe not.

I tink the Yankees were the best team in the league last year and Boston second best. While perhaps they may have switched positions, perhaps not. Either way, they've drawn away from the rest of the league, especially with Tejada leaving Oakland today.

[Zeno]

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especially with Tejada leaving Oakland today.

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Anything that makes Oakland weaker helps the Mariners. Made my day. /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Zeno

[Boris]

I don't want to rain on your parade but I predict that Foulke will have a very disappointing season in Boston. As we all know, relievers can get hot for a season and appear to be world beaters. Also, the Oakland Coliseum is very friendly to pitchers like Foulke. By this I mean pitchers who throw alot of mediocre pitches for strikes. A hitter can lace into a hanging breaking ball at night in Oakland and mostly they will end up with a deep fly ball. Foulke did a great job for oakland last year but he really is a one pitch pitcher who throws too many strikes. His change-up, when it's on, is very good. Not good like a Mariano Rivera cutter, but pretty good. Other than his change-up he doesn't have that much.

[Sooga]

I disagree..... we're not talking about some 30-something journeyman pitcher who all of a sudden saved 40 games. Foulke was a stud closer before last year, when he was with the ChiSox. Look at this numbers, he hasn't had a 3.00+ ERA in 5 years, and his OPS against was like under .600 every year. This guy's a great pitcher, and while he may give up a few more hits with the Monster in the way, I think he's light years ahead of anyone else the Red Sox have had in a long, long time.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

so now the BoSox have a starting lineup of Pedro/Schilling/Lowe/Wakefield/Kim

We'll see about the Kim part. Right now I'd rather have bronson Arroyo.

they got Sauerbeck/Embree/Williamson/Timlin to clean up the middle innings

The Foulke deal means it's almost certain that Williamson is gone. We saw last year that he's not right for the set-up role. Despite his success in the post season, I'm convinced the Sox saw something in him they did not like.

[daryn]

boris you're still bitter about that series last year.. let it go!

[Boris]

lol. true, true. But don't say I never warned you about Foulke.

[daryn]

right.. if there's one thing i am it's fair! if foulke bombs, no doubt you will receive credit for predicting his demise.

[andyfox]

Supposedly the Orioles are the front-runner in the Guerrero sweepstakes as well. They're spending some big bucks.

The AL east has been New York followed by Boston followed by Toronto followed by Baltimore followed by Tampa Bay for six consecutive years. The law of averages itself would seem to indicate some kind of change this year. But it doesn't look like Tampa Bay will be doing any moving.

[andyfox]

The guy's been terrific year in and year out for five years now. Great strike-out/walk ratio, good ratio of baserunners to innings pitched. The only negative I can see is too many homeruns given up, but still his ERAs are under 3.00 every year. He's a good one.

[daryn]

yeah watch out for baltimore.. they have tejada now.. they are trying to make a run for it!

[Dynasty]

Baltimore has a lot of money to spend because a couple of big contracts, including Albert Belle's, expired with the 2003 season. They got Tejada with that money. They'll probably get Guerrero. And, they'll probably get either Pudge or Lopez to catch for them. They will have a significantly improved lineup. But, the Orioles still don't have much pitching so they aren't much of a threat.