Link Dump 2/16: Foulke retires

Keith Foulke, brought in by the Indians to compete for the closer's job, has reportedly decided to retire before the season.

Rosenthal:

Foulke, of course, will go down in history as the closer who helped kill off Boston's silly little "curse" and deliver a long-awaited World Series title to Beantown.  We'll remember him as someone different.

Before Kenny Williams won a World Series and became the hottest GM on the block, his reputation was, well, not so hot.  One of the trades for which he took a lot of guff was the trade that brought Foulke to the Green and Gold.  Foulke had fallen out of favor and lost his job as closer in Chicago after a rough beginning to the season.

But despite having gone 0-4 with a 5.26 ERA, his peripherals were strong: 7.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9.  The fluky-high home run rate of 1.4 HR/9 was a key culprit.  Demoted to setup man, he finished the rest of the year with a 1.73 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, and a very good .52 HR/9 line.  After Billy Koch's meltdown in the 2002 playoffs, Beane dispatched him and Neal Cotts to Chicago for Foulke, Mark Johnson, and Joe Valentine.  Valentine didn't do much for the A's and Johnson's most notable acheivement as an A was picking off Jason Giambi in the fourth inning of this game.  Cotts became a very good lefty out of the bullpen, at least in 2005, and Koch imploded in Chicago.

Keith Foulke was awesome.  Despite a penchant for blowing saves which would have netted a win for Tim Hudson, Foulke was awesome for the A's, hurling 86.2 innings, striking out 88, and walking only 20. He had a 2.08 ERA and was the A's first dependable closer since...Eck, maybe?  He inspired a lot more confidence than Isringhausen and Koch, that's for sure.  His fastball topped out at, what, 89 mph?  But his changeup was killer, and he fooled a ton of batters with it.

But we were about to pay the price for believing in Foulke.  In game 4 of the thrilling 2003 ALDS, Hudson left the game early with a case of barfightingitis, Sparks valiantly held the Sox down and got the ball to Rincon, who handed it over to Foulke.  It was the eighth inning and the A's were clinging toa 4-3 lead with a chance to put the Red Sox away and advance to the ALCS.  With Garciaparra and Ramirez on base and two down, all Foulke had to do was retire David Ortiz before he had become Big Papi.  But it ws not to be, as Ortiz doubled to bring in the two runners, give the Sox the lead, and the rest was history.

Foulke was good enough that Beane actually made a competetive offer to him before he left as a free agent. Unfortunately for us, he signed with the dreaded Red Sox, a traitorous gambit unrivalled in the history of baseball since Giambi signed with the Yankees before 2002.  The backup plan to Keith Foulke was Tom Gordon, a reliable set up man who had previous closing experience.  But Foulke dilly-dallied too long, and by the time he decided to sign with Boston, Gordon had gone to New York.  The backup to the backup plan was Arthur Rhodes, making - in my irrational mind - Foulke solely responsible for this game, the last I saw in the Coliseum before moving away to - of all places - Boston, where I had to hear about how he was the world's greatest closer during their championship run in 2004.  The worst part was having to hear how the Red Sox "discovered" him, as if saving over 40 games with the A's hadn't put him on the map.

So enjoy your retirement, Keith Foulke.  May Arthur Rhodes haunt you nightly.