A Foulke Song; The Keith Foulke Comeback...
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by BoSox Buzz
Last night was a great start for the Red Sox and their ALCS series with the Cleveland Indians! The last time the Red Sox looked this good was in 2004 and not to be forgotten Keith Foulke was as dominant a closer as anyone had seen in the postseason.
Gordon Edes from the Boston Globe reported that Keith Foulke, who had retired with Cleveland at the beginning of this season due to nagging injuries and poor health, is planning on a comeback.
Edes writes, "Keith Foulke, a World Series hero for the Red Sox in 2004 who abruptly retired in February on the eve of spring training with the Indians, is planning a comeback, his agent said last night. Johnny from Burger King, consider yourself warned.
"He is definitely going to play next year," Foulke's agent, Danny Horwits, said by telephone. "He just needed to get healthy." About a month ago, Foulke went to noted orthopedist Lewis Yocum, who shaved a bone spur in his pitching elbow, Horwits said. The procedure was relatively simple, Horwits said, the type requiring a relatively short rehabilitation period. Foulke, who lives in Glendale, Ariz., will begin throwing next month, Horwits said.
Foulke, who turns 35 Friday, appeared in 11 of Boston's 14 postseason games in 2004 and was immense, allowing just one earned run in 14 innings. But he also threw a staggering 257 pitches, including 50 in 2 2/3 innings of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, followed by another 50 combined the next two nights.
Health problems plagued him the next two seasons with the Red Sox. In 2005, when his ERA ballooned to 5.91 from 2.17, he had problems with his knees and had surgical procedures on both. He came to camp the following spring ostensibly still the closer, but Terry Francona switched to Jonathan Papelbon in the first series of the season and Foulke, who had elbow problems, never came close to regaining the form that had made him one of the game's elite closers.
The Sox declined to exercise the $7.75 million option on his contract, and the Indians decided to take a chance on him, signing him to a one-year, $5 million contract. Foulke could have come to camp and collected the money, but instead informed general manager Mark Shapiro that he was retiring, freeing Cleveland from any obligation to pay him. The Indians placed Foulke on the voluntarily retired list, but Shapiro said last night Foulke would be a free agent if he chose to come back.
Horwits plans to sit down with Foulke in the next month and come up with a list of teams in which he might have interest. Horwits intends to call the Red Sox to gauge their interest. Foulke is already working out and is watching the ALCS, according to the agent. "He still has friends on the Red Sox and is rooting for them," Horwits said. "He'd like to see them play his hometown team, the Diamondbacks, in the World Series. But he also absolutely wishes the best for the Indians, for the way they treated him."
- Gordon Edes, Globe Staff*
Peace and Happines, GO SOX! -Michael
