Keith Foulke could be back in the Red Sox pen early next week -- or he could be seriously considering retirement.
Foulke will pitch for Lowell (A) Friday night and for Pawtucket (AAA) Sunday. If that goes well, the team might activate him (and David Wells?) on Monday.
If not, Foulke says: "I don't know what to do. ... It's not worth my time. It's not worth anybody's time." (Since the 2004 World Series, Foulke has allowed 88 hits and 22 walks in 77.2 innings.)
Jeff Horrigan writes that Foulke has "reworked his delivery during the past few weeks in hopes of relieving stress from the elbow. He has lengthened his stride and moved his arm farther away from his head at the start of the throwing motion."
(For their game against Vermont tomorrow night, the Lowell Spinners will rename themselves the "Mike Lowell Spinners" -- complete with new uniforms.)
Kason Gabbard is back in Pawtucket. The team will make a corresponding move tomorrow, though that pitcher (lefty Phil Seibel?) will likely be up for only the weekend. ... Boston has expressed some interest in RHP Jon Lieber, but the Phillies want either Jon Lester or Craig Hansen.
David Ortiz's 34 homers through 100 games are a club record (Jimmie Foxx had 32 in 100 games in 1932). ... In his 12-game hitting streak, Manny Ramirez is batting .500 (20-for-40).
The unofficial 2007 schedule has the Red Sox making four trips to the West Coast. Interleague play will bring the team to Arizona (for the first time) and Los Angeles (and maybe San Diego).
5 comments:
True, but where have I read that before. And Keith is as unsure of his future as we are. Wish him the best? Of course!
On the trade front, some noise about a three- (or four-?) way trade with the A's and Mets? Yahoo! Sports has some teaser about it here (http://tinyurl.com/mklxe) but I don't subscribe so it wouldn't give me the goods. Anyone have them?
Jack, I wish you would get off the fence about this Papelbon-to-the-rotation issue and just tell us how you really feel.
Rob Neyer in his on-line chat today suggested that if the Sox brass were smart they'd be considering picking up Tom Gordan and moving Papelbon to the rotation.
Thank goodness they're not that "smart". I'll say thank you every single day for that one.
Jack:
Feel free to keep bringing it up. I'm a broken record on the media's moronic Manny-bashing, so why not ...
Let's say the club took your advice after the trade deadline passed -- August 1. What do you think would be the process, and how long would it take?
I think that the time involved in this would be detrimental to the team -- wouldn't it have to take at least a month? -- and could cause undue turmoil in the pen.
It seems moot, though, since everyone involved has said no big changes will be made this season.
I am on record as saying he should stay where he is for 2006 and then go into the rotation (depending, I suppose, on what pitchers we have next spring). The next best thing to that would be making him into a 2-3 inning closer, which would cut back on his possible appearances by one game a week, but allow him to pitch more innings.
Having the opportunity to bring him into 2-3 games a week for the 7-8-9 innings would be nice.
My response: That logic would have left Babe Ruth as the best left-handed starting pitcher in baseball.
If that had happened, he might have stayed in Boston. Which would have been good.
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