I still believe that KW did the right thing in trading for Foulke. Let's not forget that Keith is playing in a pitchers ball park now & playing behind a much better D.

 

Where KW made a huge mistake is the contract. So far KW has proven useless at making contracts for a team of this revenue level. He's overpaid for Koney, overpaid for Foulke, overpaid for Koch, & was willing to overpay for Buerhle. KW has proven he can't handle the numbers.

 

Koch's stats suggested he was a better closer than Foulke. Period.

Koch played a big part in the 21 gm streak of the A's last year.

But there was more than enough evidence to suggest it's best to take Koch 1 yr at a time. The Cell is not a pitcher's park. You need at least a year to tell if a guy can make it there.

 

As it is now, Foulke will likely command a 30/3 deal & move on. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's not a Met or a Yankee next yr. I doubt very much he will be a scrub.

I still believe that KW did the right thing in trading for Foulke.  Let's not forget that Keith is playing in a pitchers ball park now & playing behind a much better D. 

 

Where KW made a huge mistake is the contract.  So far KW has proven useless at making contracts for a team of this revenue level.  He's overpaid for Koney, overpaid for Foulke, overpaid for Koch, & was willing to overpay for Buerhle. KW has proven he can't handle the numbers.

 

Koch's stats suggested he was a better closer than Foulke.  Period.

Koch played a big part in the 21 gm streak of the A's last year.

But there was more than enough evidence to  suggest it's best to take Koch 1 yr at a time.  The Cell is not a pitcher's park. You need at least a year to tell if a guy can make it there.

 

As it is now, Foulke will likely command a 30/3 deal & move on.  I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's not a Met or a Yankee next yr.  I doubt very much he will be a scrub.

while his stats proved botch would have been better than foulke something else also showed he was on his way to a shut down.. he was over used by oakland and in my mind that would suggest that sooner or later (prolly sooner though) his arm was due to give out........now far be it from me to play gm but if i had a choice between the two i would have just kept what i had since it was gonna cost me about the same anyhow and waited another year to see how he (botch) panned out with his high pitch counts......

Realistically you could say Foulke was overused by the Sox too. The only thing is Foulke didn't depend on the 97 MPH heater, but he needs enough of a fastball where people can't just sit on the changeup.

i dont know jas.. at the end of last year foukle had a total of 490.7 ip over the course of 6 years... botch on the other hand had 305.3 ip in 4 years.... at that rate he would have surpassed what it took foulke to do in 6 h ad he stayed healthy enough....dont ya think?????

i dont know jas.. at the end of last year foukle had a total of 490.7 ip  over the course of 6 years... botch on the other hand had 305.3 ip in 4 years.... at that rate he would have surpassed what it took foulke to do in 6 h ad he stayed healthy enough....dont ya think?????

No, according to those numbers Koch averaged about 76 1/3 innning per year and Foulke averaged close to 82 innings per year.

No, according to those numbers Koch averaged about 76 1/3 innning per year and Foulke averaged close to 82 innings per year.

ok maybe i should have restated that end there.... had he been healthy enough and stayed on his current track in oakland... where they abused him heavily........ better?lol

The ballparks matter as well. Take at the dimensions of the 2. Pay more attention to the shape than the numbers. The colliseum is shaped like the top half of a circle & the SOX are shaped more like an exponential curve. The end result is that there are more places at the CELL to hit the ball out of the park than at the Colliseum.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/stadium?team=oak

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/stadium?team=chw

 

The SOX should aim for pitchers who give up most of their hits in CF or are GB guys.

Guys who live on the edge of LF & RF will get creamed at the Cell.