The first news out of Winter Haven is the announcement that Keith Foulke will be retiring. Foulke’s elbow is acting up again, and he decided to call it a career. Since many had Foulke penciled in as the likely closer for the Tribe this season, this would seem to be very depressing news. However, since GM Mark Shapiro brought in so many relievers this off season, it just decreases the depth a little bit.
There was no guarantee that Foulke was going to be the closer in ’07 anyway. The Indians made it very clear that the position was an open competition between the former Red Sox relief ace and new acquired Joe Borowski, who saved 36 games for the Marlins last season. So, Borowski is now the closer. The competition will now be for the set up role, and among those who will pitch the 8th inning are Rafael Betancourt, Roberto Hernandez, and Fernando Cabrera, assuming he can throw strikes.
Foulke’s retirement also means that Jason Davis and Matt Miller will make the opening day roster barring injuries. They were to battle for the last spot in the ‘pen, with Miller still having options remaining. Don’t forget they still have guys like Tom Mastny, Edward Mujica, and lefties Tony Sipp and Juan Lara competing for job as well, although they all will likely start the year in Buffalo.
Shapiro’s theory on rebuilding the relief corps was to bring in several veterans with histories of past success and hope that two or three would come through for the Tribe. Those guys together with the holdovers would lengthen the bullpen, giving Eric Wedge more options in the late innings. Foulke can be put in the category of a veteran who didn’t come through. Obviously, Foulke tipped off the front office of his intentions, since the Indians signed former White Sox’ reliever Cliff Pollitte to a minor league deal earlier this week. Pollitte was a mainstay for the Sox World Champions in 2005, but had some shoulder problems which contributed to a horrible year last season. He’s just another arm to add to the mix.
Of course, Foulke’s retirement also frees up $5 million for Shapiro to spend. There aren’t really any free agent relievers worth anything still out there, but he may be able to deal an extra outfielder such as Franklin Gutierrez and pick up a pitcher making a little money whose team wants to get out from under his contract. Something of this nature may occur toward the end of spring training.
The news of Foulke’s retirement is disappointing, but hardly devastating. It’s a blip on the radar compared to the Browns losing LeCharles Bentley on the first day of training camp. The pieces and parts of repairing the bullpen were already in place before the Indians signed Foulke. He was kind of the cherry on top of the sundae. If the cherry isn’t there, you don’t throw the ice cream away. We now know that Joe Borowski will be the closer. This was fine with everyone before Foulke signed, and it’s okay today.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 