Are we Foulked? To be Curt, no.

Keith Foulke is headed to the DL (retroactive to Tuesday) because they’re going to open up his left knee and do an arthroscopy. Hopefully they can find the problem and fix it, alleviating the pain.
The legs are so important to a pitcher. They are the driving force of the pitcher. You might be surprised to hear how the arm velocity isn’t as important as the legs or hips. To be sure, the upper body and arm have to have the correct mechanics, but the hips are what turns and snaps the body, and the legs are what drive it.
Haven’t you ever noticed that all the true power pitchers have a slight hitch in their delivery when they pitch? They’re getting extra gas on the ball, using their back leg to drive (in Foulke’s case, his right leg) to home plate. Then the left leg is used to plant it, and release the ball on a firm trajectory to home plate. Whether it’s the right knee, left big toe, right quad, or left tendon sprain, the legs are so important and so vital that any small occurence throws off a pitcher and can destroy their effectiveness, which is what happened to Foulke.
So now we’re out a closer with Schilling not looking good for returning as a starter. He was unhappy with what he had done, the team wasn’t too happy, so a solution was found.
The solution was to put Schilling in the bullpen, a solution that when I heard of it, was a little shocked at the ingeniously of it all. (Hopefully I used the word ‘ingeniously’ correctly.) It is a brilliant plan. Schilling is just simply not ready, mentally nor physically, to start. He tends to get less effective as the game goes on, as any pitcher does. With his stamina in question and his knee and arm in question, does it not make sense to save his outings and have him progress back to a starter?
We are out a bullpen arm, so now we need a replacement. Can you think of anyone better? I am, of course, speaking in the short term, but do you feel comfortable with Schilling as a closer? I know I do, with his pitches. Hell, he may have found a second life. Not that we should use him as a closer for the rest of the year, but for the short-term, Schilling as a closer (although he’ll more than likely start off and go no further than relieving) is encouraging, indeed.
We have a starting rotation. We have Tim Wakefield who at last count had a 2.80-odd ERA with Mirabelli catching (8-6, 3.98 cumulative). We have Matt Clement, the ace, at 10-2 with a 3.85 ERA. We have the always excellent Bronson Arroyo at 6-5, 4.15 and the ‘has a bad rap from Sox fans’ Wade Miller (check his consistent [and good] BpB here) at 2-2, 4.94. Miller has been pretty unlucky so far this year, if you watch his starts, and especially how the bases were loaded in the first against the Rangers the other day – he could just as easily have pitched a scoreless game. Then of course, David Wells, who has been effective as of late, who is 6-4, 5.04 … but 3-0 with a 3.96 ERA.
Overall, I’m happy with the rotation, so why not do the logical thing and bring in Schilling easy? Get his confidence back, stretch him out, and then throw him in the rotation and send Miller (I’m off the send-Wakefield-and-not-Arroyo bandwagon and on the -send-Miller-and-not-Arroyo-or-even-Wakefield) to the bullpen.
Foulke is on the 15-day DL. If he can come back after 20-odd days, then Schilling can slot into the rotation. Then if Matt Mantei opts for a cortisone shot and not season ending surgery, and returns in 30-days, we could have a healthy Foulke, Mantei, Wade Miller, and assorted pitchers, one of which BETTER be Brian Fuentes.
Are we Foulked? To be Curt, no.