Jays about to sign Koch

[renuszm]

rotoworld.com
The Blue Jays and Billy Koch reportedly have agreed to terms on a minor league contract.
Koch shouldn't be a candidate for saves early on, but since the Jays have no proven closers, he could get the job with a couple of months of quality pitching. Unfortunately, there's just no reason to believe he'll be any good unless he starts throwing harder.

[cxlx]

Isnt he originally from the Jays? :notme:

[Baseball Guru]

Isnt he originally from the Jays? :notme:


Yup.. He was good with them..

You guys are not that high on Frasor? Also, have the Jays ever thought about using Kerry Ligtenberg as a closer? Tough year last year but he has been a closer before with the Braves and is a pretty consistant 3.00-3.25 era kinda guy....

[>TC<]

I still hear talk that Batista will start the year as closer. This BP looks like it will continue to be a minefield for fantasy owners.

TC

[Baseball Guru]

Batista was horrible last year....

[MudSnakes]

With Koch back, I'm going to have to get some ulcer medicine for the season. Even when he was putting up numbers for the Jays (back when he could throw 100 mph), he'd drive you nuts by walking the bases loaded before striking out the side.

Now that he can't throw in triple digits anymore (he's one of these maximum effort throwers that always seem to burn out quickly), I'm expecting nothing good from him.

[Baseball Guru]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-bluejays-koch&prov=ap&type=lgns


Koch agrees to deal with Blue Jays


January 10, 2005
TORONTO (AP) -- Free agent right-hander Billy Koch agreed Monday to a $900,000 one-year contract to return to the Toronto Blue Jays.

He went 1-1 with eight saves and a 5.40 ERA in 24 games with the Chicago White Sox last year, then was dealt to Florida for a minor league prospect and cash on June 17. He went 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA in 23 games with the Marlins.

Koch, 30, was the Blue Jays' first round selection and fourth pick overall in the 1996 amateur draft. He spent his first three seasons with Toronto and has 163 career saves and a 3.89 ERA

[Blue56]

he'll be a setup man. For 900 000 dollars, not bad.

[renuszm]

as long as he doesent touch the closer's job he should be ok. Batista will not be the closer as the Jays didnt sign Clement so he will be moved back into the rotation. The closers job comes down to Frasor, Speier, and someone else that I cant think of right now, lol.

[Toy Cannon]

Now it appears they'll add Scott Schoeneweis to the fold. I apologize if this has already been posted.

[MudSnakes]

I know it's early, but things aren't looking great for Koch already.

Koch touched by teammates
Reliever struggles in an intrasquad scrimmage
By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- There's no mercy rule in baseball, unless you count intrasquad scrimmages.

Billy Koch struggled on Wednesday, facing eight batters and retiring just one. The right-hander gave up five runs and never escaped the inning -- pitching coach Brad Arnsberg ended the frame with one out and one man on base.

"All my guys, the last two days, I was keeping it to 25 or 30 pitches," said Arnsberg. "When I went out to talk to Billy at 26 pitches, he said, 'You can leave me out here. I can throw 100.'

"I love his zest. He didn't bow down at all. He was just struggling to command the ball. Even the strikes he did throw weren't quality strikes. Some of the swings-and-misses and swings-and-fouls were up in the zone."

It certainly wasn't the opposition: Koch was facing an assortment of prospects and castoffs. Alex Rios was the only one expected to break Spring Training with the Jays. Koch gave up two doubles, two singles and two walks. Ken Huckaby was the only out in the bunch -- the light-hitting backstop struck out.

"He was just a little bit out of whack. The ball was elevated to the first few hitters, when he gave up a couple doubles," said Arnsberg. "The last hitter kind of blooped in. Obviously, not being able to command the ball down in the zone is going to cause problems. It's something we'll continue to pound with Billy."

The Jays will work with Koch for the rest of the exhibition season, but his spot isn't set in stone. Toronto manager John Gibbons and Arnsberg both indicated that they thought Koch was suffering from early-camp jitters.

"He was kind of amped up, and he's probably been looking forward to this since he signed with the club. There were a lot of eyes out there," Arnsberg said. "He wasn't repeating his mechanics very well, and I think there's some things we'll be able to figure out together. I've kind of left him alone up to this point."

Source: toronto.bluejays.mlb.com (http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050302&content_id=955135&vkey=spt2005news&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor)