Rhodes works out in the end

Free agency is baseball's version of musical chairs.

For instance, when Keith Foulke signed with the Red Sox last Dec. 13, it had a ripple effect.

Five days after Foulke agreed to that multiyear contract, Oakland general manager Billy Beane brought in someone to replace him as the A's closer.

He signed Arthur Rhodes to a three-year, $9.2 million contract. The price seemed high, considering Rhodes was coming off a so-so season. In 67 games with the Mariners in 2003, he was 3-3 with 3 saves and a 4.17 ERA. But Oakland was bidding against the Yankees, who wanted the lefthander to shore up their bullpen. So the Athletics had to pay the price, but it was still much cheaper that re-signing Foulke.

The question then was, could Rhodes do the job?

It was a gamble, because he never had been a true closer. In 13 years with the Orioles and Mariners, he was a starter and a middle reliever. His only stint as a closer was early in the 2003 season when the Mariners had to put Kaz Sasaki on the disabled list with bruised ribs. In fact, the most saves he ever had in a season was four, with Baltimore in 1998.

Rhodes didn't mind that the Athletics were going to make him the closer. At age 34, he figured there weren't many more big paydays ahead, so he went for the money, just like Foulke.

Also like Foulke, Rhodes had a rough spring training. In 13 Cactus League appearances, he had a 6.43 ERA, yielding 23 hits and 17 runs.

But once the season began, like Foulke, he settled down.

"Spring training is just that, training," said Rhodes, who has eight saves in 10 opportunities. "I was working on a couple of things. And it's not the same coming in the fourth inning to pitch in a spring training game than it is coming into the ninth inning and you're trying to win a ballgame."

One of the things he worked on during spring training was a new pitch: a cut fastball. According to a report in the San Jose Mercury-News last week, Rhodes has thrown five scoreless innings since incorporating the cutter into his repertoire. In fact, he has retired 15 of the last 17 batters he has faced.

Asked about the recent success, Rhodes rolled his eyes and smiled.

"I don't want to give away my secrets," said Rhodes. "But they'll see it soon enough. I've been around long enough that everybody knows what I throw."

Basically, he has done the job he was hired to do. He has yielded 20 hits in 19 1/3 innings and brought his ERA down to 3.32 after an early May meltdown. During that bad stretch, he gave up first-batter home runs in three straight games, including one to Alex Rodriguez when the Yankees came back to beat the A's May 5. He already had offered up four dingers, which is as many as he surrendered all of last season. "I didn't do anything different in the offseason in preparation for closing," said Rhodes. "But it's different at the ballpark. I don't have to go out to the bullpen until the fifth inning."

And, he hopes, walk off the mound with a save in the ninth.