01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, September 28, 2003

It was a gamble, to be sure.

When the Red Sox signed right-handed reliever Chad Fox they knew his resume included two Tommy John surgeries, inflammation in his right shoulder and a strained right rotator cuff, among other medical problems.

Injuries had limited him to three big-league games in 2002, zero in 2000 and six in 1999. What interested the Sox, though, was his 2001 season, in which he went 5-2 with a 1.89 earned-run average and 80 strikeouts in 66 2/3 innings spread over 65 games for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Sox crossed their fingers and hoped he'd be healthy enough to lend veteran depth to the bullpen-by-committee philosophy the team was espousing last spring.

Former Boston and Pawtucket catcher Gary Allenson, a coach in Milwaukee while Fox was there, had been impressed by Fox.

"If they can keep him healthy, he's got a nasty slider," said Allenson, who managed Baltimore's top farm club in Ottawa this year. "He was just awesome that year for us."

But Fox didn't live up to expectations. In his first outing he served up a game-losing three-run homer to the Devil Rays' light-hitting Carl Crawford with two outs in the ninth on Opening Night, costing Pedro Martinez a win.

He did manage to save three games, but walks were a problem for Fox, who all too often fell behind in the count. He also suffered a strained oblique muscle on his left side, forcing him to the disabled list on April 29.

Fox, who recently turned 32, didn't return until July 1. And when he had back-to-back rough outings on July 24 against Tampa Bay and on July 29 at Texas, he had sealed his fate. The Sox released him on July 30 after acquiring Scott Williamson from Cincinnati.

Fox resurfaced a few weeks later with the Florida Marlins.

-- STEVEN KRASNER