ATTN Baseball Fans - Red Sox Finally Announce Their Closer Will Be...

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Jonathan Papelbon.

THANK FREAKING GOD.

In retrospect, it looks like a no-brainer. Pap was almost ridiculously dominant in the closer's role last year, but he was being groomed from the beginning to be a starter, perhaps the next Roger Clemens.

For most of spring training, it looked like the starting rotation would be:

Curt Schilling
Josh Beckett
Daiuske Matsuzaka
Jonathan Papelbon
Tim Wakefield

That would probably have been the best rotation in the majors, but what good is a rotation if you have no one to secure the win?

In ST, the Sox had a bullpen consisting of Mike Timlin, Joel Piniero, Brandon Donnelly, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Willie Tavarez and a bunch of other nobodies. It looked like it would be between Timlin and Piniero for the job, but Timlin got hurt early and Piniero has been ineffective.

Recently, it came to be that Jon Lester would be back from his bout with cancer and ready to pitch again by mid-April. For those of you who don't know, Lester is a top-rated prospect leftie who was brilliant in his brief stint with the Sox last year. His year was cut short when he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

In the 5th spot, Tavarez was very good as a starter last year, and AAA pitchers Kason Gabbard and Kyle Snyder were serviceable. Since Lester will be ready to pitch, the best move for everyone (except Toronto and New York) is to put Pap back in the closer role. The rotation will now be:

1 Schilling
2 Beckett
3 Matsuzaka
4 Wakefield
5 Lester, Tavarez, Snyder, Gabbard
C Papelbon

It may not be the best rotation in the majors anymore, but I'd personally rather have a top-shelf closer than a 1st or 2nd-tier starter 1 through 5.

ls23h · 03-22-2007, 11:52 AM

Quote:

[i]
but I'd personally rather have a top-shelf closer than a 1st or 2nd-tier starter 1 through 5. [/B]

+1

We do, Mariano

lendaddy · 03-22-2007, 11:58 AM

Should give 'em a good shot a second in the division

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by ls23h
+1

We do, Mariano

Exactly. I may hate the Yankees, but if you (meaning Sox fans) don't respect guys like Rivera and Jeter, then you're an idiot.

In modern baseball, you NEED a lights-out closer. Period.

Highlander179 · 03-22-2007, 12:10 PM

1 Schilling - his best days a long gone, he wont finish the season
2 Beckett - HAHAHA, he's your #2
3 Matsuzaka - you paid how much??? at least you cant complain about how deep the Yankees pockets are now.

4 Wakefield - his best trait is that he burns up a lot of innings, good to have with your bullpen
5 Lester, Tavarez, Snyder, Gabbard - Who? HAHAHA
C Papelbon - Finally your management made a smart move. I was beginning to wonder about you guys.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Thank goodness. Papelbon will excel in that role.

Can't wait to see 'em start kicking some ass in the AL this year. Particularly against Slappy McBlue Lips Gay-Rod, Jason "Juicer" Giambi, PrettyBoy and the rest of the evil empire.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Highlander179
1 Schilling - his best days a long gone, he wont finish the season
2 Beckett - HAHAHA, he's your #2
3 Matsuzaka - you paid how much??? at least you cant complain about how deep the Yankees pockets are now.
4 Wakefield - his best trait is that he burns up a lot of innings, good to have with your bullpen
5 Lester, Tavarez, Snyder, Gabbard - Who? HAHAHA
C Papelbon - Finally your management made a smart move. I was beginning to wonder about you guys.

Still looks good to me, and looks a lot better than the Yankees' 1 through 5. Look, I am a baseball fan first, and I admit when the Yankees do something better than the Red Sox. The Yankees lineup is FAR superior to the Red Sox lineup. I admit it. But the Yankees pitching rotation? Not even close. I'm sorry, but it's true. Wang is great, Mussina is probably a little better than Wakefield but not as good as Beckett, Pettite is serviceable, but you can add about .70 to 1.0 to his NL ERA moving to the AL this year. As far as Pavano goes, who knows? He's appeared in, what, 2 Yanks games over 3 years?

The Yankees have a dominant lineup, a dominant closer, an above-average bullpen, and a mediocre starting rotation.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Closer, how about Trevor Hoffman? You know us West coasters have some chops too ya know!! Or how about Zack...the kid loves to throw...

bivenator · 03-23-2007, 04:18 AM

Petite won't make the whole year for the Yankers.

Highlander179 · 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by CJFusco
The Yankees have a dominant lineup, a dominant closer, an above-average bullpen, and a mediocre starting rotation.

and the Sox will be lucky to beat out Toronto for 2nd.

BTW, where's Manny wanna play this week?

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

I'm not sure if you really think Toronto will finish 2nd, or if you're just razzing me... I think Toronto has a good team, but the Red Sox had a good team to begin with and a spectacular off-season, and the Yankees had a spectacular team to begin with and a quiet off season. In any other division (except AL central) Toronto would finish 1st, but in the AL east they will finish 3rd.

Highlander179 · 03-23-2007, 07:53 AM

strictly razzing, no hard feelings

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Hmm - it's what, week two or three of spring training? Aren't the Boston Red Sox already mathematically eliminated form the playoffs?

Just razzin' ya CJFusco...

-Z

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Hey, I don't mind a little razzing, I just wanted to make sure you weren't living in a fantasy land...

I think that the playoff races are (somewhat) easy to predict this year:

AL West: Angels
AL Central: CWS (Detroit won't even come close to repeating)
AL East: Sox or Yanks, too close to call
AL Wild: Sox or Yanks

NL West: Dodgers
NL Central: Cards
NL East: (Probably the hardest to predict, but I'm going with...) Marlins
NL Wild: Mets.

MRM · 03-23-2007, 12:13 PM

The Sox are never eliminated until at least August. That's when they go into their late season swoon and hand the penant to the dreaded Yankees. The longer the wait, the greater the anguish.

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by MRM
The Sox are never eliminated until at least August. That's when they go into their late season swoon and hand the penant to the dreaded Yankees. The longer the wait, the greater the anguish.

Ummmm not even close. 2003, 2004, and 2005 the red sox made the playoffs, and have a WS championship to show for it. This might have been true before 03, but that was 5 years or more ago.

Dan in Pasadena · Dan in Pasadena's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by CJFusco
....I think that the playoff races are (somewhat) easy to predict this year:

AL West: Angels
AL Central: CWS (Detroit won't even come close to repeating)
AL East: Sox or Yanks, too close to call
AL Wild: Sox or Yanks

NL West: Dodgers
NL Central: Cards
NL East: (Probably the hardest to predict, but I'm going with...) Marlins
NL Wild: Mets.

First, thanks for the props on my Dodgers. Yeah, I love them and I think they have a strong team this year...potentially stronger than they've been in awhile - though they are aging and as usual it goes unsaid in ANY discussion of baseball, "if-they-stay-healthy".

But I've been a baseball fan too long to take a damned thing for granted. Witness Rafael Furcal's ankle yesterday, Repko's (yet another) injury, Brad Penny's and Kuo's recent shoulder problems. Nothing is certain and the "surplus" of pitching we supposedly had/have isn't a surplus in my eyes. There's no such thing as too much pitching; any real baseball fan knows that. Opinion if you have one? On the Dodger's prospects or on "too much pitching". (Red Sox fans, disregard the inevitable Giants fan that responds to that opening!

)

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

And where did the Dodgers get their manager, half their pitching staff and a certain superstar hitter from?

Oh yea, that's right - the Red Sox.

Yeah, yeah. . . So Nomar was obtained by way of Chicago. Big deal.

hytem · 03-24-2007, 07:54 PM

Well, you could say what's the use of having the best rotation in baseball when you take your starters out after six innings and replace them with a crappy bullpen?

That's the paradigm in baseball these days--out after six, replaced by mid-relief in the 7th, setup in the 8th and closer in the 9th.You get a guy cruising with a lead after six, gets replaced after 100 pitches by a stiff who gets bombed--game lost.

In the old days, the starter pitched as long as he was effective. Complete games were possible. Things were fixed only when broken.

Nowadays, somebody called a closer gets something called a save if he finishes a game with a 3-run lead. 3 runs? Any stiff can protect a 3-run lead for one inning. So why waste your best bullpen guy?

In the old paradigm, a closer was your bullpen stopper who came in to protect a one-run lead--sometimes even in the 7th or 8th inning. And sometimes for 2 or 3 innings. The first great one was Joe Page in the late 1940s, and that's how the Yankees used him--to protect leads in one run games. Which is how a closer should be used nowadays--if he's a real stopper like Papelbon. Imagine wasting a guy like that to protect a 3-run lead. Just for a fantasy stat called a "save."