[CJFusco]

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.