Papelbon to Close?

[organizedfamine]

I was of the mindset that Papelbon definitely would start this season. Since then however, Papelbon has indicated that the shoulder strengthening program he went through would eliminate the injury risk of him being a closer. On top of that, the FO seems to have relaxed from their position that Papelbon will most definitely not close and Julian

Comments

[curseintongues]

I guess I'm the only one here who thinks the possibility that he's a dominant (or even good) starter is more important to the team. Wakefield is already our No.5. Do we really want a pitcher worse than Timmy out there? No offense to the dude because I love him, he's cost controlled, yadda yadda yadda, but seriously, dude throws junk, he'll put up an ERA around 4.50-5.50, and he'll be average, or slightly worse, all season long. Lester is still a kid w/ no control, and the only reason he came up last season is because everyone was hurt. His stuff is absolutely filthy, but he needs to learn how to find the strikezone, and not wander far from it. Until then, I'd like to see him stay in AAA

[commissarmp]

Actually they do throw useful players away... see: Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano.

Also, it's probably Hargrove's decision, but there's that fact that Willie Bloomquist keeps getting consistent at-bats instead of anyone else.

Random, but apparently they also just signed Rey Ordonez.

[curseintongues]

Well, you raise a valid point, but it also could be looked at as: "The Seattle Mariners realize Soriano's talent, and can't possibly afford to pay him the money he will one day command, so rather than get everybody's hopes up, here's a schmo instead. Let's watch Ichiro get on base, and Sexson maybe sock one outta here! Who wants a coffee?"

Also, Mike Hargrove is an idiot. It was pretty much impossible not to come in 1st in the Central when he was with the Indians. Young Jim Thome, Manny, etc., along w/ Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton and Eddie Murray... insanity.

[curseintongues]

Oh, and P.S.

You don't like a 35-yr. old SS who hasn't played in the majors since '04, and hit like a 12-yr. old, with the range of a 40-yr. old? Jeez, weird.

To be fair to Bloomquist though, who else did they have? Wasn't Jones injured?

[robvansam]

Are you kidding me? You're telling me Papelbon as a starter with an ERA of 4.30 with over 200 innings would be more valuable than him as a reliever with a 1.28 ERA over 68 innings? NO WAY! You could put Tavarez in the starter role and get the same ERA but possibly not as many innings. I would love to have Papelbon closing again. There's no other good options that come close to how good Papelbon was as a closer last year.

[0bsessions]

Dude, just look at it the simply way, leaving the numbers out:

Phenomenal as he was, I'd take a great starter over a phenomenal closer any day. If you've got a great starer, the need for a phenomenal closer is greatly lessened. One of the biggest reasons Papelbon had so many saves last year is because he had so many opportunities so early on.

A phenomenal closer is utterly USELESS if you're rotation cannot keep you in the game to begin with. Piniero is worthless as a starter and as much as I'm one of the people who's jumped on the Tavarez bandwagon, I'd rather see Papelbon in the rotation than Tavvy. I'd also rather not rush Lester back to the bigs. Aside from the chemo, I wouldn't mind some more time in Pawtucket for him, I mean the only reason we even saw him last year was because of our utter shit rotation.