Saturday, November 12, 2011
Papelbon takes his dance jig to Philly
Reader No. 1’s take on the departure of Jonathan Papelbon to Philly:
Reader No. 1’s take on the departure of Jonathan Papelbon to Philly:
See how many Google hits you get on "shipping" and "papelbon" in the news section and marvel at the creativity of headline writers (not even counting all the Tv stations doing likewise). Anyways a good if negative roundup at Dirt Dogs, including the famous 2007 BudLite box. He was fun to watch, kept in top shape this year rebounding from mediocre 2010, loved the pressure. Philly is a great fit even if the team aging like the one he is leaving. National League is better for his fastball-fastball-fastball approach.Reader No. 1 has since sent in a more positive Dirt Dogs send off. ... As for moi, I appreciate what Papelbon did for the Sox. He was a welcome character and a great reliever. He'll always be remembered fondly here for his WS contributions. But I'm not too upset by his departure. It was expected. I'm also a little tired of the Sox. They need to hit the old refresh button to get me more interested about the coming season. ... BTW: I went over to Soxaholix to see its take on Papelbon's departure. Instead, I discovered a link to this truly sorry episode in Sox history. That scandal never got the attention it deserved, coming so close after the 9/11 tragedy. But it's not ancient history, folks. You might say the Sox and Penn scandals overlapped.
Re the Sox, remember the philosophy and experience on closers since new management got here. We spent big once - Keith Foulke, one world series and two washed out injury years for $21m. Don't expect "closer by committee" but look for Cherington to rebuild with perhaps a slightly higher quality of free agents than seen recently.
