Closing Time

Hey guys, remember me? I'm back from my hiatus after a long spring trip to Arizona for baseball and a couple of days of getting re-acquainted to the weather and more importantly the time zone. It's been quite a while, I'm surprised I still remember the password. Anyhoo, big announcement coming out of Red Sox camp down in Fort Myers today. The Sox announced today that Jon Papelbon will be the Sox's closer when the season opens up April 2 in Kansas City. It's becoming apparent that Papelbon wants to close and naturally the Red Sox like him as a closer. I gotta say I'm not the biggest fan of the move. Papelbon could very well end up as the best closer in baseball this year, I recognize that, and that thrills me. But the thing that I don't get is why break up what should easily be the best rotation in the league if not baseball this year? In my opinion, having four guys who would be number one or number two guys on any other staff at worse is more valuable than having that closer. You have to break it down like this. What is more likely to happen? Papelbon blown saves or Julian Tavarez bad starts? In my opinion, it's the latter, but that's yet to be seen. The trump card in this whole thing could be Roger Clemens. If Clemens returns to Beantown, this move makes so much more sense, but if he does it won't be until June. That, and I'm not ready yet to allow Roger Clemens back into Boston. We'll have to wait and see though.

If you guys get a chance, check out Pardon the Interruption star Tony Kornheiser's radio show on the Washington Post website. Kornheiser, my hero, saw his show return recently to the 8:30-10:30 am time slot on weekdays. Good for some laughs, definitely. Also, expect a surplus of baseball previews from me in the coming days, that is if Blogger doesn't totally screw me over again like it did last night. The whole National League Central is floating in cyberspace somewhere, that's all that needs to be said. But like Southern Illinois and Texas A&M (who just blew it), I'm out. Later kids.
-MC