Are the Red Sox any closer to finding their Closer?

(SawxBlog Montage)

With Opening Day less then 12 days away it's about time that SawxBlog re-addresses the issue of the Red Sox closer. Actually it may be more appropriate to talk about the closer the Sox don't have on their roster yet. As everyday goes by you get the sneaking suspicion that 2007 is starting to feel an awful lot like 2003, in some respects at least.

As we remember, if it wasn't for the steroid juicing Jason Giambi the Red Sox most likely would have won the 2003 ALCS and also beaten the Florida Marlins in the World Series. Grady Little wouldn't be the goat he's become in Boston, and Pedro Martinez would be nobody's Daddy.

The 2003 ALCS isn't the only memorable thing about that season for the Sox, there's also their controversial attempt at the closer by committee set-up. And honestly, I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Sox gave it another whirl.

I'll admit that it felt very, very good to have Papelbon come into games last year, because you felt like once he got in the game it was over. I also believe that Mariano Rivera is the main reason the Yankees have been so good for so long. They've had so much turnover in everything but S.S. and Closer, and I'd say Mo's been just as valuable as Jeter.

That all being said I see no reason why a committee wouldn't work. You have 27 outs in a nine inning baseball game. After the starter is done for the day/night, why not have the pitcher(s) who are most adept at getting the outs in that certain situation? A lot of time the most important outs don't come in the ninth inning but they come in the 6th, 7th, or 8th.

OK, now that that's out of my system I'll be realistic, that's not going to happen. At the beginning of Spring Training I chose Julian Tavarez as my dark horse candidate to win the job, and I'm still sticking with that. But as everyday passes it looks  like Joel Pinero is the favorite to win the job. Timlin may take it over once he's healthy again, but I wouldn't count on him pulling a Todd Jones for us.

I guess what I wished most is that the Sox would make a decision sooner then later, so the everyone can know their role and be ready for the season. If no official closer or decision is made, then what I said above is very realistic, and the Red Sox management just isn't making the same mistake by giving it a name like in 2003.

Comments

[ryan dempsey]

hey guys, i know this really doesn't have anything to do with the current hot sox topics, but I thought i'd let you guys know how awesome it is to be a sox fan. I was born and raised and still live in Atl, so i'm a bravos fan by nature. lately though, the sox have really started to intrigue me. my dad and his whole family are from beantown-big baseball fans. we visit them a lot, and there's just something about them. i went to a sox-yanx game at fenway-a life altering experience-never seen anything like it in a town. the sox are definitely my AL team and always will be. anyway, just thought i'd let you guys know that there's a bunch of fairweather fans down here in the bible belt- yeah-sox nation ain't just in boston. rotation looks wicked. good luck this year-kill the yanx (we'll take care of those scrubs from the other side of NY)-and we braves boys hope to see you in the world series.

[Derek Hixon]

Glad to have you aboard Ryan!

The Braves and Red Sox are certainly connected via their Boston roots. Even though some have dubbed your Braves the NL Evil Empire due to your decade and a half dominance of the NL!

Best of luck on your season and hope to see you around :-)

[drs]

ESPN is reporting that the Red Sox will announce after Thursday's game that Jonathan Papelbon is going to be shifted back to the bullpen....Tavarez to start, with Kyle Snyder also possible.

While I think it's unfair to Paps, this is what the team needs, so I say go for it. Not excited about giving Tavarez more innings, but last year he did seem better as a starter than he did in relief.

[Derek Hixon]

Yeah I just read that, crazy!

I really wanted to see what he could do as a starter, but I like how we're fixing our only real problem internally instead of trading away someone like Wily Mo for a temporary fix.

Can't wait to see what Tito, Paps, and Theo have to say on this.

[ryan dempsey-your boy from A-town]

yeah don't forget, paps is just a kid-a sick nasty one. there's no need to rush him into what's already a beastly rotation. let dice k and schilling take care of the first 6-7 innings. we need to take adv. of young john's explosive late game power while he's still young. put him in the front five once he's a little older and calmed down.