Well Thursday was a huge day for the Boston Red Sox. We finally found out who our closer is going to be and that man is Jonathan Papelbon. If you would like to hear the interview that Don Orsillo did with Papelbon, click here.
Much to no one’s surprise, Curt Schilling will take the mound for opening day again for the second time in a row. What is surprising is that he didn’t break the news to everyone through his blog like he did with telling everyone Papelbon was going to be the closer. The official announcement for Papelbon being named the closer came after Thursday’s exhibition game against the Phillies while Schilling had announced it to the world much earlier in the day. As I stated in an earlier post, I didn’t know that Schilling’s blog was now the official home for Red Sox news. Nothing against what he is doing because personally I think it’s great. It’s just that when you have some inside information like that maybe you elude to the fact that something might happen instead of flat out telling everyone. Of course if ESPN had read his blog before the game, they wouldn’t have reported the fact that Papelbon might be named closer. Jason, one of my radio partners in crime over at My Baseball Bias, tells us about how ESPN couldn’t even get the facts straight about how many consecutive times Papelbon threw in games.
With Papelbon moving back to the rotation (he was slated to be the 4th starter), Julian Tavarez will take over the vacated spot in the rotation as the 5th starter. Tim Wakefield, who was the 5th starter, moves into the 4th spot of Papelbon’s. Tavarez had said that he wanted to be a starter before spring training but with the Red Sox having a plethora of starters after the addition of Daisuke Matsuzaka, his name was put into the closers mix. Terry Francona tells us what he thinks about Tavarez moving back to the rotation after going 3-0 with an ERA just over 4.00 in 6 starts at the end of last season.
“He likes to pitch but he likes to start,†Francona said. “He wants the ball. He said, ‘Just say when.’ â€
So now the rest of the rotation sets up like this. Beckett will start the second game of the year on April 4th against the Kansas City Royals and Matsuzaka will start on the 5th against the Royals. Wakefield will take the mound against the Texas Rangers on the 6th, Tavarez on the 7th and Schilling on the 8th setting up Beckett to make the start on opening day at Fenway on the 12th. Kind of sucks that I will miss Matsuzaka pitch by a day but the Red Sox are doing the smart thing by not having him pitch his first game in Boston on such an emotional day. Plus with the Seattle Mariners in town, the first batter he would have faced would have been another Japanese superstar in Ichiro. Something to note, Tavarez will throw a simulated game on April 3 to try and get his arm ready for starting after pitching in a relief role all spring training.
