Spring Officially Begins

Well, Spring Training at least. Hard to believe that pitchers and catchers reporting considering the fact that I just literally spent half an hour rocking my car back and forth to get it out of a parking space. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get your car to move just a few inches when it's on inch thick ice covered in a foot of melting snow. That was definitely the most time intensive alcohol run that I've ever gone on.

Moving on, so yeah, it was actually sunny today in a part of the country today! I can definitely understand why Papelbon's so happy. I haven't mentioned it yet, but he's by far my favorite Red Sox player. In 2005, Papelbon had his first call up and Johnny Damon left the team. So I took the number eight from Damon's jersey and the number five left over from an old Garciappara jersey and made a Papelbon jersey.

It was a little risky, given the fact that Papelbon only had 34 innings of major league experience, but he looked like a solid prospect to me. And two years later, I couldn't be happier with the choice. It hasn't just been Papelbon's performance which I've been pleased with. You can tell that he has fun. The guy's straight up crazy and doesn't give a shit what people think about it. That's my kind of guy.

Remember in little league when people used to say that the point of playing ball was to have fun? What ever happened to that?

Is Papelbon the Best Closer in the Game Right Now?

Recently, ESPN writer Jerry Crasnick debated which closer was better, J.J. Putz or Jonathan Papelbon. In the end he decided on Papelbon for a few reasons. First of all, Papelbon's done it in the playoffs, where he's yet to allow a run in 14.2 innings of work. Second of all, Papelbon is four years younger. And I'd like to add a third reason, Papelbon puts up many of his numbers in a much tougher hitting division and a much more hitter-friendly ballpark.

The two closers were clearly the best in the majors last year. But it was Papelbon who was the hardest major league pitcher to hit, leading the majors with a BAA of .146. And it was also Papelbon that lead the majors in K/9, striking out an insane 12.96 hitters per 9 innings of work.

There are also a few knocks on Papelbon. He doesn't pitch as many innings as many closers, although his total innings were about 10 less than the typical closer. And Papelbon hasn't been an elite closer for as long as K-Rod or Joe Nathan. But can you fault Papelbon for what he hasn't been given the chance to do?

He's six years younger than Nathan, and yet he's still outperforming him. He's been a closer in the majors for less than half as many years as K-Rod, yet he's outperforming him as well. I'm not saying he's the next Mariano Rivera (although Mo was never as dominant as Papelbon's been the last two years). But when's the last time a closer had this much success in the hitting heavy American League East? Or the playoffs for that matter?

If Papelbon isn't the best closer in baseball right now, then who is? Don't be shy now.