Jonathan Papelbon is gone to the Phillies. I have mixed feelings. About.comBaseball listed Pap as number 1 on its site of free agent relievers, and with good reason. Despite his bad ending in 2011, he had 30-plus saves for the sixth consecutive year. The only Sox reliever that he really can be compared to is Dick Radatz in the long forgotten days of the early 60’s. When the Monster, as he was called, would come into a game, he had an incredible look of confidence. If it weren’t for Radatz, some of those Sox teams would have had trouble winning 60 games. In the 1963 All-Star game, for example, he fanned Willie Mays, Dick Groat, Duke Snider, Willie McCovey, and Julian Javier.
When his fastball went south, so did he, but Dick, who died in 2005, will not soon be forgotten.
Pap was a bit different. His look was one of defiance. He seemed to be daring the batter to get a hit off him. He was saying, in effect : “Don’t even think about hitting me, you s.o.b. I’m going to strike you out and you know it.” In the last couple of years, his success was somewhat down, but the defiance was still there.
The About.com lists relievers like Heath Bell, Ryan Madson, Jonathan Broxton, and Joe Nathan. But each one has a question mark. Why was Bell always on the trade block in San Diego? Madson has had only one year as a full-time closer. Nathan had Tommy John surgery two years ago.
Any Sox reliever will have to deal with the sellout Fenway crowds, who are up screaming as the reliever goes to finish the save. But, as we all know, the screaming can soon turn to booing if the man does not produce. We all remember what happened with Eric Gagne.
The Bosox will probably end up signing one of the men on the list. But I also think that Daniel Bard deserves a chance. Though he does not have the Papelbon look, he knows what the Fenway crowd is like, and I believe he is tougher than he looks. We’ll see.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
