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Let's not pull the gun on the closer triger yet. Donnely's had only 1 bad outing and JP is still working on the arm angle. And, there's plenty of time for a darkhorse candidate to shine.

Kyle Jackson is your new closer. Print it.

What's Ordway eating? He has to be stuffing his face when he stops talking.

Davern Hansack baby!!!!!!!

Rob check out Brady news - I haven't heard you guys mention it on the show today. Lets see what Pete thinks. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/wcStory?contentId=...>

Ordway seems like a Ho-Hos guy.

What is Pete Sheppard's problem?


Pete should attempt to stutter a little bit less while providing his sports flashes, which are always about 24 hours behind the latest news. Bethel Johnson signed somewhere? Wow, thanks for the insight Pete!

Rob Big O is wrong Marcus Banks was acquired by the Suns as a free agent (5 yrs $21 m), the Celtics had already traded him to the TWolves, the Suns did not trade the Rondo pick for him. Also how does the Mark Blount signing not come up as the worst move Danny Ainge has made.

I do NOT like Cordero. He was pitching in a no-pressure environment, in a horrible NL division, and he had a cavern of a home ballpark to boot. There's a lot of doubt about his overall abilities.


If he's going to cost us a Wily Mo or another good prospect, then I'll put a decisive "hell no" next to that idea.



You can't judge anything based on ST. I refer people to Keith Foulke's 2004 ST: He was by far the worst pitcher there. Wait until we're (at least) a month into the season, then judge.

Rob:
One of your inferior fellow Sox writers seemed pretty certain in an article this morning that Timlin will be the closer.



What do you think about this? I for one, have thought all along that Timlin has what it takes.



Also, are you heading back to Ft. Myers at all this spring?



Thanks,



Taylor Janks

//inferior fellow Sox writers //


so mcadams in inferior now, huh?

Chad Cordero? PASS.


The Sox have more than one reliever in camp right now with more upside than Cordero.



Some Sox fans suffer greatly from "the grass is greener" syndrome.

Rob why isnt anyone talking about Lester as a closer if he is indeed, healthy?

Are these Cordero rumors coming from reputable sources?

Rob, you should point out to Big O that Scalz played ahead of both Jefferson and Perkins when they were healthy last year. He was in the way.


And please ask him what the other teams are that were knocking down Scalabrine's door, that required a 5 year contract for basically one of the worst players in the league? If Scal was needed as a short-term fill him, why not a 2 or 3 year contract? There is no logical defense for the Scalz contract.

Lester as a closer, now that is interesting!

Rob,


I'm sure you hear stuff like this enough, but you not just the best baseball writer for the Sox, you're the best in the country. I appreciate how you take nothing for granted, and go above and beyond the normal fluff to seek the interesting stories. It isn't going unnoticed among Sox fans. Trust me.

Between New York, Red Sox, Blue Jays, White Sox, Tigers, Indians, and Twins, only 3 will make the playoffs. That's 7 teams for 3 spots.


The Red Sox don't have the luxory like in years past to wait for a closer to emerge.

Thanks for being voice of reason..again Robert..Ordway and moron suck up Shepardo..Please make Ordway take you out of State for the JD Drew bet cuz you know that fat bastard will get it comped at Davios!!!

Breslow has looked very good along with Corey - but it's spring and most of the guys being faced are AAA & nonroster players so how can anyone tell anything? But I agree with the comment that we don't have two months (and loses) to waste looking for a closer. I think Lester would be a great choice. But if you want to stick a young arm in the fire, I'd say why not give Cox a good hard look? The kid has IT - flithy stuff, great mound presence and a closer's mentality.

Anonymous: It's not like all of those times don't have questions. The rotations of Minnesota, Toronto, and Chicago aren't even completely filled yet, and the Indians have more pitching issues than Boston, IMO. The Red Sox are among the most solid in baseball.


The biggest thing with Corey, Delcarmen, and Breslow is that they can be sent down to the minors to start and brought back whenever necessary. Snyder is out of options. If we ditch him or any other established guy, they're gone for good. I imagine that's a huge part of why the vets will get the first shot. I'm not a fan of Tavarez, I think he should be long gone by now and his spot given to someone else, but I don't run the front office, either.



I do NOT think Lester would be a great option. He's a great pitcher, but he doesn't have the same kind of overwhelming stuff that Papelbon (or even Hansen in his best years) do. To throw him in the fire with all that pressure right off his cancer would be too much. Put him in AAA, give him time to redevelop, then bring him up if somebody gets hurt or for some spot starts later on in the year.

Lester would be a terrible closer. He needs a couple innings to warm up. His numbers as a reliever are awful.

Hi Rob,


Is it possible that the Red Sox closer will be one of those adorable kittens recently abandoned in Andover?



Also, could you ask the Big O if he might adopt one of those adorable kittens recently abandoned in Andover? They're really adorable.

How many left-handed closers can you name? None.

Left handed closers off the top of my head: Billy Wagner, B.J. Ryan, Mike Gonzales (last year with Pit)

Regardless of lefthandedness, Lester's just one of those guys who can't get it done in the 'pen. His routine is such that he'd never be able to just get up and get loose in a couple minutes, to go shut down the other team. He's a guy with a real deliberate plan on gameday. As was said by an Anonymous earlier, he's awful as a reliever, and that's why.

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Timlin in the 8th...and someone else in the 9th is the formula. He is a great setup guy. Timlin's record coming in with base runners in the ninth is scary. As any pitcher over 40, durability could be an issue.

Lester would be a terrible closer. He needs a couple innings to warm up. His numbers as a reliever are awful.


Anon: Lester has a whopping 4 appearances out of the pen as a professional. I don't disagree with your point, but 4 appearances out of almost 100 is a staggeringly small sample size.

Lester has made it clear in the past that he does not like pitching out of the bullpen and does not feel comfortable doing so. His, admittedly very small sample size, results as a reliever bear out his personal convictions that he sucks as a reliever. Even if it is just mental, it's probably still real.


If it weren't for the mental block, Lester, statistically, is actually the kind of pitcher who would transition to relief quite well. He has a high K-rate and questionable control, both of which are helped by relief pitching. He also would probably gain a couple mph on his fastball which would give him "closer stuff." But, all of that doesn't matter because the guy is convinced he can't do it. Unless he fails as a starter, I highly doubt he ever gets used in the pen.

Lets not clog up Rob's blog with endless Lester The Closer arguments. As stated above, Lester has admitted that his need for a routine doesn't agree with being a reliever.


Why does everyone want to make our top young starters into relievers? An elite closer (ie. BJ Ryan) makes the same money as a #3 garbage starter like Gil Meche.

Why isn't Kyle Snyder being considered at all? He has great strikeout ability and we've seen how he can be lights out for (generally no more than) 2-3 innings. He seems like a guy built from the Goose Gossage mode. The Sox are crazy if they let him slip away.

Ever checked out Snyder's HR rate? That's why. I don't want him near a slim lead. I think he even gave up two homers in the first inning of today's game.

Repeat after me:
Lester will not be the closer, Lester will not be the closer, Lester will not be the closer.

OK, can we move on, now?

why do you bother with those fools on WEEI?

patriots83, my guess is that they pay him.

I agree with Mike Holley; who correctly observed that the closer is a ephemeral position. Case in point, Brad Lidge, Bobby Jenks, Bob Wickman, Keith Foulke in three separate places. Rivera's tenure is the exception to the positions transient nature and that is why Gammons believes he has been the mvp for the last ten years in the league. But give these guys a shot and if they are not getting the job done, get someone else. Why can they not do this? It cannot be because they do not have the money. We will have three or four closers come out of no where this year in MLB and surprise us. The blowhards will be proven wrong. Great job Bradford(the hardest working man on the beat); this blog is must read for any serious sox fan.