"If you want to give me the ball in the ninth, I want it"

After being "offline" and therefore "disconnected" for most of the day, it was quite a treat to power up the laptop and find out that Jonathan Papelbon will be the 2007 Red Sox closer. Wow!

I'm not surprised that Papelbon is back in the bullpen, but I expected the transition two or three weeks into the season after a test of the "closer by committee" situation. Papelbon's words from Boston.com:

"I haven't been sleeping well because there's been that feeling deep down in my heart that I wanted to close...This is something I want to do for the rest of my career...It has nothing to do with Timlin's health or us not having a closer or my shoulder. I broke into the league as a closer. They drafted me as a closer. In college, I learned to pitch in the bullpen. It's where my heart is."

The bullpen is where his heart is...Sigh.

Three big questions to sleep on: Are the Red Sox a better team with Papelbon in the bullpen? Who will take his place in the starting rotation? When and why did Papelbon pose for a picture with four boxes of frozen chicken?

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