Rope-a-Dope Confirmed?
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| Tuesday, February 20, 2007 |
About two months ago, I posted an opinion that the Red Sox closer search was a lot of smoke and mirrors to distract the rest of the league from the Red Sox true needs. I called this the rope-a-dope strategy. It appears your not so humble correspondent may have been onto something.
In an interview with the Globe’s Gordon Edes that will air on NESN tomorrow night, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein hinted for the first time that Jonathan Papelbon remains an option to be the team’s closer this season, which would suggest that the medical staff likes how Papelbon’s shoulder has reacted this week. And during their meeting with the media, owner John Henry and Tom Werner seemed even more confident that a decision had been reached.
Should the Red Sox move Jonathan Papelbon back to the bullpen to close, Kyle Snyder, Julian Tavarez, Joel Pineiro and Jon Lester are all candidates to assume the last sport in the rotation. The closer spot has been the Red Sox most glaring weakness. With the success Papelbon enjoyed last year, and stricter control on his use, that area of weakness may again be a strong point for the Sox.
Update Gordon Edes is backing off his earlier story, the one I linked a few hours ago. In fact, the post that I quoted from has been changed to remove what I had quoted and further downplay the idea that Papelbon may return to closing duties. Thanks to the Internet Archive I can pull the original of this post.
I personally find the Globe’s tinkering with the story to be reprehensible. They should have updated to note the exchange was a joke. To change the story and hope that the assertion disappears indicates that the MSM has a lot to learn about blogging and how transparency is essential to credibility.
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