No they won't!
Either way this is a mistake by the Red Sox. Hello, the Doctors told them it would not be good for his arm if he stayed in the bullpen. I don't care how much stronger his arm is this year, Papelbum pitching 75+ games a year just isn't good for his arm. It doesn't give his arm enough rest and all the warming up and actual pitching he's going to do this year is going to hurt him. There is a reason why Papelbum wanted to start and why his doctors said it would be best for him to start, why are the Red Sox playing with this? The Red Sox should have done the right thing and went out and either A. Given up some prospects for a closer or B. They should have signed Gagne or someone during the off-season. Being a closer is a lot more of a grind then people think. I hate the people out there calling closers weak because they pitch only one inning nowadays. While getting a save may be easier today because you only have to get 3 outs instead of 4, 5, or 6+, no-one who is good at closing games can be considered weak (in a baseball sense). I have no doubt that if healthy Papelbum will do a good job closing games for the Red Sox. I don't think he'll be as untouchable as he was last year but I also still think he'll be one of the best closers in the game. The question is health and that has to be a major concern here. Look what happened to Prior. The Cubs tested their limits with him and he's a mess now. I know he's a starter and Bum's a closer but I'm saying it in the context of these franchise's playing with a young pitchers arm. Papelbum's arm will be a lot better off with 4 days off in-between starts as opposed pitching 3 or 4 times a week. I may be wrong with this situation but we saw what happened to the guy last year after a lot of use. I will be surprised if he doesn't have a stint on the DL this year, real surprised. And no I'm not wishing it, just saying I think he will spend some time on the DL!
