I would much rather have a lights out closer and a fill in 5th starter until lester gets back then to have paps as as starter and no one to close games. Look at what Mariano has done for the yankers....having a great closer is much more important than a decent #5. (which in a couple months we should have anyway with lester back).........it's april 8th...relax
Why? Its ok for a 5th starter to blow a game but not ok for a closer? The fifth starter has a whole lot more chances to blow a game than a closer would. And if you think that Rivera would be a closer if he had the ability to be a starter you're fooling yourself.
Even though I'm not a big Tavarez fan, I gotta say he did a reasonable job. The game was lost by way of JD Drew's defense and JC Romero giving up five hits to the five batters he faced. Take Paps out of the bull pen and everyone who remains moves up a notch in responsibility.
Tavarez allowed 11 baserunners in 4IP; A 2.75WHIP is not a reasonable job. After Youngs hit Tavarez allowed a single, a single, a strikeout, a walk and a single. Four runs would have scored in that inning even if Drew played the ball perfectly and held Young to a double. And yes, Romero sucked. Romero has sucked his entire career and having Tavarez pitch as a starter will allow more innings for him. Since most of Tavarez's starts will likely be 4-6IP there will be a greater need from JC Romero, Kyle Snyder and the rest of the bullpen to pitch the innings that the starter should have. While Papelbon certainly wouldn't go 8-9IP every time, I'd be pretty confident that he'd pitch into the 6th, 7th and 8th a whole lot more than Tavarez would.
Yesterday was also a perfect example of why the closer is an asinine role. Close game in the 6th inning, guy on third, one out, and who do you bring in? JC Romero and his career 1.52WHIP. Not your best reliever to come in and make sure the rally doesn't get out of hand, because his job is to pitch the 9th inning of 3 run games against Kansas City. More games are lost in the middle innings because of guys like Romero and Snyder than games lost in the 9th by a less than adequete closer.
And some fun stats about 2006:
Saves Papelbon recorded against the DRays: 6.
Saves Papelbon recorded against playoff teams (AL and NL): 4.
40% of Papelbons saves (14) came against the 3 worst teams in the AL.
9% of Papelbons saves (3) came against the 3 best teams in the AL.
63% of Papelbons saves (22) came against sub-.500 teams.
Moral of the story: Most of Papelbons innings last season came against crappy teams. While certainly a win is a win and a save is a save, my point is that even a guy like Pineiro would probably be able to convert 80% of the saves being that a majority of the innings are against the dregs of baseball. Everyone says that a lights out closer (which Papelbon wasn't last season in terms of actually converting saves) is neccessary to win because of the close games against great teams... but they happen far less often. And he was only 13 for 19 last season in 1-run games.