Lemme get this straight

[Cubsfan97]

Papelbon has only given up 3 Runs All Earned and has 3 blown Saves? Thats what Red Sox.com said. That sucks that the only 3 runs hes given up all blew the game.

[Honus Wagner]

BS3:
jermaine dye's homer just over the fence tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, for Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon, rthis was the first run the rookie has given up on the road all season.


BS2:
News: Jonathan Papelbon blew his second save and gave up his second run of the year when he surrendered a solo homer to Chase Utley in the ninth inning Monday.
Impact: Both of his blown saves have come in Tim Wakefield's starts. Papelbon came in with a one-run lead, a man on second and two out in the eighth and retired Jimmy Rollins to end the threat. Utley then led off the ninth with a shot that would have been a foul ball in perhaps every other ballpark in the majors. At Fenway, it rang off the Pesky Pole in the right field. Papelbon finished the ninth and preserved the tie, but his ERA skyrocketed to 0.46. (Tue. Jun 27, 2006)

BS1:
Jun. 9, 2006 - 9:35 p.m. ET

Jonathan Papelbon was charged with his first blown save after being brought into the eighth inning of Friday's game versus the Rangers.

If Papelbon hadn't thrown an inning in a six-run game on Thursday, manager Terry Francona could have used him for two full innings tonight. Instead, Craig Hansen, making his first appearance in the majors this year, opened the eighth with a one-run lead. Hansen was removed with runners on the corners and two outs. Papelbon came in and gave up a game-tying single to Hank Blalock, resulting in his first blown save in 21 opportunities. He then got out of the jam, and after the Red Sox reclaimed a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, Papelbon struck out the side in the ninth for his first win.

[Jager]

Papelbon has only given up 3 Runs All Earned and has 3 blown Saves? Thats what Red Sox.com said. That sucks that the only 3 runs hes given up all blew the game.

Yes as he posted, that isn't true. The first blown save actually resulted in a Win if I'm not mistaken, and wasn't chaged to him because it was Hansen's baserunner. Kinda a crumby way to get your first blown save of the season too.

[EvanAparra]

3 ER all resulting in blown saves... well no crap hes a closer!

[Jager]

Did you read any of this? That's not the case. Read up, because I don't feel like correcting it again.

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Papelbon could very well win the Cy Young award this year. He is the best closer in Baseball has the lowest ERA, he probably also will be the rookie of the year.

[Red Sox Rule]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ i'll definatly agree with that :clapping

[KCGHOST]

Papelbon could very well win the Cy Young award this year. He is the best closer in Baseball has the lowest ERA, he probably also will be the rookie of the year.


Doesn't have a real shot at the CYA: Simply too many starters having top years. For a closer to win the CYA the starters have to kind of clumped together at a not so high level.

The RoY is also problematic. Francisco Liriano is having a great year and he is a starter.

[Jager]

Papelbon's ERA is around 0.50 and he will probably have 50 saves at the end of the year, that's certainly good enough to win the Cy Young if he can keep his ERA down.

[EvanAparra]

papelbon wont win the CY....the morons over at ESPN are hyping up liriano as the second coming of koufax and verlander like hes nolan ryan, while completely ignoring papelbon.... i guess a .50 ERA isnt good enough for cy young talk nowadays

[DoubleX]

papelbon wont win the CY....the morons over at ESPN are hyping up liriano as the second coming of koufax and verlander like hes nolan ryan, while completely ignoring papelbon.... i guess a .50 ERA isnt good enough for cy young talk nowadays

I think Papelbon certainly deserves serious consideration, especially since he'll approach 90 IP, which is pretty impressive nowadays for a closer. However, it seems that closers need to really rack up the saves to get Cy Young love from the writers. Papelbon is on pace for 43, which is a great number, but not quite eyepopping. That 0.50 ERA though is pretty hard to argue with regardless.

[ssbguyincognito]

papelbon wont win the CY....the morons over at ESPN are hyping up liriano as the second coming of koufax and verlander like hes nolan ryan, while completely ignoring papelbon.... i guess a .50 ERA isnt good enough for cy young talk nowadays

I think even Theo Epstein would agree that a phenomenal starter is more important than a phenomenal closer. Both Liriano and Papelbon have been phenomenal, nobody can deny that.

Here are Liriano's stats:

115 IP, 137 K's, 12-2, 1.96 era, 0.96 whip

Papelbon:

54 IP, 55 K's, 29 saves, 0.50 era, 0.67 whip

Now for the sabermetric stats.

Liriano's VORP is 51.7, Papelbon's is 34.2. Papelbon is first among closers in VORP, but 25th overall among all pitchers. Basically, a starting pitcher is worth so much more than a closer.

It sucks, because for any other year in the last decade (except for 1996), papelbon would easily be the rookie of the year (imagine if his competiton was Angel Berroa). But he happens to be in the year where two other rookie starters, Liriano and Verlander, are just dominating.