Earned Respect

I know that I used a recent post to outline the possible reasons that Jonathan Papelbon could be traded, but in light of today's nesn.com article, I feel that I should clarify.

Papelbon is not untouchable, but he's not on the immediate chopping block, either. I want to emphasize once again that Papelbon's ninth inning blown save in Game 3 of the ALDS has nothing to do with any trade that might go down. He picked a terrible time for an aberrational meltdown, but Theo is rational, and as painful as the Game 3 memory is, his stat line looks like this:

2009: 66 games, 68 IP, 1.85 ERA, 1-1 record, 38 saves
2008: 67 games, 69.1 IP, 2.34 ERA, 5-4 record, 41 saves
Career (5 seasons): 268 games, 298 IP, 1.84 ERA, 14-11 record, 151 saves

Manny Delcarmen is right: fans take Jonathan Papelbon for granted. Aside from Mariano Rivera (who I'm quite sure is an android of some sort), there's no one I'd be more comfortable seeing closing out games for the Sox.

"What Paps has done here, you've got to give the guy a lot of credit," Delcarmen said. "Like the way people acted after the last game, it was surprising to me and to a lot of people because of what he has done here. Like I said, he deserves a lot of respect -- it's baseball and stuff happens. He gets it done 99 percent of the time and that was just one game."

Lord Cinco-Ocho, as he's called himself, has earned our respect. Papelbon is a valuable commodity - he's almost a sure thing every time the ninth inning rolls around - and that's exactly why I wouldn't be shocked to see him go. Theo is a big fan of buying low and selling high, and the Red Sox have done stranger things in the ninth inning than trust the job to a still-developing rookie (closer by committee, anyone?). The name Papelbon would open a lot of otherwise locked doors on the trade market, and you know Theo is sniffing out every possibility. I hope Paps is still with us come Spring, but if he's not?

Well, In Theo I Trust.