Jonathan Papelbon: can he become a starter again?

[NievesNoNO]

I guess this is a two part question. Does anyone think Paplepon can be changed back into a starter and would be open to the idea. If I remember correctly he's one of those guys that the team wanted to limit innings early in his career so he pitched from the bullpen, but he did so well and he filled a need so they just left him there. I also want to say he was initially opposed to relieving. Somebody correct my unresearched history if I'm wrong.

 

What kind of money do you think he'll get this off-season as a FA and would it be worth it for a team to give him a nice reliever type contract and convert him to a starter if he's open to it. (Yes, I'm talking about the Brewers here, but I suppose it could apply to any team. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif) Or, as some have suggested, Prince is traded to Boston and one of the players we get back is Papelbon. We sign him to an extension and ask him, or tell him nicely, that he's a starter.

 

There seems to be a fair amount of good young arms that have ended up in the bullpen for not a very good reason IMO. I guess I just don't get the logic to have one of your best arms pitch 50-80 innings instead of 150-200. I understand that some of these guys have proven they're not good starters for whatever reason (lack of addition pitches, etc), but some have never been given much of a shot. Broxton is another that comes to mind recently. I'm sure there are more. These guys are obviously good at what they do and fill a need for the team but I guess I would just like to see some of these good young arms that teams have fail at starting before they get moved to the bullpen.

[CheezWizHed]

I don't know Papelbon's history or anything, so I'll answer this generically:

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

If Papelbon had injury issues and could only throw so many innings, what indication would you have that its changed now? Braddock is kind of in that seat right now, too. Its one thing to bounce Braddock around, as he hasn't established himself in the MLB yet. But Papelbon is one of the best RPs in the business.

 

Its a big risk to take a known quantity, pay him lots of money to be an unknown quantity.

[Baldkin]

He never had injury issues, as far as I know.

They did to him the same thing the Yankees did with Joba Chamberlin. Toss him in the bullpen, because he's better than anyone else you have, but it limits his innings while you build up his arm strength.

 

You want your pitchers to go up ~30 innings a year, so, if he throws 80, next year he'd max out at about 120... which is half a seasons worth of starts.

It would be pretty tough for him to convert back to a starting pitcher.

[MessiahRp]

I don't think he'd work well as a starter especially right at the moment. Right now he's struggling because he's backed off of using his splitter and seems to be trying too hard to get his fastball by everyone else. As a one pitch pitcher he's way too hittable. When he was using his splitter with confidence he was practically unhittable.

[thebruce44]

Perhaps he could but I remember this article shedding some light on the reason to move him to the bullpen in the first place:

 

http://sportsillustrated....ine/MAG1115794/index.htm

 

Papelbon, 26, walked off the field and headed straight for the office of manager Terry Francona. "Tito," Papelbon said, addressing Francona by his nickname, "I'm not sleeping good. I know deep down in my heart this is not what I want to do. If you want to give me the ball in the ninth, I'd love to go back in that role."

 

Replied Francona, "Well, hell yeah!"

 

See, Papelbon is more wolf than sheep. "On the mound with the ball in his hand and the game on the line," says bullpen coach Gary Tuck, "he is pure rage."

[dadofandrew]

I'm sure he could, Smoltz did. However, very few go from relief to starting, so it's likely he'd struggle, with "dead arm" and the like.

[NievesNoNO]

Perhaps he could but I remember this article shedding some light on the reason to move him to the bullpen in the first place:

 

http://sportsillustrated....ine/MAG1115794/index.htm

 

Papelbon, 26, walked off the field and headed straight for the office of manager Terry Francona. "Tito," Papelbon said, addressing Francona by his nickname, "I'm not sleeping good. I know deep down in my heart this is not what I want to do. If you want to give me the ball in the ninth, I'd love to go back in that role."

 

Replied Francona, "Well, hell yeah!"

 

See, Papelbon is more wolf than sheep. "On the mound with the ball in his hand and the game on the line," says bullpen coach Gary Tuck, "he is pure rage."

Ahh, thanks for the link. Makes more sense now.

 

 

[endaround]

He's already 29. So little reason to even try.

[joepepsi]

He's already 29. So little reason to even try.

Wow, where does the time go? Seems like only a couple years ago he was Boston's next big thing.

[DHonks]

Papelbon also had the problem with the separated shoulder. At the time, docs thought moving him to the rotation would be better for it, but he later (as previously mentioned) vetoed that