Jonathan Papelbon (P), BOS - Alert: HI
March 22, 2007
News: News out of New England is that Papelbon will move back to the bullpen, where he'll assume the closing duties for the Red Sox.
Views: Though this cuts into his real life value significantly, it's big news in fantasy circles. Starters are considerably more valuable to a big league team, though his fantasy impact as a closer figures to be much greater in 2007 than his impact as a starter. Papelbon immediately takes one of the bigger bullpen messes you'd ever expect to see from a big market team and makes it a strength. Prior to his injury last September, Papelbon was a top three closer, and arguably number one in many formats. The news that he'll enter the season as Boston's closer now means that you can pretty much pencil him in for 40 saves, an ERA in the low-twos, and a terrific WHIP right around 1.00. You can also expect that his strikeout production (strictly on a per-inning basis) will be stronger out of the bullpen than it would have been in the rotation. He jumps from the thirties in the starter rankings to the top five in the closer rankings.
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