Papelbon

[Dawg61]

is still stuck on 299 career saves. Got the win tonight. He's got a 1.86 era and 13 saves on the year. Still a top tier closer.

[Pioneer Dawg]

He's not anywhere close to a top tier closer. His strikeouts are WAY down and his walks are WAY WAY up.

Glad he's going to get 300 but this will be his last year in the "closer" capacity, if he keeps that job all year. He WAS a top closer for years, but that ship is not even in view from the shore anymore.

[Dawg61]

He's not anywhere close to a top tier closer. His strikeouts are WAY down and his walks are WAY WAY up.

Glad he's going to get 300 but this will be his last year in the "closer" capacity, if he keeps that job all year. He WAS a top closer for years, but that ship is not even in view from the shore anymore.

Name 6 better

[Pioneer Dawg]

Name 6 better

Kimbrel
Chapman
Holland
Jansen
Perkins
Cishek
Uehara
Street
Robertson
K-Rod

[Dawg61]

Kimbrel yes
Chapman yes
Holland no
Jansen maybe
Perkins no
Cishek no
Uehara maybe
Street no
Robertson no
K-Rod yes

Paps is still getting it done. And he's a Mississippi State Bulldog

[Pioneer Dawg]

From your evaluations we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Those are the ones FAR AND AWAY better than Paps. If we broke it down there would likely be more (Rodney, Romo, Rosenthal, Soriano, etc.)

[Dawg61]

From your evaluations we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Those are the ones FAR AND AWAY better than Paps. If we broke it down there would likely be more (Rodney, Romo, Rosenthal, Soriano, etc.)

Romo yes
Rosenthal better stuff but no
Rodney um no
Soriano maybe

Hey I'm a Papelbon fan, sorry, wish this board had more. Weird that it doesn't. He has Maroon blood. He's crazy yes but he's our crazy. How many SEC schools have a 300 career saves alumni?

[esplanade91]

I'm not going to blindly follow a fellow Mississippi State alum into the abyss. I love Paps for what he is, but he's not a closer I would want on my MLB team. And I say that with love...

Hell, the Mets just cut a 50 year old closer because they didn't want to pay him a roster bonus that I'd still rather have than Paps.

Celebrate the guy because he was so good at MSU he got drafted in the 4th. That's awesome. But that doesn't mean you should abandon all sense.

[Dawg61]

I'm not going to blindly follow a fellow Mississippi State alum into the abyss. I love Paps for what he is, but he's not a closer I would want on my MLB team. And I say that with love...

Hell, the Mets just cut a 50 year old closer because they didn't want to pay him a roster bonus that I'd still rather have than Paps.

Celebrate the guy because he was so good at MSU he got drafted in the 4th. That's awesome. But that doesn't mean you should abandon all sense.

Whose abandoning all sense? He has 13 saves this year and a 1.86 era. Y'all are acting like he's Heath Bell all of a sudden and you saying you'd rather have Jose Valverde over Papelbon is by far the stupidest thing you've ever said. Why the hate? I just don't get it. We'd be celebrating the shit out of Moreland if he was about to hit his 500th HR. The 300 save club isn't as sexy as the 500 HR club but there's about the same amount of members.

[Political Hack]

Romo yes
Rosenthal better stuff but no
Rodney um no
Soriano maybe

Hey I'm a Papelbon fan, sorry, wish this board had more. Weird that it doesn't. He has Maroon blood. He's crazy yes but he's our crazy. How many SEC schools have a 300 career saves alumni?

agree. not sure why State fans are hard on one of our own.

[DownwardDawg]

agree. not sure why State fans are hard on one of our own.

I love Paps! Loved watching him pitch at Boston. I never cared much about any pro sport, but Paps got me watching a little MLB.

[smootness]

The answer, as usual, is somewhere in between. He isn't the same dominant K machine he was early in his career, but he's far from washed up. His walk rate seems to be an anomaly so far, since he was under 2 per 9 just last year, so we'll see if that drops the more he pitches this year.

He's living off an abnormally low BABIP so far this year, but if he brings his walk rate down to where it was last year, that will offset the increase in hits given up. He's still a solid closer, he's just not special anymore.

It's definitely huge that he's about to get to 300. The more big-time names we can put into MLB, the better. It's why I'm rooting so hard for Hunter Renfroe to realize all his potential. BTW, he's continuing his tear over the last couple of weeks. Now up to .280 with 12 HRs. His improving walk rate is a really good sign, and his .280/.350/.536 line is exactly what you'd expect from him. He seems to have settled in and figured out A+ pitching, now the question will simply be whether or not he's able to handle it at AA. I would expect some struggles initially, but he seems to be improving the more pitching he sees. Imagine that.