ESPN is reporting that Jonathan Papelbon will return to his role as the Boston Red Sox closer. This makes the closer pool a little deeper, as Papelbon is a quality option. I still wouldn't recommend drafting him simply because closers aren't worth early picks, as I've mentioned numerous times before.
Papelbon is good though, posting a 9.88 K/9 and a 1.71 BB/9 in 2006. His walks will probably increase, but his Ks will probably hover between 9 and 10. His GB Percentage is not good (37%), but his great command and strikeout numbers make up for it. He's already on my Closer Rankings; I'll just remove the rest of the Red Sox.
This takes a small chip out of the stock of a guy like Jorge Julio who was a potential trade target of the Red Sox. There are still teams interested in trading for a closer, but the Red Sox are one team you can remove from this list.
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