Quote: PJP said: Why? Pauley had 1 bad game against the Jays and 1 excellent game.....I didn't say he was the next Schilling I just said he looked good. He rebounded well after a shellacking....
He held his own against the Yankees("excellent" might be going a bit far), I don't deny that. However, to promote a decent at best prospect with marginal stuff from Double-A when you're in a pennant race seems unwise to me.
Quote: The Yankees would have won 3 more World Series' probably in '01 '03 and '04 when Mariano blew 2 saves against the Sox......if Mariano was as dominant as he was in the 90's.
Rivera was not the only reason the Yankees lost those years(just as he was not the only reason the Yankees won previously), and as Rob pointed out, Rivera's best season was just last year. Infact, his last three years('03-'05) were even better than his first three as the full-time Yankee closer('97-'99), with the middle three years only being moderately spectacular.
Quote: A good closer is hard to find....
No, not really. It's not easy, but it's not particularly hard, either. Derrick Turnbow, Danys Baez, Dustin Hermanson, Todd Jones, Brian Fuentes, etc etc. Teams stumble upon guys like this that hold down closers jobs all the time, and there are plenty of guys that probably could do the job, but don't get the chance(Scott Shields, Fernando Rodney, Bob Howry, Juan Rincon, just to name a few off the top of my head).
Quote: a dominant one is damn near impossible.
The shelf-life of the average closer isn't that long, so I would say it's difficult to find a closer who can remain at the top of his game for an extended period. However, it's much more diffcult to find an ace than an elite closer, and there's no question that a #1 or #2 pitcher is more valuable than a top of the line closer. Actually, and this is something that I doubt those who pray at the alter of Rivera will understand or appreciate, but over the course of a season, even an average, middle of the rotation starter is more valuable than a top of the line closer, simply because he pitches two, three or four(depending on the team) times as many innings.
In any event, my point is: Papelbon has the talent and ability to be an elite starter, and not at least trying him out in that role first(like the Yankees did with Rivera) seems pretty stupid.
