This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on April 7, 2006.

By Nick Tavares

Ah, springtime. With showers and sun and a spike in temperature, baseball has returned.

And with baseball season comes the return of second-guessing and controversy. At least it does in New England.

It might seem a bit frantic to speak of an event in Game — of 162 as being significant to the season, but Terry Francona's move Wednesday night spoke volumes.

With a fragile 2-1 lead going into the ninth against one of the American League's best hitting teams, Francona left his closer Keith Foulke in the bullpen, bringing in 25-year-old phenom Jonathan Papelbon instead.

Eleven pitches later, Papelbon had his first major league save and the Sox had a legitimate controversy in the ninth.

Foulke made one rocky appearance on opening day in a non-save situation and was bailed out by the acrobatic Coco Crisp in center field.

So, in a situation made for the closer, Foulke sat with his sweatshirt on, and Papelbon got the call.

Francona said that it was more to get Papelbon work with yesterday's off day looming, but the move spoke volumes for the manager's confidence in Papelbon.

"About the only way we were going to do that was the way it unfolded," Francona said. "Seven (from Josh Beckett), go to (Mike) Timlin, and what I didn't want to happen was get out of town — we have a day off tomorrow — and not use a guy that's throwing as good as anybody."

So, maybe there isn't a controversy. But Foulke is still not the pitcher he was in 2004, and every day, the probability that he will be again shrinks.

If the Sox decide to install Papelbon as their closer on a full-time basis, the former starter would be in good company. Most of the best closers in history began their careers as starters, which allowed them to develop the pitches and stamina necessary.

It's easy to forget Goose Gossage came up as a starter with the White Sox in 1972, pitching mainly out of the rotation in the minors before shifting to the bullpen. And even then, he wasn't a regular closer until 1975.

Dave Righetti was a starter for the first four years of his career, which included a Fourth of July no-hitter against the Red Sox in 1983.

The next season he was moved into the bullpen, and from there racked up 252 saves in his career.

Dennis Eckersley revived his career in the bullpen, but he was an All-Star starter for quite some time, winning 20 games with the Red Sox in 1978 and completing more than 100 games in his career before winning the MVP and Cy Young in 1992 for Oakland.

Eric Gagne was a mediocre, barely-in-the-majors starter from 1999 to 2001 with the Dodgers. But a shift to the closer's role in 2002 turned historic, as Gagne racked up 155 saves over the next three years.

Mariano Rivera was also a starter through the minor leagues. Rivera started 10 games in 1995 before settling into the bullpen. In 1996 he was part of one of the greatest bullpen tandems of all time, setting up John Wetteland en route to a Yankees World Series title.

Since then? He's been the best relief pitcher in major league history, hands down.

Is all-time greatness in Papelbon's future? Maybe, but maybe not. There's no reason to think he won't be good, but to think he'll be Roger Clemens in the rotation or Rivera out of the bullpen is far too much.

Whether Papelbon winds up a starter or closer in the long run isn't all that important, and Boston can be very thankful for that.

What is important is the Sox have a very versatile, very young pitcher who could be very valuable to them for a long, long time.

And, as we saw two nights ago, in the short term, too.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Contact him at ntavares@s-t.com

Date of Publication April 07, 2006 on Page C04