Papelbon back to his old tricks, the bullpen

It’s official. You won’t see Joel Pineiro, Branden Donnelly, or J.C. Romero coming out of the bullpen in the 9th. You won’t see Mike Timlin or Julian Tavarez either. Instead, it’ll be young Jonathan Papelbon closing Red Sox games again this year.

A lot of people were excited about seeing him start, and about the potential 1-2-3-4 punch that Boston’s rotation would deliver with him in the starting rotation with Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

But there’s no arguing with his past success, and while we can’t expect the same type of dominating performance, Jonathan has the stuff to get the job done.

What do you think of Papelbon’s return to the closer’s role? Leave a comment below!

Schilling on Moss, Hazen on Masterson

In the latest from Curt Schilling’s official blog, 38 Pitches, the Boston’s ace singles out former Spinner Brandon Moss as the Red Sox prospect he was most impressed with this spring.

But if I had to choose right now the kid I think has immense upside is Brandon Moss. I watched this kid hit yesterday for over a half hour and I was pretty blown away. He has immense pop for someone his size. He moves and looks like JD Drew from an athletic perspective. His BP was something to behold. I haven’t seen him play in a game so I can’t comment any further, but his bat is thunderous.

Moss has hit .308/.438/.500 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with a home run in 26 Spring Training at-bats. He’ll begin the season at Triple-A Pawtucket after leading Double-A Portland to the Eastern League Championship and winning the SeaDogs’ Playoff MVP award.

And speaking of former Spinners, MLB.com’s Maureen Mullen writes in her latest Minors Report that the Red Sox are very happy with 2006 Spinners standout Justin Masterson. Check out this quote from Red Sox Director of Player Development, Mike Hazen:

He’s come in and been everything that’s advertised when we drafted him. He works hard. He’s a great teammate. He has good stuff. Everything that the scouts identified has been true. He’s progressing nicely. He’ll be an interesting guy coming out and starting the season.

Justin had a fantastic season with the Spinners last summer, striking out 33 and walking only two batters in 31.2 summer innings after being selected in the second round of the 2006 Amateur Draft. He’ll be a starting pitcher this season, possibly with the High-A Lancaster JetHawks.

Spring Training Spinners — DAVID MURPHY

We round out our coverage of former Spinners on the Red Sox Spring Training roster with a profile of the most recent former Spinner to make the Major Leagues: outfielder David Murphy.

David Murphy - 2003 Spinners stats: .346 BA, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 9 SO, 16 BB in 78 AB

On September 2 of last summer, while the Red Sox were falling out of contention, David Murphy made his Major League debut in Boston’s outfield, going 1-for-3 against the Blue Jays. Murphy’s journey to the Majors took off as a member of Lowell’s 2003 roster, where he began his professional career after being drafted 17th overall out of Baylor University.

Murphy was the Spinners best hitter in 2003, batting .346 with a .453 on-base percentage and 13 runs scored in 21 games, the best stint of any length in his professional career. He was quickly promoted to High-A Sarasota where he finished out his 2003 season hitting only .242 as one of Sarasota’s youngest players.

In 2004, Murphy repeated Sarasota with modest improvement, hitting .261 in 272 at-bats in the Florida State League, but the power he’d shown as a senior at Baylor (11 home runs, .614 slugging percentage) had not yet developed. He only hit four longballs and his .346 slugging percentage was not awe inspiring.

Nevertheless, a 23-year-old Murphy spent all of 2005 with Double-A Portland, batting a solid .275 with a resurgent 14 homers and 13 stolen bases. Throw in solid doubles power and some nice centerfield defense and Murphy’s Major League potential was growing. Similar results came from his 2006 return to Portland — a .273/.315/.436 batting line (BA/OBP/SLG) — before a mid-season promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket, where he blossomed into a .267/.355/.447 stat line, his best since his time as a 2003 Spinner.

That success brought him up to Boston in early September as a fill-in while both Trot Nixon and Wily Mo Pena recovered from injury. In his third career start, Murphy led of the game with a home run at Yankee Stadium, endearing himself to Red Sox fans across New England.

With added bulk, Murphy is ready to compete for a bench spot on the 2007 team. Even if he starts the season in Pawtucket, expect to see more than a few highlights of Murphy’s centerfield defense on display at Fenway Park this summer.

Spinners promotional excellence recognized

The Lowell Spinners tremendous promotional schedule is making headlines all the way in Texas!

San Antonio Express-News sportswriter David King’s Page Two lead today was the Lowell Spinners promotional excellence, from Y.E.P. to the upcoming David Eckstein Step Stool Giveaway on July 20th, sponsored by Merrimack Valley Credit Union and Textron Systems.

Click here for the story, or here for the newspaper pdf file.

Thanks for the kind words, David!