When I picked Jonathan Papelbon as a preview player for TGP this spring, I promised myself I wouldn't write about Jimmy Carter, the Bhagavad Gita, and meeting my cousin's first husband. Despite that promise, it's happening. Sorry folks. I will talk some numbers and do a Madson comparison, but I just can't duck the X factor here. Something about Jonathan Papelbon just demands that all the extraneous stuff comes out. It's a story of coming of age, loss of innocence, and regret, and it has to be told.

Papelbon's season with the Phillies will be viewed, fairly or not, through a green filter. The contract he signed didn't write itself, and he can't be blamed for it. Still, if he struggles, he will no doubt bear the fans' ire for a contract that Amaro wrote. As is the case with Ryan Howard, dissatisfaction over his piles of lucre really should be directed at the Phillies executive who was on the other end of the deal.

With the preemptive contract whining out of the way, what exactly are the Phillies likely to get this year from Papelbon, and how might his body of work compare to the closing services provided until recently by Ryan Madson, whom he is replacing?

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Contract status: 2012 - One year, $850,000
Signed by Philadelphia Phillies as free agent on December 15, 2011

2011 Statistics:

Reds -
75.2 IP
57 SO
37 BB
5.00 ERA
4.10 FIP
4.08 xFIP
4.29 SIERA

Player Pages: Fangraphs; Baseball Reference.

If the Phillies front office poobahs are to be believed, newly acquired left-handed pitcher Dontrelle Willis will be assuming a new full-time role in 2012, that of middle reliever. It's been quite a fall from Willis's career year in 2005 while pitching for the Marlins, when the then 23 year old Willis won 22 games, posted a 2.63 ERA and finished second in Cy Young balloting. The mercurial Willis has had a rough road recently, including a well-publicized stint on the disabled list in 2009 due to social anxiety disorder.

Willis signed a minor league deal with the Reds in 2011 and had a just so-so run as a starter. Peel back the layers and there are some very promising indicators for Willis in the bullpen. Specifically, his ability to get left-handed batters out. For his career, lefties have only managed a .200/.274/.288 line against Willis, whose delivery has surely been described by one Mr. Chris Wheeler as "funky." Left handed batters were even more hapless against Willis in 2011: .127/.169/.200, with 20 strikeouts against 60 batters faced, and only two walks.

So, it doesn't take a baseball supergenius to see that Willis could have a very bright future in the league as a lefty specialist, the elusive LOOGY the Phillies have been seeking.

Willis just turned 30 in January, and on a one year deal for a measly $850,000, it's hard to imagine how the Phillies relationship with Willis could turn out poorly. With minimal risk and substantial upside, the Phillies could be the beneficiaries of a terrific career resurrection if Willis is able to harness his lefty-killing abilities and reinvent himself as an elite left-handed relief pitcher.

Oh, and the career .665 OPS at the plate doesn't hurt, either.

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Re-watching the June 21st game against the Cardinals, I came to a totally shocking realization: I'm going to miss Tony La Russa.

Well, ok. I'm not so much going to miss *him* as I'm going to miss the Machiavellian way he approached the game. I always felt like Tony La Russa was trying to outsmart baseball itself, so watching his insane, overcomplicated machinations backfire on him was very satisfying.

Of course, there's backfiring, and then there's what happened during this game. The bullpen vomited up nine runs in the 8th inning while La Russa shuffled his staff around like a deck of cards. (Ha! Get it?) Up until that point, both teams were having a problem mounting any offense at all. Roy Halladay went a strong six innings despite giving up two first inning walks. The Cardinals had managed to score two runs -- one off of Halladay, and one off of Michael Stutes. The Phillies had notched only one run and five hits in seven innings against Kyle McClellan. McClellan turned in an impressive performance that would unfortunately be crapped on as soon as he left the ball game.

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