Meanwhile, there was some concern about how Papelbon would fare as a starter. Would that signature late life on his fastball still be there the second or third time through the lineup? Also, his breaking ball, which he never needed to throw very often as a closer, hadn't improved much since college, and he'd need it as a starting pitcher. The pitch did not come naturally to him. The gift that makes Papelbon such a top fastball pitcher -- the ability to keep his right hand behind the ball -- gets in the way of his breaking ball, which must be thrown with the hand rotating around the baseball.

Boston had changed its organizational philosophy about breaking balls. Velocity, command, changeups and splitters, the club believed, could be improved with instruction and experience, but the Sox brass had come to regard the ability to spin the ball as innate, like foot speed or height. In draft discussions executives who claim that a college pitcher's mediocre breaking ball can improve to a good one in the majors are now hooted down.

So, on March 20 Francona called Epstein immediately after Papelbon left his office. "You've got to talk to Pap!"

Epstein quickly met with Papelbon, who told him, "I woke up this morning and realized I'm a closer."

"If I were you," Epstein replied, "I'd want to start. The first thing is, the doctors said the best thing for you is to start. I also think you can do it. Obviously, you're going to be better as a closer than as a starter, but there aren't that many good starters out there."

(Understood in the discussion was that a decent starter also commands more money than an elite closer. "I've thought about that," Papelbon says now, "and over my career, what's the difference between $80 million and $100 million? O.K.? Nothing.")

"Go home," Epstein said. "Sleep on it. Wake up again tomorrow. If you still feel the same way, if you really feel like you were born to be a closer, we'll talk to the doctors and see if we can find a way to make this work."

The next morning team doctors and officials began devising the Papelbon Program. It covered two pages and was divided into three parts: how often he could be used, a daily testing program and a custom shoulder-strengthening program. For instance, Francona was not to use Papelbon three days in a row, or even two days in a row if he was coming off a high pitch count. Nor could he use Papelbon the day after he had pitched more than one inning.

The daily testing is the backbone of the program. In December 2005 the Red Sox hired Mike Reinhold as an assistant trainer. Reinhold had been the director of rehab and clinical education at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, home of famed sports orthopedist James Andrews. That means if surgery were ruled out for a patient, Andrews would turn him over to Reinhold to work him back into pitching shape. Reinhold would monitor Papelbon's testing.

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