Pap on Pap

While Jonathan Papelbon's not about to explore the wonderful world of starting (again), he did offer that he might take on Terry Francona's job this season. Reliever? Starter? Manager?

OK, maybe not. But that doesn't mean that Papelbon's not going to use some of the lessons he learned last season in his preparation for this one.

"We're going to sit down and talk about my approach to spring training," Papelbon said, while at the player development complex this morning. "Last spring training I kind of took a starter's approach, building up arm strength and things like that. I think for the first few weeks I'll kind of be more on a starter's throwing program, so to speak. Then go back into pitching every day toward the end of spring training, things like that. It worked last year, so why not try it again this year?"

Either way, Papelbon said, he's happy to be hitting Fort Myers, where the short offseason has officially ended today. Though I would imagine he enjoyed his offseason, coming off a World Series title. He did mention that he spent some time in the Bahamas, where he was during the Super Bowl. (Papelbon talked about his torn allegiances, since his hunting buddy, Eli Manning, happened to be on that other team.)

"Spring training's always fun," Papelbon said. "Spring training is a time to relax, at the same time start getting ready for the season. I always get excited. Just on the way down here, you know, driving and stuff, you think about what happened last year, going out there and doing it again. You turn the radio up loud. You cruise. It's always a fun time of the year for me."