Sveum Waved In For Second Interview

Boston's former third base coach Dale Sveum will get a second interview for the manager's job.

The interview is next Tuesday in Milwaukee (where the winter meetings are being held) and will be attended by the ownership trio of John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino will be at the interview next Tuesday. ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes says the team is "extremely high on Sveum".

Ben Cherington:

I felt real comfortable with him on a personal level. We like his broad-based experience. We like the type of player he was and the type of managers he was around and in his time in Boston as a coach. He had success in Milwaukee as a coach and has some managing experience in the majors and in the minor leagues. We felt like he brings a lot of good qualities. The next phase is getting ownership a little bit more involved.

Steve Buckley of the Herald writes that Sveum may not be the right man for the job (though how many fans were demanding that Terry Francona was the perfect choice back in 2003?), but no one has made a compelling case as to why he is unfit.

Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon held a press conference yesterday:

"I wanted to make this decision quick and get it over with. I didn't want to sit there and debate on whether I go back to Boston. My agents called me every day with what could happen. One day I finally called them and said, "Listen, I want to go play for the Phillies. Let's make it happen." They called me two days later and made it happen."

Bot explained that it wasn't the shit-ton of money ($50,000,058) offered by Philadelphia that caused him to leave the Red Sox for the NL. It was the chance to play for a World Series contender.

That [the contract] d[id]n't really play a role. The biggest thing that plays a role is the ability to come here and win. I'm extremely excited. I think that we're going to be able to have ballclub that's going be able to go and compete for a championship. I think, for me, that's the biggest thing and that's all you can ask for.

Peter Abraham rightly calls BS: "Had the Red Sox offered $1 more than the Phillies, Papelbon would still be in Boston."

Edes has a very good column about Papelbon's departure. The closer certainly will be missed, but there are other options. Edes notes that the Rays "proved you can recycle a cast-off such as Kyle Farnsworth to close and still make it to the postseason". Besides Daniel Bard, another internal candidate for the job is Bobby Jenks, who, Edes admits, is "an enormous question mark".

This Friday at noon, Edes, who was head and shoulders above every other writer in covering the dismissal of manager Terry Francona, will be answering questions at SoSH.