Hanrahan Out for Season

Joel Hanrahan, we hardly knew ya. The closer that the Sox traded for is done. Hanrahan needs season-ending surgery to repair his right arm. Instead of Tazawa, Uehara, Bailey & Hanrahan to pitch late in the game we have only 50% of those 4 arms currently available. Bailey is injured also, but he is expected to rejoin the team this week. Tazawa & Uehara are overworked, as it showed in yesterday's 3-2 loss to Toronto when Tazawa coughed up a 9th inning homer to Adam Lind. Since Hanrahan was on a one-year deal it is speculated that he will not return to the Red Sox next year. But, given this injury, maybe he could get a base contract laden with incentives that would be do-able for the Sox. Now the 2nd guessers are starting with why didn't we sign Papelbon for $50 million. Answer - because $12.5 million per year & 4 years were not in the plan going forward for a closer with a lot of miles on his arm. In the long run Junichi Tazawa may be the best answer, just not now as he needs to get comfortable with his new role.