As for Papelbon, purely from a perfomance perspective, we would have 4 or 5 more wins if he had been at the closer this season. Aceve has lost 6 games plus blown 4 saves. Except maybe in his worst season, Papelbon didn't lose and blow that many games in an entire season. Papelbon walking may have been the right financial decision, but if he was our closer this season we would still be right in the thick for the division lead. We'd probably be back 5 games at the most. Yes, the rest of the bullpen has done fine, but not the closer.