Alan Greenwood

Attention Red Sox fans: Craig Kimbrel should not be walking through that door.

First, a sincere apology for paraphrasing the famous quote of a fraudulent prophet, Rick Pitino.

Now, back to the topic at hand. It was a bit stunning to hear radio talk show callers insisting that the Red Sox should promptly throw millions and millions and millions of dollars at Kimbrel.

Beyond one man’s opinion that Kimbrel is vastly overrated, there is the tangible reality that he has not thrown a baseball with any purpose behind it since last October. Signing him today and trotting him out there tomorrow will not happen.

Giving him all that dough and a few weeks of minor league work before trotting him out there in July is, at best, an act of blind faith.

Free agency fooled him into thinking he deserves $18 million (or $19 million or some other fantastic number). He dug in his heels up to his thighs until text messages from interested suitors dried up.

The Red Sox bullpen heads into the Bronx this weekend looking punch drunk. Blowing a 5-2 lead Tuesday night and getting torched Wednesday night prompted the silliness of yearning for the good, old days of Craig Kimbrel.

P.S. – Be careful what you wish for.

AND BY THE WAY: One radio caller offered a dreadful review of Red Sox baseball operations guru Dave Dombrowski, outlining his track record before coming to Boston and capping it with a flourish:

“What has he ever done?”

Well, like him or not, take a peek at the center-field flagpole at Fenway. Dombrowski deserves at least an appreciative nod, don’t you think?

TIME TRAVEL: June 1, 1959: “The first night schoolboy baseball game to be played here attracted a huge gathering as Nashua High defeated Manchester Central 5-2 as the two Class L divisional champs began preparing for the forthcoming state tournament.

“Jerry Levesque started on the mound for the Nashuans and during his 8 1/3-inning stint he scattered six Central hits and came up with an outstanding 13 strikeouts. He developed a sore finger in the ninth and Ted Goldthwaite came in relief to retire the side.”

Were Levesque were a high school pitcher now a coach would have some serious explaining to do by pitching him 8 1/3 innings. Levesque was lucky he didn’t turn into a pumpkin just by going out there for the ninth.

And if Levesque were a big-leaguer today, that sore finger would send him onto the 60-day injured list.

Alan Greenwood can be reached at 594-1248, agreenwood

@nashuatelegraph.com or

@Telegraph_ AlanG.