Papelbon blasts Ramírez

But then Ramírez was traded for Jason Bay, and the new left fielder arrived without any baggage.

"It was bad enough to where we weren't winning games [with Ramírez]," Papelbon said, emphasizing he was not speaking for his teammates. "We weren't doing our job. When it comes down to that, we've got to find a cure. Jason Bay was our cure. It's that simple. We've got a team with one guy, we're not winning games. He leaves, a new guy comes in, and then we start winning games.

"That's pretty much putting the writing on the wall, if you ask me."

The Sox closer's brief comments about Ramírez exploded yesterday when the Esquire article was posted on the magazine's website.

"Manny was tough for us," Papelbon told Esquire during an interview in mid-January. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening.

"Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go. But that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us. And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay - Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball - and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! Awesome! No question."

Yesterday Papelbon said it was not frustrating to see Ramírez succeed with the Dodgers. Fact was, Papelbon was excited when the trade came through. He knew the "ship was sinking." Heading into the July 31 trade deadline, the Sox had lost eight of 12. They won 10 of 13 after Aug. 1.