Jonathan Papelbon Won't Shy Away From His Feelings About Manny Ramirez

Once word of the Esquire leaked, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon knew he'd have to elaborate on some of his comments about his ex-teammate.

The Red Sox were blissfully enjoying a quiet Spring Training with very little melodrama, then along comes the interview talk and now baseball talk in Fort Myers is once again plagued by the dreaded "M" word. Papelbon isn't backing down from his initial comments, telling the Boston Globe that he's not there to "sugarcoat" anything.

And out come the war analogies:

"It takes 25 guys on a team to win, not 24, and that was blatantly obvious," Papelbon said after the Red Sox' workout at City of Palms Park. "It doesn't matter who you are - you could be Babe Ruth - if you're not in that same cubbyhole with the rest of the guys going to war with you, you're all going to die. That almost happened."

It's amazing that the Red Sox persevered through last season — they were almost killed by a teammate who was both carcinogenic and a rogue soldier.

Manny (being Manny) chose to ignore Papelbon's comments, unwilling to become a distraction to his temporary Los Angeles teammates.

"I'm here, not there anymore. I moved on," he told MLB.com.

Papelbon blasts Ramirez [Boston.com]