The Red Sox didn't stand a chance of re-signing Jonathan Papelbon after they fired manager Terry Francona. "I'd say it pretty much closed the door, yeah," said the closer, who signed with the Phillies this past winter. "Not 100 percent, but I wasn't going to go there and not know what manager I was going to play for." Francona was Papelbon's only manager in Boston. "I'd have a hard time with no Tito (on the Red Sox)," Papelbon said. "Tito taught me how to play big league baseball. That (guy busted) my ass sometimes, other times he picked me up when I fell down. "One day when I was a rookie he said something to me that made a lot of sense: 'You've got to learn how to fail before you learn how to succeed.' He was like a father figure to me, taught me everything from A to Z. To go from having him for manager from 2005 to 2011, then being gone, I don't think it would be easy for me, I don't think it would be easy for Dustin (Pedroia), or easy for that clubhouse."