FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Watch out, Mo. You may be the “godfather” of closers, but brash, young Jonathan Papelbon wants to succeed you as the most dominant in baseball.

Overtaking Mariano Rivera isn’t all Papelbon wanted the day after he regained that role following a phenomenal rookie season for Boston.

“This is something that I want to do for the rest of my career and break records and, hopefully, make the Hall of Fame,” Papelbon, who has pitched just 102 1-3 innings, said Friday.

There’s more. He wants to “do some special things in the game that maybe no other closer has ever done before.”

That includes Rivera, the New York Yankees star who is like “the godfather,” Papelbon said. “He’s set the standard for what it is to be a closer these days. … He understands that we’re going to be going after him.”

The Red Sox made official Thursday what should have been obvious – moving Papelbon into the rotation after a season in which he had an 0.92 ERA and 35 saves was an experiment that was unlikely to last. He might have become an excellent starter, but the Red Sox needed a proven closer. “I think it made a lot of people smile” when players heard the news, catcher Jason Varitek said.

But first the club had to be satisfied that Papelbon’s shoulder could stand the strain of warming up and pitching in games several times a week. Fatigue and slippage in the joint of his right shoulder ended his season after he faced three batters in a game last Sept. 1.

Confident that he could handle the physical stress, the Red Sox announced that Papelbon would resume his old job after he told manager Terry Francona on Tuesday how badly he wanted it back. He even had trouble sleeping.

“I’ve got to follow my heart,” Papelbon, a closer at Mississippi State, said Friday. “I’m going back to my roots.”

Boston probably would have made the same decision, but Papelbon probably accelerated the process when he told his manager how much he loved the job.

“That wasn’t why we did this,” Francona said. “I was glad he felt that way.”

Throughout the exhibition season, Francona indicated many times that chances were overwhelming that Papelbon would be a starter. Behind the scenes, team officials met frequently to discuss thoroughly how to put together the best pitching staff.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping it in house,” Francona said, until a media report that Papelbon would be the closer led the Red Sox to announce the move Thursday. Francona, pitching coach John Farrell and general manager Theo Epstein gave the news to relievers in a group meeting Thursday morning.

Brendan Donnelly, who relieved for the Los Angeles Angels last season, attended.

“Every good team has to have an established closer, someone, when you got the lead in the ninth, you know that game’s over the right way, and Pap did an outstanding job last year,” he said. “I’m surprised it took so long.”

In the offseason, the Red Sox signed free agent Joel Pineiro from Seattle as a possible closer. He remembers his Mariners teammates coming back to the dugout after facing Papelbon.

“They were just saying, that guy’s too nasty” with his pitches, Pineiro said. “‘Here it is, hit it. If you don’t, I’m the man.’ So you need that as a closer.”

He controls the game. I’m very excited about the move.”

It does weaken the rotation.

Julian Tavarez, a reliever most of his career, pitched well as a starter late last season and moves into the rotation. With Jon Lester and Kyle Snyder waiting in the wings, the Red Sox have good depth among their starters.

That was the case a year ago in spring training when Papelbon and Bronson Arroyo were starters. But Arroyo was traded to Cincinnati before the season and Papelbon became the closer in the third game. Boston’s lack of depth among starters hurt when several suffered long-term injuries.

“I don’t think (Epstein) is going to trade any pitching this spring,” No. 1 starter Curt Schilling said Friday.

With the rotation and closer set, other relievers can fill specific roles before Papelbon gets the ball.

“Him closing is absolutely the best thing for the team,” Donnelly said. “If something bad happens one night, he doesn’t care about it.

“With the stuff and his mind-set, he’s already proven he can do it in the toughest division in baseball. So there’s no reason to say he can’t do it again.”

AP-ES-03-23-07 1914EDT