Papelbon, Sox avoid arbitration

by Schulz on Jan 20, 2009 3:39 PM EST

The Red Sox signed Papelbon for another year at $6.25 MM. I was hoping he would follow the lead of Pedroia and Youkillis and sign a long-term extension, but no such luck. This was his first year of eligibility, and he set the record for money earned by a closer in that situation.

I think he has two more years of arb. left before he becomes a FA. It might be 1 though, somebody wanna look it up? When the time comes, what will it take to lock up Papelbon?

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K-Rod money

If not more

by Charged on Jan 20, 2009 3:57 PM EST reply actions

I'm pretty sure I've read in multiple places he prefers to go year to year, like Lincecum.

For those children who claimed they’ve been a fan of their favorite team all their life, or even since they were about four or five years old: bullshit. There’s always that certain event or certain player that draws to the sport and draws you to a team. For me, Nomar Garciaparra was that reason. - Nick Coviello: I Try To See Rocco, But All I Think Is Nomar; 1/9/09

by bdalebs on Jan 20, 2009 4:29 PM EST reply actions

Agreed

I read that too. I think he is looking for the big pay day.

by drabidea on Jan 20, 2009 4:32 PM EST up reply actions

The deal I expected...

I’m glad they didn’t have to go through the arb process since it usually leads to some pretty bad feelings between each party. $6.25 mil is about right and as long as he stays awesome it will probably be $8-9 next year and then $11-12 the year after. He deserves it.

Shulz to answer your question, players are arbitration eligible for three years before free agency, so for Paps its 2009, 2010 and 2011.

by BTLove on Jan 20, 2009 7:14 PM EST reply actions

works for me

after 2011 he’ll be toast unless we baby him through the innings for the next 3 seasons.
Or unless you all reckon he’s the second coming of Rivera?

by sydneysox on Jan 20, 2009 7:50 PM EST up reply actions

or Hoffman, Percival, Nenn or others...

but yeah, we should take it year by year with Paps.

by BTLove on Jan 20, 2009 8:23 PM EST up reply actions

Eh, not Percy.

He gets injured too often.

by bdalebs on Jan 20, 2009 8:23 PM EST up reply actions

According to Jayson Stark...

“The 28-year-old Papelbon is one of four pitchers to record 30 or more saves in each of his first three full seasons, joining Billy Koch, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Todd Worrell.”

…Paps will be like Koch, Kaz, and Todd Worrell. Noooooooo!!! He’s either going to fall off the face of the Earth, disappear to Japan, or not live up to expectations.

The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble

by DirtySouthSox on Jan 20, 2009 9:18 PM EST up reply actions

Different Type of Player

Koch has zero control, Kaz’s splitter hung like a horse, and Worrell was over hyped.

But, I see what you did there.

-Zach Sanders
http://www.mlbnotebook.com

by mlbnotebook on Jan 20, 2009 9:19 PM EST up reply actions

Meh, I don’t like the idea of signing him past 3 more years.

by matzushocka45 on Jan 20, 2009 8:01 PM EST reply actions

Why?

Locking him up at a bargain price for year 7 and beyond can only benefit the Sox. Unless you think that his production will go down or he will suffer a major injury, I cannot see why you wouldn’t want it.

-Zach Sanders
http://www.mlbnotebook.com

by mlbnotebook on Jan 20, 2009 9:18 PM EST up reply actions

I was hoping they could squeeze a

5 year, $50 mill deal or something close to that.

The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble

by DirtySouthSox on Jan 20, 2009 9:21 PM EST up reply actions

I could see something like a deal for

3 yrs, $42-43 mil……or a 4 for around $52 mil..

by Brad West on Jan 20, 2009 11:13 PM EST up reply actions

The next three years...

project to be at a total of around $25 mil through arbitration. So If they were to extend him it would be for at least one year of free agency so it would be at least 4 years, but for less money than that.

by BTLove on Jan 20, 2009 11:35 PM EST up reply actions

I don’t think giving any pitcher much less a closer a 7 year deal is a risk worth taking.

by matzushocka45 on Jan 21, 2009 7:16 AM EST up reply actions

any pitcher?

No one said anything about giving him a 7-year deal, they were talking about buying out his 7th year in the bigs, which is hardly a risk at all. Pitchers are in their prime age 28-30. Why wouldn’t you want them then, if it’s only a short extension prior to free-agency?

Straight outta HP. Go MDC!!!
http://soxcentury.blogspot.com

by alfonzo on Jan 21, 2009 1:41 PM EST up reply actions

Correct, I read it wrong…my bad.

by matzushocka45 on Jan 21, 2009 5:55 PM EST up reply actions

See fishfarmer, we don’t just expect to people to take hometown discounts and then refuse to reward others. $6.25 is reported to be a record number for a reliever in arbitration elgibility. Sure it’s not a lot, but its a case where we rewards Paps for what he has done for us, they could have easily offered less, or even let it go into arbitrations, but they didn’t.

by Realistic on Jan 21, 2009 10:04 AM EST reply actions

True

For the most part, the FO sets a value on a player and acts accordingly.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Jan 21, 2009 11:31 AM EST up reply actions

Relax

I was trying to make a point about a double standard I was seeing in our collective attitudes. The money and whether we should is a different thing. Maybe someone else who gets my point could articulate it better.

the difference between a yankee stadium hot dog and a Fenway frank is that they dont sell yankee dogs in October anymore.

by fishfarmr on Jan 21, 2009 1:21 PM EST up reply actions

these shouldn't be compared...rant time

Like people on the site have said before, we gave Tek what he wanted during his last contract. Then his offer of 10 million was turned down, not by us, but by him. It was his choice to pursue money else where. Why should we then turn around and say “hey, you thought you deserved more than we were willing to offer you, now that its proven that you’re not worth that, we’ll just give you the big bucks anyways” I am not upset with Tek, he made a very very poor decision, whether he was aware of the rules of arbitration or not, and that’s something he is dealing with now.

With Papelbon, you have a player who doesn’t have the right to pursue a contract elsewhere and he has been a big part of what has made this team good over the past few years. We rewarded him for that with this offer and he accepted it, he could have chosen to try to get more out of us, but he didn’t. We rewarded Tek with arbitration, a deal worth more than he’s been worth over the past few years. HE turned it down.

A double standard would be if they were similar players in the same point of their career. If they were in the same situation and the Sox had both under their control then offered a big contract to one and not the other, then we could discuss double standards. This is two completely different situations pertaining to two different players.

I for one am very afraid for when Paps does hit Free Agency though. It sounds like hes going to be following the money wherever it takes him, with all his talk about setting the bar for closers. That sadly could mean he’ll be shutting the door for another team, hopefully not the MFY.

Homer: Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

by DougieWentDeep on Jan 21, 2009 3:01 PM EST up reply actions