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Jonathan Papelbon wrote:"That situation, man, it's a tough situation for me right now because basically I'm at a point to where I feel like the position I'm in, there's a certain standard that needs to be put in place here. I feel like with me being at the top of my position I feel like that standard needs to be set and I'm the one to set that standard. And I don't think that the Red Sox are really necessarily seeing eye-to-eye with me on that subject right now. Hopefully we can get somewhere.

"We're chugging away at this thing and we want to get it done, believe me, and we can move on. At the same time, I feel a certain obligation to not only to myself and my family to make the money that I deserve, but for the game of baseball. Mariano Rivera has been doing it for the past 10 years. With me coming up behind him, I feel a certain obligation to do the same."

I have no problem with a player wanting to get the money they feel they deserve. And I'm sure the Sox will get it done.

A top player feels he deserves fair compensation. Que lastima!

He'll get his money when he reaches arb and free agency. There is a system here, Jonathan.

Teams have started to ignore that system. I have no issue signing Pap long term IF I knew his shoulder was completely fine. They babied him a bit last season and he held up strong. If he can do it two seasons in a row, I'm down for a long term deal. If his shoulder weakens again this season, I'm not really down for it. mahalo
~Chach~

I don't trust it at all. He pitches like 27 innings a year and they wouldn't even push him in the playoffs. I'm fine with him going through arb every year and then hitting the open market.

Call me when he can throw 80 innings like a real closer.

We gotta pay him. He is the best reliever in the league. We let too many good players walk. We won't survive this time. We are getting too old.

Papelbon will be 30 by the time he's eligible for free agency. What good players have the Red Sox let walk? I'm drawing a total blank.

Derek Lowe? Carlos Pena?

Bleeding Green wrote:I don't trust it at all. He pitches like 27 innings a year and they wouldn't even push him in the playoffs. I'm fine with him going through arb every year and then hitting the open market.

Call me when he can throw 80 innings like a real closer.

Didn't he have something like 4 saves of more than 1 inning in the playoffs? They pushed him quite a bit.

That said, I'm not really willing to give him a long-term deal when it's not necessary. Flame throwing relievers have a tendency to not last very long and it makes no sense for the Red Sox to throw millions of guaranteed dollars his way when he's not even arby eligible yet. He could blow out his arm and never be the same this season (knock on wood).

GreenGrizz wrote:We gotta pay him. He is the best reliever in the league. We let too many good players walk. We won't survive this time. We are getting too old.

I dont get what players your talking about. Explain.

The average age of our team this year is 29.8 years old. 30 year olds win championships.

We will survive.

I am not worried about Papelbon's arm blowing out. When he was drafted, the doctor who did his physical said he had one of the cleanest shoulders he had ever seen in terms of scar tissue, there was virtually none. This is partly because he only pitched part time prior to college and was a catcher/1st baseman in HS and once he got to college, he was a closer. He also has pretty smooth mechanics so I don't see any real problems in the future in terms of "blowing out". What I do see a problem is the "babying" that we had to do throughout the season. If he wants to be paid like the best closer in baseball, then he needs to be throwing 70-80 innings a year and be able to throw back to back nights without missing a beat. Maybe the migraine thing will help improve the situation in terms of having less nights he can't be used but he needs to show me that he can pitch at a high level, for a high number of innings for a few seasons before I want to give him a long term, expensive deal. Not to mention the fact that a recession is coming/here, I don't expect the spiraling up of salaries to continue in the near future so it's best to wait and see. Not to mention the fact that Papelbon has just over 2 years of service time and he only has 160.2 innings. Sorry if I am hesitant to throw tons of cash at him just yet. mahalo
~Chach~

Plus he has 4 more seasons of guaranteed time with the Sox, including this one, so he will be 31 when the contract runs out