Well this sucks. The Phillies have agreed to terms with now former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. The deal was first reported by Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly, and my regular sources, such as Jon Heyman, filled in the blanks later on. The deal is reported to be 4 years, $50M with a vesting option for a fifth year, which would then make the deal worth $60M.
Jesus H Christ. What has baseball come to when you're paying a guy $12.5M per year to come in, give you maybe 50-60 appearances, maybe 30+ saves, and pitch one or two innings per appearance? The market for closers is ridiculous. Like seriously, it should look something like the DH market does now.
Anyways, it appears now with Pap gone, the Sox are in on Ryan Madson and Heath Bell, and probably guys like Joe Nathan and K-Rod (the last two have not been reported, that is just my guess). It doesn't look like they're going to go the closer-by-committee route and throw Bard into that role. Odds are Bard will stay in the 8th inning role, otherwise he's geting moved to the rotation.
I wonder what song the Phillies are going to play whenever Pap comes out of the bullpen. They sure as hell can't play Shipping Up to Boston, 'cause ya know, it's Philadelphia and all. I also wonder what that fatass cop is going to do now that he doesn't have Papelbon to fist bump every time he comes in. Maybe the Sox can answer that question for me once I get my press pass.
Also, now that the Sox will receive two compensatory picks, I'm thinking Cherington is looking at possible trades for either pitching or a bat that involves one or two low level prospects, even if they're good, since they'll just be replaced within a year or two. I wouldn't mind seeing Gio Gonzalez come in. The Sox have also reportedly expressed interest in free agent starter Mark Beuhrle. I personally like Beuhrle a lot. Veteran player, good attitude, has a ring, and can slide into the 4 or 5 spot and log you some good innings. Basically an effective Tim Wakefield. Hey Ben, I hope you read this, 'cause I actually have good ideas. Of course, Ben Cherington isn't reading this or anything on this site for that matter, but hey, I can dream can't I?
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