Papelbon Achieves Milestone. New Contract Next?

On Tuesday night, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon got Alex Rodriguez to strikeout for the final out on way to a 6-4 Red Sox win and his 12th save of the season.  The save for Papelbon helped the Red Sox jump back into a tie for first place in the AL East and continued their dominance over the Yankees so far this year.

The save for Papelbon was the 200th for his career making him the fastest player in Major League Baseball history to accoomplish this feat; yes even faster than the great Mariano Rivera. 

Papelbon collected his 200th save in his 359th appearance, while Rivera did so in 382 appearances.

What’s even more thrilling for the Red Sox fans is that Papelbon did it in Yankee Stadium, a place that has much more meaning than just another ballpark.  It represents everything Yankees and for the Red Sox, well, it’s nice to accomplish a great feat like this in the home of the evil empire.

So Papelbon picked up another save and it’s another big win for the Red Sox this season over New York.  But what about Papelbon’s future in Boston?

It’s been quite clear that entering this season, this would be Papelbon’s last as a member of the Red Sox as his contract is finished at the conclusion of the year.  But does Theo Epstein and his brain trust need to rethink things and consider resigning Papelbon? I would say so.

Daniel Bard, the projected closer of the future hasn’t exactly proven he’s ready for the role this year and Papelbon has shown he’s renewed his ability to lock down games in clutch situations.  So far, Bard is 1-4 with 1 save in 3 opportunities while sporting a 2.87 ERA in 30 appearances.  Papelbon is 2-0 with 12 saves in 13 opportunities.  His ERA is a little frightening sitting at 4.50 after giving up another run in the 9th inning against New York.  For Bard, things look good for him based on a couple of numbers.  His WHIP is 0.88 while Papelbon’s is 1.23.  Papelbon does have 36 strikeouts in 26.0 innings, while Bard has fanned 31 in 31.0 innings of work.

On the salary side of things it certainly favors Bard, who is making $505,000 against Papelbon’s whopping $12,000,000.  With a new contract needed, Papelbon could be in the Rivera ballpark in terms of dollars which is just shy of $15 million.

Why not offer Papelbon a 3 year deal worth $48 million and have Bard groom under him for another three years.  With J.D. Drew all but finished in Boston, that will free up $14 million.  Presuming Mike Cameron who is worth $7.75 million in salary and both Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield at $2 million a piece don’t return, all of a sudden there is some additional dollars available for not only Papelbon, but possibly David Ortiz. 

The Ortiz situation is a whole other conversation.

To me it’s simple.  Should Papelbon continue to be rock solid in saving games, the Red Sox should try and keep him.

But don’t expect to see him in the next few games, as Papelbon was given a 3 game suspension for his altercation last Saturday against the Oakland A’s.  Papelbon was ejected for the first time in his career and appeared to bump the homeplate umpire, hence the suspension.  Papelbon has appealed the penalty, but will most likely have some sort of suspension.

Yes, he’s a hot head, but damn can he close out games.

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