Red Sox Set Precedent With Papelbon

Don't underestimate the importance of the Red Sox front office coming to an agreement on a new deal for closer Jonathan Papelbon this afternoon. It may be the final signal that this front office truly understands what others haven't: The most important factor in success and stability is keeping your most prized assets content and comfortable. With this new deal, they've certainly done that.

The Globe's Amalie Benjamin broke the story on Extra Bases, reporting that Papelbon's agents - Seth and Sam Levinson - agreed to a one-year pact worth $775,000 with Theo Epstein and the Sox brass. The Herald quickly rolled out a Michael Silverman piece that correctly noticed Papelbon's deal as a record for a reliever with 2+ years of service, updating the piece as the story progressed.

And progress it has. It turns out that not only did the Sox front office bend quite a deal in Papelbon's case - he can earn an additional $25K for making the All-Star Game which would push his deal up to a total of $800K, only $100K less than he was asking for and almost double his renewal contract - they also bent in the case of all their other emerging young stars. Dustin Pedroia signed a deal $457,000, a raise of roughly $75K over his scheduled deal. Jon Lester ($421.5K), Manny Delcarmen ($421K),  Jacoby Ellsbury ($406K) and Clay Buchholz ($396K) also got deals with notable raises (i.e., more than five grand) and all 18 players up for renewals eventually came to agreements. That's right, the Sox didn't have to renew anyone. At all.

That in itself makes more monstrously good karma in an age where any slight can be enough to get a player to start thinking about pitching in a greener pasture, both literally and figuratively. More importantly, they show that this front office realizes that it's not worth saving a million bucks - roughly the aggregate of all these voluntary raises - if it means pissing off a host of talented youngsters.

Clearly, this shift towards rewarding one's own system has been coming. It was foreshadowed in trade duscussions for Santana in the offseason, when Epstein refused to acquiesce to Minnesota's demands of Lester and Ellsbury in the same deal. To a certain extent it was continued by the team's re-signing of Curt Schilling (injuries aside) and Mike Lowell to deals that, while below market, were lucrative enough to keep them in town. Now the trend has culminated in a watershed day of good will, an afternoon of agreements which could pave the way to long term stability with a core of young talent, exactly what Epstein forecast when he took the GM's position in the winter of 2002.

If the Sox challenge for another World Series in the immediately upcoming years, Papelbon and co. might be able to point to today as a turning point.

Now, if only the team could have celebrated with a resounding victory on the field. Seriously, the stage was certainly set right - home field, big spring training crowd, Joe Torre in the other dugout - and the lead was monumental - 5-2 entering the ninth. Unfortunately so was the meltdown. 

It started with lefty Craig Breslow, a Trumbull, Conn. native, who gave up a run on three walks while battling shocking wildness, a slippery slope which could prove deadly to the New Englander's chance of making the team. That left his subsequent teammates with three runs of buffer, but it wasn't nearly enough. Hunter Jones saw his ERA puff up higher than a Don King hairdo in a Singapore heat wave, walking one, giving up one hit and falling victim to an error as he gave up a whopping four runs on his own, setting down only two batters. We can't speak for Hunter's heart, but WMYM knows that Boston's heart is not lonely without Hunter, at least anymore. Clearly, the kid has a way to go.

So does Lee Gronkiewicz, who gave up a whopping three runs on three hits before he could finish off the Dodgers. Yikes. His 18.00 ERA makes Jones' 10.80 look downright thrifty. Somehow the Sox reserves managed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but needless to say that was a bit too little too late, leaving a lot of fans to head home - or at least back to a hotel - with a sickening feeling in their stomach after watching Torre leave a field smiling. Again.

Well, some things just don't change, do they. We'll see what home grown talent can do about that. 


Cameron covers the Red Sox on his blog, Who Made You Mirabelli?
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