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same issue as Prince Fielder with Milwaukee, both had sensational years and both should again.

Pay now to lock them up or go through tough arbitration where things get said in attempts to win that could haunt you later on.

Question with Pap is whether long term he is the closer or does he become a starter?

My guess is they are leaning towards him remaining a closer.

What impact does that have on the price to sign him.

Just remember that the flip side to that argument is you can't expect a hometown discount when they do eventually hit free agency.

Peter, I understand that. But my words were not about the contract and the fact that both sides want an edge, but rather him airing his "plight."

He is allowed to, but that doesn't mean I want to read about it.

And if you ask me, they won't renew his deal but instead try to build goodwill for a longer term deal down the road. They will give him probably $600-700k instead of the $450k he'd struggle to live off of.

Andy

Then don't read the papers.

Athletes are going to bitch about money, that's what they do.

Peter, so I assume you are ok with it or have no opinion.

Right? Man up and give us your take.

Man up? Did you just finish a steroids cycle this morning or something?

I got over the fact that athletes are way overpaid a long time ago. And from Papelbon's p.o.v. I imagine he looks around the clubhouse and thinks about his contributions compared to others and realizes he is underpaid. We've all done that at work, so I can't criticize him for it. And while yes, I wish these things were kept out of the papers, I think part of that is the fact that all these columnists have a lot of space to fill and no real games to cover.

We've all done that at work? We have when compared to people of similar seniority, at least if we are being realistic. How can a 2 year players compare himself to Mariano Rivera, especially given the structure of the CBA?

Regardless of what he thinks he is worth, that isn't my beef, it is his crying in the paper about it (or going on record with someone in the media).

And yes, just finished up a cycle. Grrrrr!

Andy,

I, for one, think it was pretty presumptuous of Papelbon to compare himself to Rivera. I don't say this because I'm a Yankee fan, but because A) Papelbon's resume doesn't quite compare to Rivera's yet, and B) Papelbon acted like he was the hands-down self-anointed "new Rivera" when in fact I don't believe he has earned, through YEARS of accomplishment, the respect that Rivera has earned C) He disrespected some other excellent closers out there (e.g., Nathan of the Twins) D) He had the gall to spin this as if he were some kind of standard-bearer for all the kids coming up behind him. He stood to make $400K, and when free agency hits, untold millions more. He should shut his mouth, put in his years and pay his dues. He's going to get plenty. Talk about a self-absorbed narcissist.

Greg, I agree. My take is: Pitch, pitch well, and keep pitching well and you will see a ton of cash

My fear is that Papelbon is reading how good he is and now expects the $. Well, people will always tell him how good he is he will take that to mean he deserves more cash. Again, I don't care about what he thinks he is worth as much as I am annoyed at him crying to the press.