Updated 00:11, March the 5th, 2008
Pap seeking a pay raise
MLB. Jonathan Papelbon contends he isn’t distracted or overwhelmingly annoyed with his current contract situation, but it’s plainly obvious that he and the Sox aren’t on the same page.
The 27-year-old closer isn’t arbitration-eligible until next offseason, and faces a March 11 deadline when the Sox will likely renew his contract at roughly $550,000 — a figure similar to the salary given to White Sox closer Bobby Jenks when he was in a similar contract situation last season.
“Yeah, I don’t want to renew, but if I have to, I have to,” Papelbon said yesterday after tossing a scoreless inning against the Pirates at City of Palms Park. “It’s just the cold hard facts of it. If I have to do it to set the tone, that’s what I do. We’ll figure something out.”
Papelbon had hoped the Sox would be willing to sign him to a contract in the neighborhood of $900,000 for this season — the figure the Phillies tendered to Ryan Howard after he won the 2006 National League MVP — but has largely given up hopes on that figure. Pap has also surrendered any chances for a possible long-term contract in the near-future. Papelbon’s agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, had been in touch with Sox GM Theo Epstein about a possible multi-year deal, but those talks don’t appear to be going anywhere.
“I think it’s now gotten to the point that it’s going to be one year at a time,” said Papelbon, who is coming off a season in which he finished in the AL’s top ten in saves and games finished while posting a 1.85 ERA. “I don’t think that we can necessarily meet eye-to-eye.”
Papelbon made $425,500 last season — his second consecutive All-Star campaign — which was just $40,000 above the Major League minimum. He’s aware that the Sox control all the leverage until he first reaches arbitration and then, eventually, free agency.
Rather than dwell on his pact, Papelbon continues to work on a combination slider/cut fastball that he’s dubbed “the slutter.”
“[The contract] really hasn’t been a distraction,” Papelbon said. “I feel like this year, as far as focus, coming into camp knowing what I’m going to, what I need to do, has been better than any camp I’ve been to.”
