Young Red Sox Strike Back

Never quote the Boston Herald as they are unreliable, unconnected, and -inlight of their Patriots sham- ethically challenged. I wouldn't rely on them for something as simple as starting lineups.

The Boston Globe had a contrasting story about Pedroia wanting a long term deal.

Papelbon, on the other hand, comes off as wanting to break the bank with every given opportunity so I would buy what the Herald is selling there.

It's called a 'players union', skkrman. That's their job.

One further note about Papelbon: Given concerns about his shoulder, and his assumption that Boston's FO would not offer him a long term deal anyway because of it, he's really just playing the only card he has. Who knows if he would accept a long term deal if offered or not.

"It's called a 'players union', skkrman. That's their job."

There comes a point, though, when acting in what the union perceives as "doing its job" comes into direct conflict with an individual player's best interest. Take the A-Rod situation, for example. A-Rod was willing to take a paycut to go to Boston. The union balked at the idea. I would argue that the duty of representation the union owes to its members extends beyond simply securing the highest dollar amount fathomable -- it includes securing the best working conditions possible, as well.

The union's perspective on player salaries is simply too cut-and-dry to allow it to fulfill that obligation. To A-Rod, once he crossed the $250M threshold, the opportunity to play for a contender in a larger market was worth a few million dollars off his bloated contract. But the union was concerned that the salary cut would set a disturbing precedent (even though A-Rod was in a league of his own, and his contract set the bar for no one but himself). The MLBPA refuses to place real value on a player's preference to play in a particular location or for a particular team, frowning heavily upon hometown discounts.

This would be "their job" if the members of their bargaining unit were all like-minded mercenaries, but that it is not the case. Some of them value quality of worklife over squeezing every cent from the coffers, and I think the union loses sight of that.

If I was the Sox F.O I'd reference Billy Koch for Papelbon. Koch was pretty dominate in his first few seasons then fell into oblivion. Closers are vital, but they are also subject to the "yips" like no other spot on the field. Until a guy does it as long and as successfully as a guy like Mariano, he shouldn't be paid like Mariano.

Oh and does anyone else see the Humor in a guy named Fielder who is anything but a good fielder?

Papelbon has said before that one of the reasons he wants to set a new bar for elite closers salary is that others who came before him allowed him to earn what he gets now. Without guys like Rivera setting a bar he wouldnt have the chance of a big pay day and he wants to do the same for players that follow him. What a jerk, thinking of others. Man that cocky d'bag.

ArodSucksAtLife,

Just curious, but do you also think that our preference of dealing with Iraq over going into Afghanistan, when we were initially in the hunt for terrorists, had anything to do with gasoline/oil or is that merely a coincidence that they are sitting on the border of two of our biggest providers of oil in the middle east and pissing both of them off?!

Israel and Kuwait both hate Iraq and it keeps Iran from going to Saudi Arabia/Israel to get weapons. However it was all because Saddam was a douchebag that we tried and convicted and then hung him... I mean nobody ever spins it in a good way to make their cause look better, right?!

Ever think that Papelbon is just a greedy prick trying to pawn his desires off on the only possible good natured deed you can tie to the wealth of money he is undeserving of?! I mean get paid and get paid well, but there need not be a new benchmark set when a guy works for 20 hours a week times 40 weeks (= 800 hours) and makes 10-15MM to actually play in less than 100 innings!

Sorry if your career is over soon and you can't roll around in $100 bills, but you get paid for the amount of entertainment you provide, not the amount of talent you have in your body... If you are Ted Williams with the stick but your career ends after a season, you aren't worth more than 400K, but if you play for 20 years, you've given a lot to the game and you should be rewarded.

My point is that going into Afghanistan to basically assassinate/murder/kill some terrorists, well damn it, that doesn't look so heroic or patriotic does it?! So we do something we've needed an excuse to do and it in turn becomes an excuse for what was originally the excuse... Should we be in the middle east, now?? ABSOLUTELY, we've opened a can of worms in Iraq and we have to finish what we begin. Are we doing some good, sure. Could we have done things differently?! You bet, but we are doing the right thing being there.

Is Papelbon getting a bad shake?! Maybe, but you're going to get it bad anytime you start talking about what you make with the media! If you're out there Papelbon, listen up. Don't be stupid Jonathon, you big dummy. Get used to this, if you open your mouth and you'll probably be shoving your foot in there, well atleast until you learn the proper topics to have or to ignore.

I hate to say it, but I've been waiting for the GMs to wise up and bust out the checkbook with the young guns and now with the advent of the under team control long-term contracts being signed, you'll see baseball return to normal... Look at the deals this offseason and with teams locking in their young guys, it means less high end FAs are hitting the market.

Name the last ace that was available in his prime as a FA! Zito right? Schmidt was too old. So what everyone got to taste the Sabean stupidity. I mean that contract was so bad that the rest of the baseball executives wakes up with indigestion over it. Who was the last position player worth a crap?! I believe this year didn't have one, Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano was the last FA acquisition in baseball. You can tell when salaries have plateaued because the only way to get a good player is through trade. Get used to this, everytime something changes the landscape of the union contract there is a settling in period. Well start liking your team now, FA is pretty much for spare parts at this point!

OK well Lugo makes 11 million a year. He is a complete idiot who messes up every chance he gets. Papelbon works his ass off to do his job and does it well. He should be making like 16 million a year. 12 million for a closer is wrong when screwup position players make 11 million. I hope the sox give papelbon a good deal like 16 million a year for 5. they have the money, spend it on good players like Papelbon, Pedroia, and Elsbury. Not screwups like Lugo.