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Papelbon Unhappy With Status Of Contract Negotiations
By Administrator | March 4, 2008
Jonathan Papelbon is a good team player and a great teammate, but he is also cognizant of his role as a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Translation: He wants as much money as he can get in contract negotiations.
This afternoon, he vented a little bit in front of the media: “(Negotiations are) a tough situation for me right now because basically I’m at a point to where I feel like… there’s a certain standard that needs to be put in place here. I feel like with me being at the top of my position I feel like that standard needs to be set, and I’m the one to set that standard. And I don’t think that the Red Sox are really necessarily seeing eye-to-eye with me on that subject right now. Hopefully we can get somewhere”.
At this point in his career, Papelbon is a year away from arbitration. Under league rules, the Red Sox ultimately have the right to determine salary they want to give him (they have the option to renew his contract); but, that approach is a double-edged sword (the Milwaukee Brewers recently renewed Prince Fielder and incurred the wrath of their portly first baseman).
The two sides have until March 11th to get the situation resolved. Papelbon’s agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, have been in Fort Myers recently to talk with the Red Sox; but, Papelbon has suggested that the two sides are far enough apart that they probably won’t be able to even get close to working out a long-term deal: “We’re chugging away at this thing and we want to get it done, believe me, and we can move on. At the same time, I feel a certain obligation to not only to myself and my family — to make the money that I deserve — but for the game of baseball. Mariano Rivera has been doing it for the past 10 years. With me coming up behind him, I feel a certain obligation to do the same”.
Topics: Sox Players |
