Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Theo Epstein keeps streak alive

With Papelbon signed, Theo keeps his streak alive of never going to arbitration in his career as Red Sox GM.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is one successful Jew! Obama is proud of him.

Luckily, the Sox avoided arb w/ Varitek - he'd have likely received $10mn+ this season. I think the Sox are in a position to offer that kind of cash over 2 seasons...

lavinius said...

I would have liked to have seen Paps locked up to a longer term deal - around 3-4 years. But I suppose it doesn't hurt to see if his shoulder holds up for another season.

As for Varidrek, the Sox are bidding against themselves - so they won't feel obligated to overpay for the guy. 2 yrs/$10 mil is about as high as I would go. I'd be more apt to offer him 1 yr/$5 mil with a team option for 2010.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you with the 1 yr/1 team option on Vtek. I heard (read?) somewhere that Paps isn't eligible for free agency till 2011, so worst-case scenario the Sox could offer arbitration next year; effectively, the Sox have rights to him next year also.

lavinius said...

I want to see the Sox lock up Paps long before he hits FA. I wouldn't totally discount something happening this offseason where they just wad up the one-year deal and rework it to a 3-4 year one.

There's four guys I wanted to see the Sox resign to extensions this offseason: Youk, Pedroia, Lester, and Paps. I was gonna put Bay in there, but I'm kinda neutral on him. I'd much rather have Holliday. But at the same time, the Sox might be looking at it like "bird in the hand, two in the bush."

Getting back to Paps...I'd love to see this guy stay beyond 2011. Before him, it's been kind of a closer carousel in Boston. Those guys are very hard to find. I've seen way too many closers flame out here. With Paps, you have such a natural fit personality-wise as well as mentally and talent-wise. He's got a chance to be our Rivera.