Paps Inked for 1-Year Deal

Alerted by a WEEI Flash text message I just read, I am somewhat happy to pass along an Associated Press story that the Red Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon have agreed to a one-year contract for $6,250,000 to avoid salary arbitration. On the up side, the news renders obsolete a report filed less than an hour ago by the Boston Herald's Sean McAdam saying that arbitration may be imminent. The negative is that the deal signals something of an impasse between the two parties, who had reportedly been working on a long-term deal to lock in Papelbon in similar fashion as they have sewn up Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis this off-season. One wonders what Papelbon is looking for, and if it's more than the relatively modest (for pro ballplayers, that is) numbers last year's MVP and second runner-up got. Papelbon sometimes gives me the impression that he is a little too big for his britches, that his ego may get in the way of his making a reasonable business decision such as n...