Comments on: Four years and $50 million for Papelbon? Seriously, Philly?

By: gmouser777

gmouser777 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:21:43 +0000

What everyone seems to have missed: protius is actually incorrect in his correction.

“you’re” is the contraction for “you are”. Thus Protius believes the post should have read “Just be happy it is not you are money,” apparently.

“your” is the correct possessive.

By: siftin thru nonsense

siftin thru nonsense — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:08:54 +0000

The bonehead that said Papelbon is on a decline.. this is nonsense if you are looking at regular season. Let’s take a look at the reality.. All of these stats have improved over the past 3 yrs: Hits/9IP, WHIP, HR/9IP, BB/9IP, K/9IP, and K:BB. 87K to 10BB is pretty outstanding. How many closers top that ratio???

By: siftin thru nonsense

siftin thru nonsense — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:45:23 +0000

With the best pitching staff in the league, you dont want to mess around with the closer position. You either sign Madson at 44 or 45M over 4yrs or whatever Bor-ass wanted him to get OR you get the best available closer on the market at what you think he is worth, before others go after him. Phillies can handle it. We need bats and still need other help in pen though. Not sure what they will do at SS. At least the Phillies made it to the playoffs this year.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:35:00 +0000

@jnks10 – I’m a Red Sox fan. I think Papelbon is good, and would rather have him on the team than not. However, $50 million is way too much for someone who is “argueable a top 5 closer in baseball”.

By: ghostyjoe

ghostyjoe — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:29:13 +0000

protius, I’m familiar with academic writing; I’m not sure why that matters in this, a non-academic, setting. Regardless, there is nothing in any style guide to explain the capitalization of “learn” without a period appearing after “argueable” (which should be there, by the way, as what is in parentheses is a separate sentence than what is without the parentheses). Let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and say that the lack of period is a typo rather than a stylistic error. Well, you still have the problem of punctuation outside of parentheses when it should be within. For further reference, a semi-colon is meant to separate complete sentences or to clarify syntax (e.g., separating multiple clauses from a list). This–”for example: Phillies, Papelbon, Boston.”–is not a complete sentence and should not be preceded by a semi-colon. And your series of, what I’m presuming is, ellipsis is non-standard as is the spacing that leads into and leads out of the series of ellipsis.

Oh, and you don’t know what sarcasm is.

Your response to me was purely ad hominem, void of anything constructive, void of anything resembling humility. You can go on thinking that you’re a good writer, that you have a handle on grammar and syntax if you’d like. That’s fine. My interest in you stops after this and never went further than being slightly prickled by the hubris of your earlier error-brimmed posts.

This is a site about baseball. I don’t care that much about the uses and misuses of language in this context unless it impedes my understanding.

By: evilempireyanks

evilempireyanks — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:07:35 +0000

Good luck Philly. Going to miss Papeldone pitching batting practice in the 9th. Maybe they should occupy MLB, another overpaid 1% who dosen’t contribute to anything.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 13:33:54 +0000

It’s going to be very interesting when the Red Sox and Phillies hook up in interleague play in the summer.

By: protius

protius — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:28:34 +0000

ghostyjoe,

You’re completely clueless. “Internally inconsistent use of commas” lmao….

“Unnecessary capitalization of “learn”. “ Really?……….Do you know anything about academic writing? Have you ever heard of MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, CGOS, CBE?

“Improper use of semi-colon. “ I hope you’re a better plumber, because as a writing critic, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Joe, when it comes to writing, you, jeffro33 and jnks10 are excellent shoemakers.

Someday, when you’re all old enough to wear big boy pants, you’ll remember these lessons with fondness. Until then, I will continue to try and help the spelling, grammar, and stylistically challenged clean up their act.

P.S. Have you noticed the improvement in jnks10 writing lately?

By: ghostyjoe

ghostyjoe — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 09:35:32 +0000

protius, internally inconsistent use of commas re:modifiers (see comma after second “not”; also see no comma after first not). Unnecessary capitalization of “learn”. Improper use of semi-colon.

jinks10 has terrible opinions. He’s a terrible writer. But there’s nothing uncommonly terrible about his opinions or his writing. protius, decreed prescriptivism requires an understanding and a facility that you, apparently, do not have. Please stop correcting the spelling, grammar, and stylistic choices of others.

By: protius

protius — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:06:05 +0000

Jeffro33,
Kiss my grammatical ass. You’re such an ignoramus; you don’t know the difference between disdain and hate.

If someone, anyone doesn’t correct jnks10 he or she doesn’t have any incentive to get it right. I use sarcasm to make my point.

By: sexyya

sexyya — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:48:47 +0000

jinks10, I’m a redsox fan and trust me this is a bad deal..And we are not convincing you, we are only telling you. Red Sox fans know their baseball and they know a bad deal when they see one. If he was still good, fans will be matching down landsdowne road protesting on why we let him go. But go to the boston newspapers and the common theme is “Goodluck Paplebon, thanks for the memories”.

By: jeffro33

jeffro33 — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:45:43 +0000

protius- A typical, grammatical douche that brings nothing but hate to the conversation. Talk sports, and look in the mirror. You aren’t perfect. (ps- I’m not either)

As far as the actual content, my view is Scott Boras 1, MLB teams 0. To set the market this high for Madson so he could bait the Phillies into overpaying for Pap was genius. Unfortunately for the other needs the Phils have, Amaro clearly overspent.

By: yourmomsmomsmom

yourmomsmomsmom — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:43:36 +0000

How can we afford all this when we are a small market town?

By: drunkenhooliganism

drunkenhooliganism — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:04:39 +0000

I’m just disgusted by this. I wouldn’t want him for free. I hate him. I’m trying to figure out how I can remain a Phillies’ fan. Papelbon is everything that’s wrong with the world, and now he’s on my team.

Maybe I should give up the Phillies and spend time with my kids over the summer. That’s what I should do. Save all the money I spend on tickets and put it in their college funds. Again, that’s what I should do.

By: protius

protius — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:01:27 +0000

jnks10, the typical illiterate Phillies fan.

It’s you’re not your, and he is arguably, not argueable (Learn how to spell, you moron).

I’s are capitalized, as are names; for example: Phillies, Papelbon, Boston.

By: 8man

8man — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:26:13 +0000

He will do well. But he should. He’ll have the best lineup in the NL hitting behind him and he’s going from pitching against DH’s to pitching against PH’s.

But $50 mil? Hmm….that’s a bit salty.

By: phillyphreak

phillyphreak — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:15:17 +0000

And I don’t know why I wrote trade. It made me so angry….signing…signing….

By: duneroad

duneroad — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:12:31 +0000

Do the Phillies let their pitchers drink in the bullpen?

By: phillyphreak

phillyphreak — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:10:15 +0000

I have no idea how anyone could defend this trade. Where did all of these posters come from?

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:42:21 +0000

Still, when you consider that a closer pitches 1 inning every 2.5 games, and can reap 12.5 mil, it becomes a little difficult to negotiate with a Reyes or Pujols who contribute every day, and every inning and make a little over twice as much. If I were an agent (heaven help me the thought gives me the creeps), I might very well suggest that my client deserves at least 30 mil.

By: mwelsh1977

mwelsh1977 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:46:26 +0000

Uggh. Closers typically don’t last that long and this guy has already been around. 4 years bothers me. Just like when we gave David Bell a huge contract and were stuck with him at 3rd instead of Polanco who we traded to Detroit for some dirtball middle reliever who wasn’t even on the team the year after.

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:41:24 +0000

That is a REEEEAAAALLLLYYYY lose interpretation of Elite…

By: awriterorsomething

awriterorsomething — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:35:34 +0000

Excellent thanks!

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:28:36 +0000

I normally agree with the Phils moves but this is baffling. Papel is mediocre at best and is on a steady decline since earlier in his career. Closers tend not to work well on multi-year deals.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:26:09 +0000

BTW, that list is comprised of pitchers through the first 7 years of their career, who have a WAR of 17 or greater, WHIP of 1.100 or less, ERA+ of 150 or greater and 8 K/IP or greater.

That’s all of them . . . all four.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:21:11 +0000

Keith Foulke was the Red Sox Closer in 2004.

Papelbon was the Closer in 2007. Through the first 7-seasons of all Closers careers – Papelbon’s easily one of the Top 5 Closers of all-time.

But the Cardinals just won a World Series with 8 different pitchers recording at least one Save during the regular season.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:20:23 +0000

Yeah, that is a good point Church….I was just kind of hoping they would add more depth to the roster seeing as how certain players are perpetually battling through injury. I was hoping to see upgrades from Brian Schneider, Wilson Valdez, and Michael Martinez.

By: drmonkeyarmy

drmonkeyarmy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:18:32 +0000

It would be inexcusable to lose a Cy Young caliber starting pitcher because money is tight because you signed a closer.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:15:45 +0000

Umm if Jonathan Papelbon is a pseudonym for Keith Foulke, than yeah he got them their first championship in 80+ years.

By: bigleagues

bigleagues — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:15:18 +0000

Papelbon isn't quite Mariano, but he is at least Trevor Hoffman and Bruce Sutter:

                                                                                     
Rk              Player  SV  WAR  WHIP ERA+  SO/9 From   To   Age   G  W  L    IP  ERA
1       Trevor Hoffman 228 17.4 1.039  152 10.26 1993 1999 25-31 439 36 28 509.0 2.69
2    Jonathan Papelbon 219 17.1 1.018  197 10.67 2005 2011 24-30 396 23 19 429.1 2.33
3       Mariano Rivera 215 22.7 1.079  182  8.07 1995 2001 25-31 403 37 23 533.0 2.58
4         Bruce Sutter 194 21.1 1.077  159  8.13 1976 1982 23-29 418 44 43 677.2 2.50

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool UsedGenerated 11/11/2011.