Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon, outspoken and colorful as ever, has made no secret of the fact that he hopes and expects the team to trade him to a contender this summer. But he escalated the rhetoric somewhat today while representing the club at the All-Star game, as Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, saying that he feels it’s time for the front office to make a move.
“The Phillies have got to make a decision. You’ve got to go one way or the other,” Papelbon said. “You can’t be in limbo and sit here and say, ’What if we do this or what if we do that?’ You’ve got to make a decision and you’ve got to go with it. I know that we’ve got a new interim president. We’ve got a new interim manager and we’ve got all this change supposedly happening, but I don’t see any of it yet.”
Papelbon summed things up by saying the Philadelphia front office ought to “you know what or get off the pot.” Clearly, for the 34-year-old, it’s less a matter of whether he should be dealt than when. As he said: “If this decision was solely on my shoulders, I would’ve been gone a long time ago.”
Recently, a report suggested that the Phillies had been zeroing in on a deal. But talks were said to have been shelved by the Phils due to higher-level intervention relating to the hiring of president-to-be Andy MacPhail. It’s not clear whether Papelbon’s frustrations are tied at all to that situation.
A deal of some kind would seem a fait accompli — at least, that is, were it not for the complications embedded within Papelbon’s contract. At this point, it’s highly likely that his 2016 option will vest, which at least lends certainty to the equation. But Papelbon’s limited no-trade protection has allowed him to insert his own preferences into the transactional equation — most notably, perhaps, an apparent insistence that he be shipped to a contender that will use him as a closer.
All said, the Phillies do seem rather likely to get something done on Papelbon by the end of the month. But it isn’t inconceivable that he could be moved in August (during the revocable waiver trade period) or even the offseason.
Relax Pap, the deadline is coming, you’ll be moved. Gotta admire his honesty. It’s refreshing.
While his honesty is refreshing, you have to wonder how it comes across in the clubhouse when one of your highest-paid teammates is publicly stating his desire to no longer be there.
I’m fairly certain they already know. It can’t feel good for anyone to play on a team as bad as the Phillies.
See above, A Clubhouse Cancer and Malcontent to any team !
Just asked Boston , A Manny type Player which is to say he is’t worth the trouble he brings to the table!
Manny wasn’t worth the trouble? I’m pretty sure he was well worth the trouble for 6 straight seasons of over 150 WRC+ If Manny wasn’t in Boston, 2004 never happens.
Manny was a Juicier and a Complete idiot, the only , And I mean the only reason he Hit like he did for so long that the Guy was Cheater Deluxe! Charlie Manual hinted at it more than once .
I don’t care who you are.. Juicing will not help you get hits.. That takes talent and only talent.. He probably hit for more power with the juice but his constant high average and high on base percentage can not be attributed to roids at all.. in 2002 he hit .349 with a .450 obp.. That alone should tell you that he would have been a stud with or without the juice..
Except the difference between a sharp-grounder, which a SS can easily pick up, and a line-drive over his head, is primarily power, so… You could make the argument that increased power can play a significant role in “[helping] you get hits.”
Manny being Manny was the best player and the reason the Sox won two championships, he should be in the HOFer.
Best player , give me a Break, Guy didn’t run out grounders, Couldn’t Field or Throw and never tried to Improve , Cost his Teams games because of lackadaisical Play and had a Bad attitude if he wasn’t the center of attention. Best players are guys like Mays, Aaron , and Clemente , Manny was a cheater who just never got caught until the end of his Ped taking career.
By the way I saw Willie Mays at Age 42 Yrs of age bust his butt running as fast has he could on a rountine grounder to second.
From what I’ve heard and seen, the Phillies clubhouse has no problem with Papelbon. The young relievers love him. The guys a leader, but he doesn’t want to waste his last bullets on a lost cause of a team.
Well its not like Lee, Hamels, Utley and Rollins didn’t say the same thing. They all said at one point or another that they’d want to play for a contender.
Pretty sure Utley said he wants to stay put and wouldn’t waive his no trade protection..
What a Great Team Player,been wanting to Jump Ship from the Phillies from the moment he arrived, I keep the SOB just to punish him , and not let him vest either , that would fix his I care only about myself Attitude, No wonder no other Teams want him. The Guy a Cancer in the Clubhouse !
He doesn’t get paid to be a nice guy, he gets paid to pitch!
He doesn’t get paid to tell the front office how to run their franchise, either. You’re right – just pitch and stop bellyaching
How’s that punishing him? All you would do is make him a free agent after this year where he would likely get a new 3 year deal. The only one you are punishing is the Phillies who would then be denied whatever prospect they would get in a trade. As for his attitude it is only bad when he is on a losing team like he is now.
It would be worth it , to see him sit and wait for a rest of Year, Let him look at players trying to suceed instead of playing the Victim Card making more money than any other reliever in the Game.
wait… you want to give him the rest of the year off, pay him for it, allow him to get more money in the offseason, and hurt the franchise in the meantime, just to get even over his complaining? That’s it, I’m going in to work tomorrow and gonna start complaining, hopefully they give me a 2 month vacation too along with a pay increase.
Don’t let him vest so he can sign with whomever he wants next year? Yeah, that will teach the Phillies..
A professional team player till the end.
I think its safe to say Papelbon will never be a GM. He really doesn’t seem to understand how it works. They can’t just trade him and get a good return out of thin air. If they got a offer that they’d want to accept, he’d be gone already.
He doesn’t care. It’s 100% about him and his not wanting to be on a losing team and he doesn’t care what he says or what damage he does on his way out if it hastens his departure. In fact, I suspect “I’m going to be so obnoxious that they HAVE to trade me no matter what they get back!” may be his entire strategy.
It worked for Curt Schilling 15 years ago.
Another Self-Centered Player!
anyone who has played anything competively Would hate to be on a losing team. Winning is better than losing, always
His mouth does nothing but lower his trade value. What GM wouldn’t want to acquire a player who will publicly criticize him, and the organization he plays for? Paps must be a few fries short of a happy meal if he thinks this will help him get traded.
After 11 years in the league, I’m pretty sure everyone around baseball know what they’re getting with Papelbon. Him speaking out now won’t change his trade value.
Paps is only publicly criticizing the Phillies because they promised him they’d compete and they’re not. If the GM puts together a good team Papelbon won’t complain. When you’re bad a lot of people should complain.
The Phillies are a mess right now, they should look at what Hart has done in Atlanta!
Thank You , That’s what I been saying here . Time to Punish the SOB for Paps being Paps , what goes around comes around !
Even as a Philly Fan I can’t help but feel bad for the guy. He signed away his prime years to a team that he believed was going to, not only contend, but be a force, and it just hasn’t turned out that way, with no fault of his own. It must be frustrating being one of a few people carrying their own weight and watching the front office do little to nothing positive about it for 4 years. I admit, I’d feel the same way.
Not really his prime years. Age 31 is generally the back end of any player’s “true” prime, even if he keeps performing extremely well into his mid-30s.
Closers probably peak later. Hes not playing everyday nor throwing 200 innings per year.
Is there evidence for this? Regardless of how much exertion your body has to put out, the physical prime of most men is in the 25-32 range.
Changes in habits and exercise levels can make you stronger at age 35 than you were at 25, but – generally speaking – if you’d been following the same habits at 25 you’d have been even stronger than you are at 35. Papelbon, for his part, seems to have evolved significantly as a pitcher as he’s aged, depending less on pure power and putting more into control and movement.
You have to wonder how amazing he would have looked in, say, ’06/’07 if he’d been as complete a pitcher back then.
I’am a phillies Fan too, Probably a lot Longer than you, Where’s the Loyalty to the Team that you Play for. Granted they have fallen from their Power days,but the guy been an embarrassment since the day he arrived .
What loyalty. He was brought in as a mercenary because Amaro mistakenly thought he needed an elite closer to put them over the top again.
He signed with the Phillies and got the biggest aav given to a RP ever on a multiyear deal.
Of course Papelbon would be gone now if it were just up to him. That’s because he doesn’t care what comes back to the Phillies, he just wants to be on a different team.
The Phillies, meanwhile, don’t really care what team he plays on, so long as they can profit from it. Whether that means he plays on their team, and they profit by having an elite closer, or he plays on another team, and they profit by getting solid value in trade.
The only difference between the two is that the money Papelbon gets is guaranteed, while the results the Phillies get are not.
Anyone else kinda hope he doesn’t get moved?
Every time Papelbon starts this kind of talk, I think back to when he signed the contract and how psyched he was playing for his “new team”
Because back then they were coming off a 102 win season and still had 4 of the big 5 in the rotation.
He found his fool in Ruben, Now Mr Smart will pay for his foolish for the rest of his ruined career, without a Job !
Tell ya what Paps, bring next years salary down to about $8MM and come on over.
Okay Paps, then put your money where your mouth is.
Sign a $1 (yes, one dollar) one year extension for 2017 on your current contract. Then agree to restructure the money to be spread out over the remaining years. So you’d come in at $6.5m for both 2016 and 2017.
Then you’ll get your wish to be traded.
Oh, you don’t want to do that? Then shut the h— up.
Lol his contract isn’t bad. The phillies are most likely overvaluing a reliever. He should get a back end top 100 guy or 2 top 200 guys they are probably asking for the top guy from every team.
Since Papalbon is still in Philly, it is obvious that Amaro is asking for the other teams top two prospects and that isn’t happening. Paps would bring back perhaps two 11 – 20 prospects on any team, but if Amaro is expecting or asking for a top ten he will be holding Papalbon with Hamels for 2016 in addition to 2015.
How in the world is that obvious?
I forget… didn’t he agree to the monster contract? Guess you shoulda gone year to year paps
My real beef with his comments is that he feels like he is owed a trade. He isn’t owed squat. He can want to be traded all he wants but he needs to honor the contract he signed and if the Phillies want to keep him tough noogies
So glad the Brewers deal fell through for him at last year’s deadline. However they ended up with Broxton instead, doesn’t make it much better.
He has a very valid point. Like him or hate him, he’s not wrong. We’ve heard for how long that the Phillies would be sellers, etc – but that they won’t take anything less than Grade A++ talent.
That’s clearly not going to happen, and the longer you wait, the less value you get.
If Papelbon had been traded a month ago, I wonder which outfielder would have been bumped from the all-star team to make room for Ben Revere?
My bet is Franco would have made it but not been the starter.
Alternatively: Hamels or Giles.