Clemens new home?

Show Paps The Money!

Jonathon Papelbon has made it public - he wants a new contract before Thursday. Unfortunately for Papelbon, he didn't qualify for arbitration which means the team will decide his salary.

"I'm at the mercy of the club right now to a certain extent. It's just a matter of ironing out the numbers. We haven't ironed them out yet and, hopefully, we can get to a mutual agreement."

Papelbon is hoping for a new one year contract, or multi-year deal. But if the Red Sox are anything like the White Sox he may be sadly disappointed. Bobby Jenks (40 saves, 2.77 era, 56 strikeouts), who was also ineligible for arbitration, just received a $100,000 bump from Chicago to increase his 2008 salary to a whopping $550,000.

This is NOT what Papelbon has in mind.

"It's a tough situation for me right now. I feel like with me being at the top of my position, I feel like that (salary) 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."

What is the standard salary for top closers? Well, here are some "top closer" 2007 salaries:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Joe Borowski: $4,000,000

Joe Nathan: $5,250,000

Francisco Rodriguez: $7,000,000

J.J. Putz: $2,700,000

Todd Jones: $4,809,159

Mariano Rivera: $10,500,000 (will make $15,000,000 for next three seasons)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Trevor Hoffman: $7,000,000

Chad Cordero: $4,150,000

Billy Wagner: $10,500,000

Francisco Cordero: $5,425,000

IMO, Papelbon should be making more than Kyle Synder. In fact, I believe Boston should be thinking long term here, and lock Papelbon up for the next 5 years at a respectable $40 million.

But with absolutely no leverage it's likely Paps will get "Jenksed."