In an interview with “Esquire” Magazine Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon called Manny Ramirez a “cancer” for forcing his way out of town last year. Just when you thought you could put the Manny saga behind the Red Sox, Curt Schilling Jr. has to run his mouth. Now the Red Sox will have to continue to talk about Manny again. Just move on from this, please, I’m begging you. More from the interview with Papelbon:
“It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening,” Papelbon said, according to the magazine. “Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It [stunk], but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us.”
“He was on a different train!” Papelbon said of Ramirez, according to Esquire. “And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him. That comes from the manager, and it comes from guys likeJason Varitek and Tim Wakefield and David Ortiz. Nobody is ever going to be allowed to do that.”
“So Manny was tough for us,” Papelbon added, according to the story. “You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man!”
Thanks to Deadspin
From Boston.com:
In a conference call a few minutes ago, Red Sox assistant general manager Jed Hoyer said Jonathan Papelbon, who earlier today signed a one-year contract to avoid arbitration, and the team remain open and willing to reach a multi-year contract extension.
“We did have some discussions along the way,” Hoyer said. “I would say, certainly, those discussions are open and we may pick them up. I think both sides felt like in the interest of time and not exchanging numbers [for an arbitration hearing], the best thing to do was to agree on a one-year number today. But we are certainly open to exploring those ideas, and I think their side is, too.”
From Jon Heyman:
Electric closer Jonathan Papelbon has agreed to a $6.25 million, one-year contract with the Red Sox, SI.com has learned. The sum is a record for a first-year, arbitration-eligible reliever.
The 28-year-old fireballer went 5-4 with a 2.34 ERA and 41 saves last year, when he was paid $775,000. Boston’s closer has racked up 113 saves in his first three seasons on the job, making three straight All-Star teams in the process.
The Red Sox have locked up some key pieces over the last two months. Boston gave MVP second baseman Dustin Pedroia a six-year, $40.5 million contract in December and star slugger Kevin Youkilis a four-year, $41 million deal last week.
