Boy wonder has done it again. Somehow during his tenure as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox, Theo Epstein has had a knack of avoiding salary arbitration with his arbitration-eligible players. The only two players he had to worry about this year were closer Jonathan Papelbon and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.
Well Theo’s streak is intact as Papelbon has agreed to a one-year $12 million deal while Ellsbury has agreed to a one-year $2.4 million deal according to Sean McAdam of CSNE.com via Twitter. This is Papelbon’s final year of being arbitration-eligble as he’ll be a free agent at the end of the 2011 season. Ellsbury is in his first year of being arbitration-eligible.
For Papelbon, it’s a raise of $2.65 million after making $9.35 million in 2010. Ellsbury made $496,000 last year for an increase of $1,903,500 million.
Speaking of Papelbon, he’s quite fond of the moves that Epstein has made this offseason.
Photo credits: Reuters Pictures (Papelbon), AP Photo (Ellsbury)
