Even though the Boston Red Sox and Jonathan Papelbon agreed today on a 1-year contract worth $6.25 million to avoid arbitration, the two sides are still discussing a long-term extension.
Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe passes this along from a conference call with Jed Hoyer earlier:
“We did have some discussions along the way,” Hoyer said. “I would say, certainly, those discussions are open and we may pick them up going forward. 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.”
This is exactly what we want to hear as Red Sox fans. We know Papelbon wants to see what he can get on the open market in two years but if he can get that security now, I think we’ll be seeing him a Red Sox uniform for a long period of time.
