mariano rivera might deserve this type of compensation.

anyone else, i don't see it.

I think considering what some starting pitchers get paid in free agency, it's pretty easy to make a case for Papelbon given his track record over 6 seasons, with only 1 being subpar

I just don't buy the the myth that closers are somehow so much more valuable than any other reliever. If you pay the top starters in the league around $18-20 million, shouldn't the top closers make about a third of that (based on the top starters pitching 200+ innings and the top closers pitching 60-70)? So yeah, giving maybe $6-8 million a year to the top closers in the league would makes sense... I just don't see how it's in any way justifiable to spend $12.5 million a year on someone who will have so little impact on games and whose success can easily be replicated by a much cheaper option who isn't considered a "closer".

I just don't buy the the myth that closers are somehow so much more valuable than any other reliever. If you pay the top starters in the league around $18-20 million, shouldn't the top closers make about a third of that (based on the top starters pitching 200+ innings and the top closers pitching 60-70)? So yeah, giving maybe $6-8 million a year to the top closers in the league would makes sense... I just don't see how it's in any way justifiable to spend $12.5 million a year on someone who will have so little impact on games and whose success can easily be replicated by a much cheaper option who isn't considered a "closer".

I know when I say this it'll come off the wrong way, and I don't mean it how it sounds, but Boston is different, in terms of being able to pay over and above what most teams might go to. I'd also make the argument that a closer is pitching 70 of the most important innings of a team's season, and they are a commodity that you just don't appreciate until you don't have one (I think Red Sox fans will be learning this come April).

Papelbon a mistake for Phillies
Giving any relief pitcher a four-year contract is a bad idea

Law By Keith Law
ESPN Insider

I thought signing Ryan Madson for four years and $44 million was a bad idea, even though he is the best free-agent reliever on the market, both short- and long-term. The history of signing relievers to deals of that length is simply too awful to ignore.

That contract would have been a bargain relative to the four-year deal the Phillies are about to give Jonathan Papelbon -- more money, plus a lost draft pick, for an inferior reliever who gives up more fly balls.

Papelbon was the second-best relief option on the market, but even in one of his best seasons in 2011, he was worth only two or three wins above replacement, and I'd put the over/under on his WAR for this deal at around eight, which would still make it a pretty bad contract. But the real issue with any reliever and with Papelbon specifically is high attrition rates -- relievers don't last, and their peaks tend to be short.

-----the rest is for insider accounts only-----

i hope the sox go get madson.

I think considering what some starting pitchers get paid in free agency, it's pretty easy to make a case for Papelbon given his track record over 6 seasons, with only 1 being subpar

You dont need an "elite" closer, but you have to have a good one.

Sure, and a "good" one could be a random reliever in your bullpen.

Right, but you still need that. If you can give your number 4 starter 50 million it's insane to say that a good closer isnt worth that.

Marlins reportedly offered 6 yr/$90m to Reyes. Apparently Reyes feels the bidding starts at $100m.