Papelbon

[Dawg61]

is very quietly putting up a tremendous season for a bad Phillies team this year. He now has 31 saves and a 1.52 era. Can't believe a team like the Tigers haven't traded for him yet. Might still though real soon.

[Todd4State]

It's hard to trade him because of his contract. It's his fault or agents fault for signing with an aging team.

That and closers tend to have short shelf lives.

He's much more likely to be traded this off season or next year if he will waive his vesting option for 2016, which I doubt he's going to be willing to do unless he feels like his market is going to be worth more than 13M, which I highly doubt.

In other words, he's probably stuck in Philadelphia for the next couple of years.

[Dawg61]

It's hard to trade him because of his contract. It's his fault or agents fault for signing with an aging team.

That and closers tend to have short shelf lives.

He's much more likely to be traded this off season or next year if he will waive his vesting option for 2016, which I doubt he's going to be willing to do unless he feels like his market is going to be worth more than 13M, which I highly doubt.

In other words, he's probably stuck in Philadelphia for the next couple of years.

Might be the best way for him to get to 400 saves if he stays in Philly so not all bad, they are not afraid to use him often.

[Political Hack]

coming into his contract the phillies looked LOADED. Howard, Utely, Lee, Paps, and I'm sure there's a few more I'm forgetting.

Either way it is good to see him bounce back and have a great year despite being on a team that gives him limited opportunities. His contract is massive but I promise he'd rework it to go to a WS contender.

[engie]

How many more good seasons does he need to be on the HOF ballot? Granted he'll probably never make it -- as voters are snobs against relief pitchers -- but he has a window of a chance with the steroid snubs IMO.

If someone wants to look at all reasonable statistical metrics -- he's about 2 more good years away from being a top 10 closer all-time and he's still reasonably young... Another 5 good years and he's in some really exclusive company...

[Dawg61]

400 puts him in discussion but I think he'll need 450-500 to actually get voted in. HOF is a popularity contest.