Jonathan Papelbon

As I watched Jacoby Ellsbury steal home against the Yankees Sunday night, I thought to myself: "This pretty much sums it up." An aging Andy Pettitte forgets to deliver from the stretch, letting a youthful Ellsbury elude another future Bingo regular, Jorge Posada's, tag at the plate. Would Justin Masterson have made the same error? The two ballclubs could not be headed in more opposite directions. Every year, the Red Sox seem to call up another hyped prospect, while the Yanks continue to overpay for limited talent, and shun their farm system.

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erson’s future is as a reliever.

The Red Sox need help badly in a bullpen which, outside of Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, has been shaky at best and putrid at its worst. Manny Delcarmen, who was expected to step into Mike Timlin’s role as the top right handed set up man, has been awful, especially when it comes to inherited baserunners. Opposing hitters boast a .385 batting average against with runners in scoring position when facing Delcarmen. Javier Lopez has given up 6 walks already in only 9 and 1/3 innings pitchers, 5 of those to the lefties who he is usually brought on specifically to get out. Mike Timlin is doing better after a shaky return from the disabled list but still sports and ERA of 13.50. In fact, after Papelbon and Okajima, the only other reliever with an ERA under 4.00 is David Aardsma.

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h;a $55,00 raise from last year–comes on the heels of Prince Fielder slamming the Brewers and Jonathan Papelbon claiming the Red Sox need to pay him more. Granted these are all star players who are certainly worth more than they are getting paid, they’ve hardly paid their dues in the Majors and with only two years under their respective belts, haven’t earned the right to start telling their front offices how to conduct business. They will all get their chance to cash in next year when they are eligible for arbitration (players are eligible for arbitration after three full seasons of Major League service time and can file for free agency after six). While it would behoove teams to lock up their young stars, they are under no obligation to and certainly shouldn’t be told how to run the organization by 24 and 25 year olds. Besides, these guys aren’t exactly hurting for money at $400-500,000 per year. Forty years ago, most players made so little they often had to get part time jobs in the off season.

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nt part in the Red Sox title run last year led by Dustin Pedroia winning the Rookie of the Year and Jonathan Papelbon definitively closing out games. Clay Buchholz pitched a no hitter in his second major league start, Jacoby Ellsbury stepped in when he was needed and became a vital part of the offense, and Jon Lester got the win in the World Series clincher. All are expected to be key contributors to the team this season. However, this influx of talent from the minors has not left this cupboard bare as Boston’s farm system still ranks in Baseball America’s top 5. Here are some of the next big prospects to keep an eye on in camp this spring and follow their progress this summer.

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