Interest in Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon is growing, and if the Milwaukee Brewers are still interested they must compete with the Toronto Blue Jays, and potentially another mystery American League club.
Hearing an undetermined AL team has talked to #phillies about a Jonathan Papelbon trade in the past few days.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 27, 2015
The Brewers have been a rumored destination for Papelbon since last week. Last year's closer, Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, is a free agent and has had his ups and downs despite a stellar 2014 campaign. K-Rod was fifth in MLB in saves last season (44) with a 3.04 ERA.
His advanced metrics were more unkind, however, and could be the reason Milwaukee's shot-callers are hesitant to lean on him again. He didn't even enter last year as the closer; Jim Henderson's struggles in spring training cost him the job before Opening Day.
As of now, the Brewers' projected opening day closer is hard-throwing Jonathan Broxton, who posted a 2.38 ERA in 58.1 innings last season for the Reds and Brewers.
Toronto's 2014 closer, Casey Janssen, is also an unsigned free agent. Their projected closer is soft-tossing left-hander Brett Cecil, who had good numbers in 2014 but is unproven in the ninth inning. Cecil became a full-time reliever in 2013 and revitalized his career. Since 2013 Cecil is a combined 7-4, hasn't posted an ERA more than 2.82, and showed consistently rising strikeout rates.
Still, adding more firepower to a bullpen never hurts, and Cecil's history as a starter allows him to be deployed in higher-leverage situations early in games, then stay in as a bridge to the ninth.
Last year Papelbon had one of his best seasons, posting his lowest ERA since 2009 (2.04) and recording his best save total (39) since 2008. He only blew four save chances, and despite a declining K-rate has compensated by mixing in more sliders and splitters.
[MLBlog]
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