Jonathan Broxton is a key part of Phillies history. Broxton is best known for serving up a home run to Matt Stairs in the 2008 National League Championship Series that turned game four from a Phillies deficit to a Phillies victory. Ever since that day, Broxton has been mostly uneffective Yet, the Milwaukee Brewers apparently tried to make the Phillies take Broxton back in a Jonathan Papelbon deal.
According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Phillies would pony up money with Papelbon if they get a decent prospect back. But the Brewers? Have Jonathan Broxton in return:
The Brewers, unwilling to make such an exchange, instead proposed sending reliever Jonathan Broxton to the Phillies as a way to balance the finances.
While such a deal likely would have included other pieces, the premise was flawed for both clubs and the talks currently are dormant, sources said.
The Phillies might as well try to get two-game NLCS loser from 2008 in Chad Billingsley. Oh wait…
The reality is, Papelbon has demonstrated himself to be on of the top closers in the game. But with a stigma attached to Papelbon about (whether deserved or not) that Papelbon is some sort of clubhouse cancer, dealing him has proven to be difficult. While Papelbon is due $13 million probably this year and next, this offseason has seen 39 year-old Koji Uehara and David Robertson get money very close in comparison. Papelbon blows both away in numbers.
Making matters worse is that Broxton is due $9 million in 2015, with an additional $1 million due to buy out his 2016 option. Unlike the Phillies' traditional contracts, this is not guaranteed, or even vesting. But those numbers are too large for a pitcher such as Broxton.
The Milwaukee Brewers really could use Jonathan Papelbon. But the reality is that the Phillies need to either dump the salary or get something significant back. Taking Broxton back would be the equivalent of a salary dump, but to do so the Phillies had better get back a good prospect. The reality is that Papelbon is good. The Brewers will have to give them something in return.
Camp breaks soon and the fact that we are still hearing about this means that there is a real chance of something happening. But what if the only compensation is that the Phillies gets back Jonathan Broxton and nothing else? The Phillies are wise to snicker.
