Papelbon Trade Talk Could Be Nothing More Than Talk

When the Red Sox acquired veteran reliever Billy Wagner from the Mets at the end of August, the speculation machine instantly kicked on. The Sox could keep Wagner for another year as Daniel Bard goes through his growing pains as a setup man and trade Jonathan Papelbon in the offseason to land a prized acquisition. Given the relatively weak free-agent crop, it might not be the worst idea, right?

Wrong, according to a pair of reports on Tuesday. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com talked to a team official, who said trading the All-Star closer is "pretty unrealistic." Jayson Stark of ESPN.com spoke with "two baseball men familiar with the Red Sox' thinking," who agree that the Papelbon trade talks are "overblown."

That news, of course, makes sense, despite the "down year" from Papelbon. He's posted a career-high in walks with 24 and matched a career-high in home runs allowed with five, but the rest of his stats are as good if not better than those in his past. He's allowed 12 earned runs thus far, six fewer than his total in 2008. With 68 strikeouts, he's on pace to record a similar total to last year's 77, and he's blown just three saves in 37 opportunities, currently owning the second-lowest ERA of his career.

The fact that he's allowed just 16 baserunners and zero runs in 25 postseason innings also likely gives the Red Sox another reason to keep him around.

Wagner, meanwhile, has been effective in his brief time in the bigs this season, giving up one run in 5 2/3 innings for the Mets and Red Sox. But the idea of trusting your saves to a 38-year-old coming off major surgery doesn't seem a realistic path for the Red Sox to take.