DALLAS — On the one hand, a number of the top closers on the market have already found their homes this offseason. The Phillies got the ball rolling by signing Jonathan Papelbon away from the Red Sox to a four-year deal. The Marlins signed Heath Bell. The Rangers added Joe Nathan on a two-year deal. The Twins re-upped with Matt Capps on a one-year deal.

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, struck a deal with the White Sox to send highly regarded pitching prospect Nestor Molina to Chicago for right-hander Sergio Santos, a converted shortstop who had an eye-popping 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings as the White Sox closer last year.

“His stuff is just so good,” said Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos. “In our division, if you can get a guy with that kind of power stuff and strikeout ability, certainly it’s someone we feel has a chance to be a lock-down guy and for a long period of time.”

The Red Sox, according to a major league source, never engaged in serious discussions with the White Sox about Santos. Indeed, it appears that the White Sox did not shop Santos or make his potential availability widely known to generate a larger market for the right-hander.

Anthopoulos suggested that he had talked with White Sox GM Kenny Williams “about 85 times” over several months about Santos, typically receiving a flat no to inquiries, only to have the deal come together quickly late on Monday night in Chicago’s suite. Read the rest of this entry »

Jonathan Papelbon could be entering his last year with the Red Sox. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jonathan Papelbon did not hide from the reality of the 2010 campaign. From the time he assumed the role of closer in 2006 through 2009, he had been as automatic as any closer in the game.

But the 2010 season was different. Papelbon blew eight saves — more than any other reliever in the American League and more than in any other season of his career. His 3.90 ERA was more than double his career 1.84 mark prior to last year. He had career highs in homers (7) and walks (28) allowed.

“Obviously,” he acknowledged, “it was a down season.”

Even so, the 30-year-old said that the idea that he might not be back with the Sox for 2011 never crossed his mind this winter — even as the Sox talked to free agent Mariano Rivera, even as they signed Bobby Jenks to join the Boston bullpen, even as rumors persisted that the Sox were open to trading their longtime closer.

“I really honestly never thought that,” he said in a meeting with the media on Sunday morning. “There was never a point this offseason where I didn’t think I’d be here.”

That may change going forward. He recognizes that this may (or may not) be his last spring training with the Sox, depending on what happens to him when he reaches free agency following the year. But even as several questions were focused on that front, Papelbon suggested that the issue of his employer in 2012 is a matter for another time.

Papelbon said that his focus was and is on the fate of the 2011 Sox (a team he described as “championship caliber”), and that he did not approach this season any differently just because free agency looms on the other side of it. Even so, the closer said that he understood why there is a prevailing assumption among Sox followers that — with both Jenks (signed through 2012) and Daniel Bard (under team control through 2015) on the Sox roster — Papelbon is entering his final season with the Sox. Read the rest of this entry »