Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders what the Red Sox will do about their current closer situation. The team has Daniel Bard as the setup man with a 100-mile-per-hour heater, and they have their current closer in Jonathan Papelbon. Could the Red Sox trade Papelbon this off-season and promote Bard to full-time closer this year?

This situation came up with the New York Yankees in the 1990’s. They let John Wetteland sign as a free agent with Texas and made Mariano Rivera their full-time closer, and we now know how that turned out. Trevor Hoffman gave way to Heath Bell in San Diego. Eddie Guardado passed the torch to J.J. Putz in Seattle. The list goes on and on.

Papelbon has one more year left of salary arbitration, and could fetch as much as $11 million next year if he continues his strategy of going year-to-year until he’s a free agent. Cafardo said that the Red Sox could float his name out there as a trade candidate this off-season. If they do, they’ll have plenty of takers including the Brewers, Twins, Rays, Braves and Phillies.