The Philadelphia Phillies have reached agreement with free-agent closer Jonathan Papelbon on a four-year deal with a vesting option for 2016, a major-league source told FOXSports.com.

The deal is worth $50 million for four years but could go beyond $60 million with the vesting option.

Papelbon, who turns 31 later this month, has pitched for the Boston Red Sox since signing with the organization as a fourth-round pick in 2003. He’s coming off a season in which he improved his year-to-year walk and strikeout rates, while saving 31 games with a 2.94 ERA.

The development comes days after reports said the Phillies had reached a four-year, $44 million contract with a different closer, Ryan Madson. Multiple sources have since said the Phillies and Madson never reached an agreement.

Papelbon is considered this winter’s top free-agent closer, after several strong years with the Red Sox. It’s possible that he and the Phillies will wait until Major League Baseball and the players’ union reach accord on a new collective bargaining agreement to make their formal announcement. The new CBA is unlikely to be in place before the weekend, a source told FOXSports.com on Friday.

Madson had 32 saves with a 2.37 ERA this year. He has spent his entire professional career with the Phillies, pitching in Philadelphia from 2003 through this year. If this is indeed the end of their relationship, one of the Phillies’ NL East rivals — the Nationals — could jump into the bidding for Madson.

The Nats, with a push from right fielder and former Madson teammate Jayson Werth, have been on the periphery of the Madson sweepstakes. Influential agent Scott Boras represents Werth and Madson, as well as numerous other Nationals players.

Well…they couldn’t get much worse.

The corner-outfielders for the Phillies have been pitiful this season. Ben Francisco was supposed to replace Jayson Werth, but he has been terrible. Domonic Brown was supposed to be a stud in his rookie season, but he has been hurt. Raul Ibanez was supposed to be solid, but he has been too streaky.

Francisco is batting .227 despite starting off well. He has six home runs, but he did not hit one in the month of June, and his last home run was on May 25.

Brown started the year on the DL, but he is back and hitting .228 with five home runs and 13 RBI. Brown hit one home run and knocked in two RBI on June 28, but that was the only game that he did either in his last 10 games.

Ibanez is hitting .231 with nine home runs, but that is because he has had two streaks when he was hitting incredibly well. Unfortunately, those streaks did not last, and one of them was followed with an 0-for-20+ streak. His hot streaks are short, and his power outages are too long.

The corner-outfielders have been dreadful, and they have nowhere to go but up. They will pick up their game because the rest of the season is essentially a tune-up for the postseason. These guys know what they have to do to win it all, and they are going to try to find a way to do it.

Unfortunately, they will probably not hit well in the postseason because they will be facing talented pitchers.

Read More: Jimmy Rollins (SS – PHI), Jayson Werth (RF – WAS), Tyler Clippard (P – WAS), John Lannan (P – WAS), Laynce Nix (LF – WAS), Drew Storen (P – WAS), Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals

Stop the presses: the Washington Nationals have taken a three-game series from the mighty Philadelphia Phillies. Laynce Nix’s third-inning home run proved to be the difference for Washington, as they won 2-1 on Wednesday in the kind of game they would probably love to play going forward.

John Lannan pitched five and a third innings of one-run ball, and the Nationals’ bullpen did the rest. Tyler Clippard was perfect in two innings of work, and Drew Storen picked up the save after surrendering a one-out infield single to Jimmy Rollins. Roy Oswalt pitched well for Philadelphia, but got the loss on account of an RBI single by Jayson Werth and the aforementioned home run by Nix. 

The home run was the ninth of the season for Nix in part-time duty. To make matters even better, Nix made a spectacular diving stop in the top of the sixth inning to preserve the lead. The Phillies had the bases loaded with two outs, and Dominic Brown sent a line drive into the left-center gap, but Nix made a diving stop to keep the Nationals in front.

Read More: Cliff Lee (P – PHI), Ivan Rodriguez (C – WAS), Jason Marquis (P – WAS), Michael Morse (LF – WAS), John Mayberry (CF – PHI), Domonic Brown (RF – PHI), Danny Espinosa (2B – WAS), Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals

Philadelphia Phillies fans usually feel quite at home at Nationals Park especially when they have a pitcher like Cliff Lee on the mound. Tuesday night they were made uncomfortable by an offensive explosion from the Washington Nationals so much so that by the seventh-inning they and Lee were almost nowhere to be found. The last place Nationals completely dominate the first place Phillies by a stinging 10-2 score.

Nationals starter Jason Marquis earned his sixth notch in his belt by holding down a potent Phillies line-up. Marquis’ only mistakes in six-innings of work was giving up back-to-back home runs to Domonic Brown and John Mayberry in the fifth. Marquis finished with two earned runs on just four hits, striking out four and walking none. It was yet another powerful performance from Marquis and he got an odd sort of support from his offense.

The Nationals offense exploded on their NL East rivals led by second baseman Danny Espinosa who drilled two home runs off Lee (one a three-run homerun) and went 3-for-4 with four RBI. The rest of the Nationals offense helped out in the Phillies nightmare. Former Phillie Jayson Werth had two RBI, first baseman Michael Morse went 3-for-5 with two RBI and both Ivan Rodriguez and Jerry Hairston Jr. collected RBIs of their own. The Nationals dropped 10 runs on the Phillies in total which is the highest run total any team in 2011 has tagged the Phillies with and the final 10-2 is the highest margin of victory for the Nationals against Philadelphia since baseball returned to D.C. in 2005.

The Nationals move to 23-31 and are in last place in the NL East.

Read More: Cliff Lee (P – PHI), Jayson Werth (RF – WAS), Jason Marquis (P – WAS), Michael Morse (LF – WAS), Roger Bernadina (RF – WAS), Ian Desmond (SS – WAS), Danny Espinosa (2B – WAS), Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves

The Washington Nationals shocked the Philadelphia Phillies and their visiting fans at Nationals Park into silence after putting up a big number on feared Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee. An offensive explosion has left Lee reeling and the Nationals on top early in Tuesday night’s game 5-0.

The crooked number was posted in the third-inning. After a RBI sacrifice fly by former Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth, first baseman Michael Morse added to the damage by hitting an RBI single to score Roger Bernadina. With Morse and shortstop Ian Desmond on base, that set up second baseman Danny Espinosa who then cracked a three-run homer off Lee to put the Nationals in the lead. Nationals starter Jason Marquis has held up well so far only giving up four hits, issuing no walks and striking out one.

Espinosa leads the Nationals in home runs in 2011 with nine. His 32 RBIs lead MLB rookies while his nine home runs lead NL rookies and ranks 2nd among MLB rookies in total. Seven of the nine home runs Espinosa has hit have been multi-run taters.

Tuesday’s five runs on Lee are the second most runs Lee has given up this season thus far. In his second start of the season, Lee gave up six runs to the Atlanta Braves.

Going into the fifth-inning the Nationals have a solid lead, but there is still plenty of game to go.

By Mike Prada

– Senior Editor

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May 31, 2011 – The Washington Nationals missed their chance to get to the Philadelphia Phillies when Roy Halladay wasn’t pitching his best on Monday, losing 5-4 despite hitting three home runs. As a reward, the Nationals will get Cliff Lee in the second game of a three-game series on Tuesday.

The Nationals are free-falling, having lost 10 of 12, including three straight one-run games. Things continue to get worse, which is bad because the Phillies continue to improve. Philadelphia now owns the best record in the Majors and has continued to dominate the Nationals, with their fans invading their stadium to add insult to injury.

Jason Marquis will oppose Lee on Tuesday, as he hopes to rebound from his second loss of the season. Ivan Rodriguez will start behind the plate for Wilson Ramos. Here is the complete Nationals’ lineup:

1. Roger Bernadina (CF)
2. Ian Desmond (SS)
3. Jayson Werth (RF)
4. Michael Morse (1B)
5. Danny Espinosa (2B)
6. Ivan Rodriguez (C)
7. Jerry Hairston (3B)
8. Brian Bixler (LF)
9. Jason Marquis (P

Read More: Cliff Lee (P – PHI), Jayson Werth (RF – WAS), Ivan Rodriguez (C – WAS), Jason Marquis (P – WAS), Roy Halladay (P – PHI), Michael Morse (LF – WAS), Roger Bernadina (RF – WAS), Brian Bixler (SS – WAS), Ian Desmond (SS – WAS), Wilson Ramos (C – WAS), Danny Espinosa (2B – WAS), Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals