FORT MYERS, Fla. - On the surface, the stalled negotiations between closer Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox would seem to be nothing more than a contractual stalemate.

Nothing new there: teams and players have been fighting over money since the days of Babe Ruth.

But there's more at work here, apparently. Papelbon is just the latest high-profile star with less than three years of major-league service time - and thus, without the leverage of salary arbitration - taking his salary quest public and alluding to a sense of responsibility he feels for players who follow him.

In the last week alone, Milwaukee's Prince Fielder and Philadelphia's Cole Hamels have been similarly vocal in their displeasure about having their deals renewed - that is, unilaterally imposed by teams after unresolved negotiations - and increasingly, it seems as if determining the salaries of the game's youngest stars has become the new battleground between clubs and the Major League Players Association.

For the second time in the last three days, Papelbon yesterday spoke of his frustration in failing to reach agreement with the Sox on a 2008 contract. And, also for the second time in the last three days, he sounded a communal theme while talking about his battle.

"It's a tough situation for me right now,'' said Papelbon, "because basically I'm at a point to where I feel like the position I'm in, there's a certain standard that needs to be put in place here. I feel like, with me being at the top of my position, I feel like that standard needs to be set and I'm the one to set that standard. And I don't think that the Red Sox are really necessarily seeing eye to eye with me on that subject right now.

"I feel a certain obligation to not only to myself and my family to make the money that I deserve, but for the game of baseball. Mariano Rivera has been doing it for the past 10 years. With me coming up behind him, I feel a certain obligation to do the same.''

Papelbon's comments reinforce the notion - suspected by a number of baseball executives - that the Players Association has been preaching a message of solidarity and encouraging the game's newest class of young stars to take a firm stand on salaries, citing the precedent-setting nature of the figures.

Making clear that he wasn't speaking about Papelbon's contract status specifically, but commenting on the phenomenon of contentious negotiations with second- and third-year players in general, Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Players Association, said last night: "Obviously, for players, negotiations before they are salary arbitration-eligible are the most difficult. What happens in those negotiations directly affects future negotiations. That's been the case for as long as I can remember. But sooner or later (when players gain arbitration eligibility), the tables are turned.''

Fewer and fewer star players have been electing free agency, instead choosing to extend deals with their present teams - such as Josh Beckett - or being dealt as they approach free agency, only to sign new contracts with their new teams, as was the case with Johan Santana and the New York Mets.

But an open market is the best tool to drive up salaries in an era when baseball is experiencing record-setting revenues and this year's free-agent class was one of the least appealing in years. Stars such as Papelbon, Fielder, Hamels and Florida's Hanley Ramirez, then are the Players Association's best bet for the players to cash in and impact future deals.

Of course, that's a difficult task for such players, since without arbitration rights, they find themselves at the clubs' mercy.

Fielder, Hamels and Ramirez refused their respective team's best offers and were renewed. Papelbon, who told the Journal on Sunday that Ryan Howard's 2007 $900,000 salary was his benchmark, stands to be renewed tomorrow if the two sides can't come to an agreement today.

It's believed that the Sox have offered to make Papelbon the highest-paid reliever in his class - non-arbitration eligible. Ironically, that distinction is held by Rivera, who was given $750,000 after similar service time with the New York Yankees, meaning there's likely only $100,000 separating the two sides.