September 28, 2015

Fight Fallout

Jonathan Papelbon jerseys are no longer available at Nationals Park.

That came after some strangeness about suspensions.

As expected, the Nationals rest most of their regulars Monday, including Bryce Harper â?? who said Sunday he was scheduled for a day off Monday. Then before Mondayâ??s game, Matt Williams announced Harper was sitting because of his incident with Jonathan Papelbon. Either way, neither he, nor Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, or Yunel Escobar will play Monday. Trea Turner starts at shortstop and Dan Uggla starts at second base, his first start since July 24.

Changing the reason for a day off seems lame. Papelbon won’t play for the Nationals for the rest of the season, as the Nats gave him a four-game suspension:

The Nationals technically have seven games remaining in the regular season, but Papelbon has dropped his appeal of a three-game suspension from MLB for intentionally throwing at Manny Machado‘s head last week. Because of this, Papelbon will miss all seven of the team’s remaining games.

There’s a lot of speculation about why the situation exploded. I suspect we’ll hear from both sides eventually.

4 thoughts on “Fight Fallout

  1. Devon

    I’m gonna guess Pap won’t be in Washington on opening day. He won’t be easy to trade, but I’m sure they’ll find a way. Calling out a teammate for not hustling is ok, BUT, choking the teammate (whether or not he’s your franchise) is unacceptable IMHO. If I’m Harper, I’m going to say to Williams, Rizzo, & anyone who’ll listen – “I can’t trust the guy and I’m not going to play with guys I can’t turn my back on.” He does that & he’s totally in the right while also sending a message to anyone who wants to be his teammate in the future that physical violence on the team isn’t acceptable.

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  2. rbj

    Trade Papelbon for a bag of used balls and eat the salary. Fire Rizzo and Williams (if there’s an altercation in the dugout, I’m right on top of it, not finding out about it later.)

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  3. Gary

    Maybe Papelbon is upset about Harper’s comments about the Machado beaning. That’s just a guess. Harper wasn’t very supportive. Harper’s “I’ll probably get hit tomorrow” comment seems like a criticism of Papelbon.

    None of that excuses Papelbon’s actions. Yell at Harper for not running. Don’t choke him. All of this is just speculation on my part.

    Williams will be gone. Rizzo won’t be fired. The Nats still have a decent shot at winning the Series in the next year or two. I also think they have a lot of dead weight at the end of this decade. I hope they reach their goal. 2018 onward look rough and rocky.

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  4. David Pinto Post author

    Gary » If you remember Harper’s rookie year, he was hit in the back by Cole Hamels. At the moment it happened, I thought the ball got away from Hamels. Harper actually worked his way around the bases and stole home for pay back. After the game, Hamels said he hit Harper intentionally because he was a rookie, and Hamels was suspended.

    I can see why Harper would take exception to someone on another team getting hit for no good reason. I think if more batters complained about this, baseball would be better off. It is dangerous. Pitchers are going to pitch inside, pitches are going to get away from them. Hitting a guy because you have a thin skin should not be tolerated by anyone.

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