Washington Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon will get to enjoy the offseason a week early. The Nationals have suspended the 34-year-old closer for four games, ending his season after Sunday's dugout altercation with outfielder Bryce Harper.
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The Washington Nationals have suspended RHP Jonathan Papelbon: pic.twitter.com/KYKHvllsaw
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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.
His suspension from the team is without pay and, according to Eric Fisher of the Sports Business Journal, this will cost Papelbon about $321,000.
During Sunday's blow-up Papelbon appeared to yell at Harper for not running out a fly ball. After Harper shouted back, Papelbon lunged at him, grabbing Harper's throat at one point during the argument.
Following the incident, Papelbon was allowed to pitch in the ninth inning. Long after the game had ended, manager Matt Williams claimed he had not seen the footage of the fight, and claimed he would not have sent Papelbon back out to the mound had he known the severity of the dustup. After Williams saw video of the argument, he said he was "livid."
On Monday, Williams' pre-game press conference was delayed for over an hour, adding another layer off drama to the situation. The Nats issued Papelbon's suspension and then Williams finally started his presser. The main headline there was the status of Harper, who was also not in Monday's lineup.
While Williams somewhat stood up for Harper, saying he ran to first base on the play in question as he's expected to, the 22-year-old likely NL MVP is still getting punished for his role in the fight.
"We have to govern ourselves the way we govern ourselves. Now we have to address it," Williams said. "From my view of the incident, he said something to Jonathan and he played a part in the incident. We reflect that with Bryce being out of the lineup today."
Williams said later of Harper: "Could he have run harder? Yes, but there are many instances where everybody could in the course of a season."
We've still yet to hear from Nats GM Mike Rizzo, aside from his statement in the team's press release. But as James Wagner of the Washington Post notes, Rizzo is likely to talk to reporters following Monday's game.
With that, we await the next development in As The Washington Nationals Turn, the best MLB drama of 2015.
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