One day after putting his hand on the neck of teammate Bryce Harper, former Phillies and current Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon will not pitch again this season. He will take the three-game suspension he was given for hitting Manny Machado last Wednesday. In addition, the Nationals have suspended him the remaining four games for the altercation in the dugout with Harper. Though the two Washington teammates said they sorted things out, the Nationals opted to punish Papelbon for the remainder of 2015. They still owe him $11 million for the 2016 season.
Here's the official statement from the Washington Nationals:
The Washington Nationals announced pitcher Jonathan Papelbon has been suspended for four games without pay after his altercation with outfielder Bryce Harper in the dugout during Sunday's game vs. the Philadelphia Phillies.
In addition, Papelbon has accepted the three-game suspension issued by Major League Baseball for the incident which occurred during the Wednesday, September 23rd game vs the Baltimore Orioles. The league suspension will begin Monday against the Cincinnati Reds. The Nationals suspension will begin Thursday and last the remainder of the season.
"The behavior exhibited by Papelbon yesterday is not acceptable," said Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo. "That is not at all in line with the way our players are expected to conduct themselves, and the Nationals organization will not tolerate it in any way."
After yesterday's 12-5 Phillies win in DC, Papelbon surprisingly admitted his guilt in the dugout scrum, saying it is something he needs to leave to the manager to deal with in the future. Though the Nationals have the veteran closer signed through 2016, his future with the team may be in jeopardy following his actions.
"First of all, let me say, I'm in the wrong there," said Papelbon, who on Monday was suspended for four games by the team, which combined with his dropping his appeal of the three-game suspension handed down by MLB last week ends Papelbon's season. "I've got to leave that up to our manager.
"I've talked to Bryce and told him how we feel and we're on the same page now, which is good. Squash this and [play] tomorrow's game. You know, I grew up with brothers, he grew up with brothers. I view him as a brother of mine. Sometimes in this game there's a lot of testosterone and there's a lot of intensity that spills over, and I think that happened today. For me, I can't allow that to happen in the middle of a game. You handle that after the games or allow the manager to handle that. In that light of it, I'm wrong."
If you missed the dugout incident from Sunday's game, here it is:
Jonathan Papelbon finishes the season 4-3 with a 2.13 ERA and 24 saves between the Phillies and Nationals.
Brandon Apter, Managing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
