Nationals' day of reckoning looms after Papelbon attacks Harper
Even for him, controversial closer Jonathan Papelbon has had an eventful time with his new Nationals team. Within the past couple weeks alone, Papelbon implied that his old, rebuilding Phillies club was populated by non-winners in an unnecessarily rude press conference; he drew a three-game ban by twice throwing at Orioles star Manny Machado's head following a game-deciding home run by Machado; and now, in the highlight of all the lowlights, he has started a fight with the Nats' own franchise player, Bryce Harper.
The dugout brawl instigated by Papelbon on Sunday by all rights should spell the temperamental reliever's end in Washington. It is of course very hard to predict how Nationals management will handle this -- how to predict a team that thinks it's a good idea to add Papelbon in pennant race? -- but it's apparent to most of us now Papelbon just isn't worth the trouble he brings, even if he isn't always trying to do harm to his team's best player.
Bizarrely, Papelbon, who attacked Harper by wrapping his hands around the young phenom's neck for talking back to the volatile reliever, was left in the game by out-of-touch manager Matt Williams after trying to separate the team's best player's head from his neck. Papelbon already has three games coming to him from the MLB via a ban associated with the attempt to hit Machado in the head, and either MLB or the Nats themselves should round out the ban to a season-ending week to now. He can't be left in a position to do any more damage to any more stars, whether they are on his team or the opponent's.
The Papelbon-instigated dugout fight, which followed Papelbon's decision to tell off Harper for not running out a pop-out, helped transition Washington quickly from a National disaster to a National embarrassment. This team will go down as one of the most disappointing teams in recent decades, a prohibitive favorite that couldn't ever seem to get out of its own way and eventually burst into figurative flames, right there on camera for everyone to see.
And it's not like this wasn't predictable.
Several – and I mean several – major-league GMs declared at deadline time they wouldn't ever consider touching Papelbon, even though he's one of the game's best closers. These GMs are from teams that were tied to Papelbon, and in some cases teams that seemed to badly need a closer of any sort.
However, Papelbon's reputation as a crotch-grabbing, clubhouse-destroying malcontent didn't deter the Nationals, who imported him even though they already had one of the league's more successful closers in Drew Storen, a Stanford-educated fellow who wouldn't think of harming anyone but himself. Meanwhile, the chasing, rival Mets added the guy the Nats should have targeted, set-up man Tyler Clippard, who also happens to be an ex-Nat, and several other reinforcements, including superstar outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, on their way to the NL East title they clinched Saturday.
The Nationals-owning Lerners, who are said by sources to have been dissatisfied for weeks, long before their early elimination, did consider one big change within the past couple months, and that was whether to pull the plug on their ultra-intense manager, Williams, as the team continued its obvious underachievement. Williams had lost most of the clubhouse by this time, as was reported here several weeks ago, but the Lerners ultimately decided against making the unusual move of axing their manager in the heat of a team's pennant race.
Anyway, the Nationals' talented players weren't clicking with the super-intense Williams, and they never did. One Nationals player defended Williams in this space by saying the players were able to not let the manager's demeanor, which seems to be border on the dour, bother them. Whether it did, the team never came close to playing close to its potential.
Williams is a nice guy and hard worker, and he certainly was a great (if enhanced) player. But he was miscast as a modern-day manager. He didn't mesh with this team, and he didn't seem to adjust to the new bullpen strategies.
Anyway, the Nats' two-game lead at the time of the ill-advised Papelbon trade soon disappeared, then turned into a big deficit, when the two NL East teams met on the field. That's when the upstart Mets, with the newly acquired Cespedes, showed what a fun, cohesive unit they are, beating the Nats like a dying drum game after game.
Meantime, the anti-fun Nats finally exploded Sunday, with its big import reliever wrapping his hands around the league's probable MVP over how hard the star ran on a popout. Now its obvious things need to be done. And other things undone.
This was supposed to be the big year for the Nats, who have several major free agents, including star pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, starting shortstop Ian Desmond, pitcher Doug Fister and outfielder Denard Span. So several changes will come naturally. Most, if not all, of those free agents will be gone. And now, a whole new bullpen will have to be built.
Papelbon, who has $11 million to go for 2016 in his re-worked contract, has to leave. As many other teams suspected, he isn't worth the trouble.
The volatile bullpen guy apologized to Harper after attacking him, but it's too late. The image of a one-inning guy wrapping his tattooed hand around one of the game's transformative stars is indelible.
Papelbon never quite got the fact that he is a reliever only tolerated because of his on-field resume. He doesn't take a hint even though only one team wanted him when he had a perfect closing record this year. He thinks because folks put a microphone in front of him that that means people desire his advice. He couldn't be anything further from a leader.
Storen, a fine closer when the ill-advised Papelbon deal was made, needs to be traded, too, and his value isn't exactly up, either, as he'll go as a slumping set-up man who missed the last few weeks with a broken thumb, the result of a temper tantrum following a season-defining gopherball to Cespedes.
It's been that kind of year for the Nats, who not only didn't play like they should but also didn't handle things as they should, either. Early this year, I covered a Nationals-Marlins game in which catcher Wilson Ramos made the key mistake in the game. Ramos didn't come out and face the media. And, true to form for this team, he wasn't made to come out, either.
Rizzo didn't face the media Sunday, according to Nationals reporters. (Not surprisingly, he didn't respond to a text, either.)
This was a team that didn't understand the concept of accountability, and its time for the Lerners to look closely into exactly what's going on here. Word has been out that they are very unhappy. The belief has been that Williams will be out (they seemed inclined to make that call several weeks ago, and now they have no choice) but that GM Mike Rizzo will be given one more chance.
Rizzo has assembled an impressive array of talent, but he also hand-picked a manager better suited for the 1950s than this decade from their days together in Arizona, he disregarded chemistry in making the most disastrous trade-deadline deal, and oversaw a team that has alternated between underachieving and failing in tight moments. Rizzo knows his talent, so it would be understandable if his bosses decided to still give him another chance. But after missing so badly on his last managerial call, maybe the owners ought to make that hire this time.
