Washington Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon is done for the 2015 MLB season.
The team suspended Papelbon for an additional four games on top of his three-game ban instituted by the MLB after he threw at Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado last week.
There are seven games left in the season, which means Papelbon is out of action for the rest of the year.
Here's the statement released by the Nationals earlier today:
"The Washington Nationals announced Monday 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," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo added. "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."
Papelbon apologized for his behavior yesterday, but that wasn't enough to keep the Nationals' from disciplining him. Harper is the leading NL MVP candidate and for Papelbon to get involved in a brawl with the team's franchise player is clearly not acceptable to the organization.
In other news, manager Matt Williams was on the dugout for the altercation between Papelbon and Harper and was not aware of the severity of the fight, according to James Wagner of the Washington Post.
It's unknown what the team plans to do with Papelbon in the offseason. Based on his short stint with the Nationals this year it doesn't look like he'll be wanted in 2016, especially if he and Harper will have bad blood.
