Washington Nationals brawl encapsulates disaster season

If you were looking for a perfect representation of the Washington Nationals‘ collapse this season, you got it on Sunday afternoon. After flying out in the bottom of the eighth inning, outfielder Bryce Harper returned to the dugout, only to be confronted by reliever Jonathan Papelbon. The veteran closer appeared to grab the young star by the throat and push him back toward the bench. The two scuffled for a bit before being separated by teammates. You can view the incident here via MLB.com.

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It was a very ugly scene, fitting of a year that has turned very ugly for the Nationals over the past couple months. After controlling the National League East for a good chunk of the campaign, Washington slowly watched its grip on the division slip away to the resurgent New York Mets. On Saturday the Nats were officially eliminated from postseason contention, ending what many originally expected to be a memorable year for the club.

The 34-year-old Papelbon, renowned for his often brusque demeanor throughout his career, apparently took issue with Harper not running hard to first base during his fly out. To add an extra layer of perplexity to the situation, manager Matt Williams kept Papelbon in the game to pitch the ninth. The embattled skipper later claimed he was unaware the altercation took place. Of course, more than a few Nats fans might tell you that this wasn’t the first case of obliviousness from Williams this year.

The decision immediately backfired, as Papelbon served up a go-ahead two-run homer to the Phillies’ Andres Blanco. The Phils would score eight in the inning en route to a 12-5 victory. Karma? That’s for you to decide.

It’s difficult, however, not to view Papelbon as the outright villain in this incident. Everyone knows about his difficult personality. The Nationals surely knew of it when they traded for him in July. Teams will put up with a lot from an individual player as long as they are performing well. And while Papelbon has done a good job overall (yesterday notwithstanding) for Washington this season (3.04 ERA in 23.2 IP, 7-for-9 SVO), his contributions have not been nearly enough to excuse his actions.

To put it simply, he picked a fight with the wrong player. The 22-year-old Harper has faced his own criticisms from time to time concerning his attitude, an occasional lack of hustle being one of the recurring points. However, failing to run out a fly ball is not even close to a capital offense in modern baseball. It happens every day, with rookies and veterans alike. And while that doesn’t necessarily justify it, you would be hard-pressed to take Harper to task over it considering the level of his play this season.

With a .336/.467/.658 slash line, 41 home runs, 96 RBI and an MLB-leading 10.2 WAR to his name, the young phenom has all but wrapped up the NL MVP award. He is not only the unquestioned face of the Washington Nationals franchise, but one of the faces of the game itself. There is plenty of blame to go around for the Nats’ swoon, but Bryce Harper deserves the least of it.

Frustrations build up when a team plays poorly for an extended period. Sometimes those frustrations reach a boiling point. That is perfectly understandable in the Nationals’ situation. But Jonathan Papelbon should not be the one to point fingers at the rest of the squad. He has burned bridges at each stop in his big league career, typically coinciding with struggles from his team and/or himself. He whined about wanting to play for a contender before the Phillies dealt him. Now that his Nationals experience hasn’t turned out nearly as well as he expected, he is unsurprisingly lashing out again.

Of the central figures in this incident, Harper is likely the only one with a long-term future in Washington. It would be a legitimate stunner if Matt Williams isn’t dismissed at the end of the season. Papelbon is signed through 2016, but the Nationals should seriously consider cutting ties with him as well, even though he is owed $11 million in the final year of his deal. He’s just not worth the headache.

They perhaps took the first step toward ending that relationship today, suspending the pitcher for four games. Combined with a three-game ban from the league for intentionally hitting Orioles third baseman Manny Machado last week, his 2015 season is effectively finished.

The Nationals will hope this final week goes by quickly so they can start picking up the pieces of a massively disappointing season. Unfortunately for them, the clean-up process got even messier after yesterday’s events.

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