DEC. 7: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the MLBPA filed a grievance against the Nationals on Papelbon’s behalf two days after the suspension was issued. The team considered the filing to be “obligatory,” and Rosenthal adds that it will be addressed this spring.
DEC. 6: Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon has filed a grievance against the Nationals challenging the team’s decision to impose a suspension without pay for the final four games of the 2015 season, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports. Papelbon received the ban for his role in a dugout scuffle with star outfielder Bryce Harper.
Per the report, Papelbon and his representatives brought the action based on the position that the team lacked precedent for withholding Papelbon’s pay in relation to the suspension. Clearly, the dispute is about much more than the dollars involved, as those four games represented just over 2% (about $300K) of Papelbon’s $13MM total salary on the year.
The degree of ongoing animus between player and team remains unclear. But if nothing else the matter also raises issues of the broader relations between teams and players under the collective bargaining agreement. Those considerations are surely heightened given that negotiations on a new CBA are set to take place over the coming year.
Article XII of the CBA addresses disciplinary matters, providing that clubs have the authority to impose “disciplinary action for just cause.” While that section does not specifically authorize or forbid certain forms of punishment, it does contemplate both fines and suspensions resulting in lost salary (in providing that a team must make a player “whole” if the decision is overturned). A player subject to disciplinary action may challenge it through a grievance proceeding before an arbitral panel, which in turn must assess whether “just cause” existed for the punishment that was meted out.
The embattled reliever remains under contract in D.C. next year for $11MM, as part of the agreement he reached with the club when he was traded from the Phillies in July. He’s probably worth every penny as a player, as he continues to put up strong results at the back of the pen, but his issues off of the mound continue to mount.
Relations between Papelbon and the Nats were surely already strained, though we’ve heard varying accounts of the extent to which conciliation may be possible. It certainly seems likely that this dispute will only ratchet up tensions. Washington has, of course, been rumored to be weighing a trade of the veteran, though the market for his services remains rather cloudy.
Bradford adds that there’s no date for a hearing at present. It’s unclear whether there will be any possibility of negotiations to forestall further airing of the unfortunate matter.
Sure they had no right to impose that suspension. They should have just had Pap arrested for assault and battery. This is going to backfire on Pap. No one is going to want to take him on and he just blew up the bridge to the Nats. They may have been hard pressed to find a fit for him before…now it’s going to be impossible.
Trade hi to the Dodgers. He and Puig would make a nice clubhouse duo
Puig might be a challenge, but Pap is a train wreak
I’d still trade Jose Reyes for him in a heartbeat.
Fair enough. We can punish Pap too by subjecting him to Coors Field. Yes, I can see it now…
That would be hilarious. The Nats need a SS though, so it kinda makes sense. Guy tries to get released only to find himself on the Rockies. Too bad he doesn’t have any options. I’d pay him $11M and stick in like AA for the year.
As much as I love the Nats, this is why you don’t trade for someone when your closer is putting up All-Star numbers. Especially not someone like Papelbon. Dumb move. They would have been better off trading for Clippard to setup again.
I’m no expert but he may have been pressured into this by the players union. Is it possible they didn’t like what this suspension was setting?
Does Papelbon strike you as the kind of guy who would be 1) reluctant to file a me-me-me grievance after a flagrant and public attack on a teammate and/or 2) easily pressured by the MLBPA?
While I agree with you, the unfortunate thing is that regardless of what happens, he is going to get paid. They drop him… he gets paid. They trade him… he gets paid (with the Nats paying the majority of the bill). And of course, they’ve already made it known that they are trying to shop Storen (due to the whole Papelbon mistake), so they have no hand in negotiations. This team is a mess (on a Loria/ Marlins level)….
Could San Diego be a fit?
I doubt Preller would want to make Green, a first year manager, put up with Papelbon’s nonsense when he’s adjusting to a new job.
I guess so but there aren’t many teams out there who’d take him right?
thats why they brought in big mac to be clubhouse enforcer
Yeah I’m pretty sure Preller would want to avoid any Pap vs. Big Mac fights.
Mookie’s Lip – the first and best comment by far. And the timing for this Papelbon revelation just before the Winter Meetings should be considered, too. And we don’t know the details of his no-trade list. I trust in “hell hath no fury like a Rizzo scorned.”
Not worth the tension he brings into a clubhouse
this guy is a disaster
Jays can use him while the Nats pay. Bautista will by flip him in ST and on to the playoffs
I do not see a problem here. Papelbon makes roughly $80k/game so a 4-game suspension at $300k for abusing another player at makes sense.
The article means that money probably isn’t a factor, or at least shouldn’t be. I can’t see any reason why Papelbon would even do this unless he really just wants to alienate himself from any team willing to take a shot on him. I mean the guy is the biggest goon in baseball. Tries to pick a fight with the best player on his team (and one of the best in the league), doesn’t even apologize (while Harper, who didn’t initiate the fight, did) and now files a grievance. No other reason unless he’s just sick and tired of playing and is looking for the easiest way to collect the rest of his money.
Sounds to me like a ploy to force a trade or at least get released w/ pay…..he could then target a team he wants to play for b/c teams would give him a shot for league minimum….
I was thinking the same thing. Going this route stops the nonsense of Washington trying to trade him (because it won’t happen), gives him his chance at his release at $11MM, and he can go to a team willing to roll the dice on him.
Smart move by Papelbon.
Or they trade him straight up for Reyes, Papelbon spends the next year on a losing team, and then no one signs him after the year. If Reyes gets suspended, fine. You were going to drop Papelbon anyways. At least they could kind of use a SS.
Papelbon is good, but if you’re looking to get released so that someone else will pick you up, call out the coaching staff or owners during a press conference or something. Choking your teammate (the NL MVP) in your own dugout is probably the best way to ensure no one wants to sign you.
Pretty sure Pap has a no-trade list and I suspect the Rockies are on it.
Or he could just end up being black listed, because no one wants to deal with his drama, a la Barry Bonds.
Or he can get picked up by the Marlins, a la Barry Bonds….
“Blacklisting” = Collusion. The union wouldn’t stand for that for one second. You’d really see stuff hit the fan at that point.
They let it happen to Bonds.
There won’t be an collusion here. Paps is an ass hat and nobody wants that kind of guy in the clubhouse. Maybe he should hire John Rocker as his agent.
Just go away Papelbon please. Biggest dbag in the game and just an overall embarrassment of a guy.
I kinda assumed when the news came through that the nats were shopping storen that maybe this had all been settled. Looked like Washington was going to sweep it under the rug.
Looking more suspicious now.
Papelbon is a gift that keeps on giving
Lol
Migraines?
Disgrace to the game.
This is clearly a player that doesn’t get it. He said over and over that he wanted to play for a winner, and then tries to choke the eventual NL MVP. How Rizzo thought Paps was worth acquiring to begin with was a head-scratcher.
At this point, Paps may be sabotaging his own trade value to get out of Washington, but the bigger question is if anyone would want this head case.
Guy gets released with $11MM all at once and becomes a free agent. He jumps onto a team for a 1 year deal at the league minimum. If he gets to close (which he probably will), and puts up good numbers in 2016, he sets himself up for another 3 year deal before he eventually hangs it up.
I can’t imagine one team being willing to take on his drama at this point, especially after the way things worked out after the trade… His value as a player at league minimum is positive, but his value as a human being and club house presence is beyond negative…
The Phillies could have taken nothing for Paps and agreed to pay his salary and they still would have won that trade.
They could have sent a top prospect to Washington with him and eaten his salary and still would have won that trade.
Probably hoping the Nats will just cut him and he can take his 11mil into retirement.
Haha wow, he wants out.
I dislike Paps as much as the next guy, but he has a point in this case. You see Jose Iglesias get into the face of James McCann, no one gets fined or suspended.
You see teammates get into eachothers face all the time, they push and shove, no one ever gets suspended for that.
Thats what hes arguing, and if the grievance is fair, he’ll probably win, then get DFA’d.
While I agree that clubhouse/dugout scuffles aren’t rare, Papelbon’s track record of being a complete nutcase makes him deserving of this.
Ya can’t suspend a guy just for not liking him and get away with it.
Papelbon is going to argue the lack of precedent and he has a case.
As for Papelbon as a player, we all know how this works. If he gets DFA’d, someone is going to pay him MLB min to be a closer. They still pay A-Rod, they still payed Delmon Young until he stopped hitting, they pay Puig, etc.
He may have a case by the language of the CBA (I don’t know personally), but it was probably in the best interest of everyone involved to move on. For a player who’s made over 60 million in his career I believe, it hardly seems worth it for 300,000 dollars. He would’ve been better off moving on, and trying to repair his image, in the eyes of the Nationals and the rest of the league
He’s doing this to force the Nats to release him.
Suspending a guy because you don’t like him and suspending a guy because he committed fifth degree assault in your dugout are two dramatically different things.
I agree with your argument, guys get in each other’s faces and there is the odd shoving match here and there and teams just keep it in the clubhouse and no one gets suspended or disciplined.
However, the language in the CBA does leave it open for teams to take action if they feel it’s warranted. Papelbon was fairly new to this team, the team had just endured a heartbreaking stretch of baseball watching the Mets tromp over them on the way to a division title, and now you’ve got this guy new to the team who pitches an inning every few days mouthing off to the best hitter on the team and then proceeding to strangle him. If I’m the Nats, that’s the end of his season, and it’s the end of the manager for not having his star players back there. They handled it just right I think, and Pap should not have any ground to stand on here. What he did is not players policing each other, he was just being a jackass straight up.
Pushing and shoving is just adrenaline. Paps grabbed Harper by the throat and didn’t even apologize when Harper did. That’s why he got suspended.
They should just release this clown
So glad philly dumped him, he’s poison
Pap. You choked a man. You’re lucky Harper didn’t just press charges.
What a joke this guy is. No teams are gonna want to touch this idiot with a 10 foot pole
What an idiot. He’s sure making it easy for no team to want him.
He’s a piece of trash. If there was HD video of me grabbing somebody by the throat unprovoked and the only penalty I had was four days off without pay I’d be the luckiest guy in America.
No way he could be on my team.
Blacklist this joker.
That’s a good show
Just for that, they should keep him and then put him on the sixth inning.
No way he’s a diva make him catch or play center and he’ll quit on his own.
This guy is a boil that should be lanced.
I wonder who’d actually give this guy a shot?
He wants to go to a contender right?
A contending team that doesn’t think about club chemistry…
Could he possibly go to the Yankees?
The Yankees care about club chemistry – they just don’t care about paying people top dollar for after prime seasons….
If you can get suspended for arguing balls and strikes, you should get suspended for assaulting teammate or any player for that matter. If CBA says otherwise, it should be revised.
I hope Nationals simply cut him. I didn’t like the move when it was made and I don’t like it now.
Just in time for Festivus! Get the pole!
By flip s/b BAT FLIP…sorry. And Harper while a very good player is known to be a bit of a prima donna and needs a few more years before he can be called a veteran. On a side note it was really Ryan Zimmerman who had the beef with Harper but Paps jumped in to help avoid another lengthy DL stint for Zimmerman
Paps did not “jump in”. He took exception to Harper “not running out the flyout to first” when Harper made it to first before the catch. And I wouldn’t call him a prima donna. The guy was drafted first overall out of high school and has put up the numbers to at least be a little showboaty. He was a slight locker room presence a few years ago, but has toned it down since. People continue to assume he’s a clubhouse disturbance just because what he did a few years ago
Has there ever been a team that had Papelbon on its roster which later said, ‘Gee, that was a great decision. And the best part…no drama!”?
Yes there is, Boston let him walk after the 2007 World Series win, he was kind of a jerk but nothing like this
Washington should DFA him then outright him to the minors. He’d have to choose either to get his full pay and wallow in AAA (he’d never accept that) or to be granted an unconditional release and get none of his remaining pay.
He’d still get his entire salary. That only applies to arbitration-eligible players.
He has enough service time to decline an outright assignment, if they outright him he has to pick between free agency or the minors.
Papelbon was always a pain in the ass even when he was in Boston. Thought he could do and say what he wants without consequences.
He’s got a right to file the grievance. That being said, sometimes you have to show a little wisdom as well, and a private talk with the FO might have resulted in a smaller fine contributed to some local charity. He loses a bit of cash, but a positive message comes out of it. This just reminds people why he’s high maintenance, and could cost him more money in 2017 if he wants to continue his career.
Nats should apologize for suspending him, give him his money back, and then have him arrested for assault.
And then Harper can come after him in civil court
How about a deal with Atlanta. Arodys Vizcaino, Jim Johnson and Nick Swisher for Jonathan Papelbom, Yunel Escobar and Anderson Franco (or equivalent prospect). Braves pay the $600 fine to settle dispute.
Can’t think of a team that would want this guy.
If the Yanks can live with AROD can’t they live with Paps if he comes at a bear minimum?
Can’t see any other fit besides the Dodgers if who can live with Puig around.
This guy is clubhouse poison. If he gets released to sign elsewhere or gets traded, the other players on his new team should all file grievances for having to work with this lunatic.
“Obligatory” sounds about right. We had a driver get fired after three or four previous issues resulting in disciplinary action, including showing up for work late 140 times in 180 days, and driving a bus over some poor motorist’s hood. The union filed a grievance… because they kinda have to.
Paps is nuts!!! The Union shouldn’t back him up on this – he choked another Union member!!!