{"id":12827,"date":"2016-08-13T10:39:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-13T14:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12827"},"modified":"2016-08-13T10:40:19","modified_gmt":"2016-08-13T14:40:19","slug":"papelbon-asks-out-may-be-the-simplest-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12827","title":{"rendered":"Papelbon asks out?  May be the simplest solution"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_12829\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PapelbonJonathansuntanning-via-usatoday.com_.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-12829\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12829\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12829\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PapelbonJonathansuntanning-via-usatoday.com_-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"Papelbon can do this for any team. Photo via usatoday.com\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PapelbonJonathansuntanning-via-usatoday.com_-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PapelbonJonathansuntanning-via-usatoday.com_-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/PapelbonJonathansuntanning-via-usatoday.com_.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-12829\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Papelbon can do this for any team. Photo via usatoday.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Rumors started getting published early saturday morning: embattled, demoted and struggling former Nats closer\u00a0<strong>Jonathan Papelbon<\/strong> has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/17292465\/jonathan-papelbon-requests-release-washington-nationals\">reportedly asked for his release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s appeared in precisely two games since he was replaced as closer by the newly acquired\u00a0<strong>Mark Melancon<\/strong>. \u00a0 Both appearances can be generously characterized as &#8220;mop up duty.&#8221; \u00a0He&#8217;s gone from highest leverage closer to 8th guy in an 8-man pen in less than two weeks, and it seems he&#8217;s reading the tea leaves.<\/p>\n<p>The Nats need a move today to call up their starter\u00a0<strong>Reynaldo Lopez<\/strong>; could a DFA or release of Papelbon be the solution?<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve talked in this space about playoff rosters a bit, about how we all are kind of thinking we could use\u00a0<strong>Koda Glover<\/strong> on that roster. \u00a0Well, when we dump the 5th starter and expand the bullpen to 8 &#8230; not having to worry about Papelbon&#8217;s reaction could be a benefit. \u00a0I&#8217;d gladly take this bullpen construction into a short series:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Closer: Melancon<\/li>\n<li>8th inning guys: Treinen, Kelley<\/li>\n<li>7th inning guys: Belisle, Glover<\/li>\n<li>Lefties: Perez, Solis<\/li>\n<li>Long-man: Petit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That looks strong enough to me. \u00a0If Papelbon was still in the picture, you&#8217;d face a tough decision on who to drop. \u00a0<strong>Belisle<\/strong> has more than earned his spot, and there&#8217;s nobody else in that list who can really make way thanks to the trade of <strong>Rivero<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Thoughts? \u00a0Is this a blessing in disguise (if its true?) \u00a0Or do you think we should hang on to him and give him a Qualifying Offer? \u00a0(sarcasm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rumors started getting published early saturday morning: embattled, demoted and struggling former Nats closer\u00a0Jonathan Papelbon has reportedly asked for his release. He&#8217;s appeared in precisely two games since he was replaced as closer by the newly acquired\u00a0Mark Melancon. \u00a0 Both appearances can be generously characterized as &#8220;mop up duty.&#8221; \u00a0He&#8217;s gone from highest leverage closer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1693,2237,452,2827,662,3137,78,3286,19,3277,2313],"class_list":["post-12827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlbpitching","tag-blake-treinen","tag-felipe-rivero","tag-jonathan-papelbon","tag-koda-glover","tag-mark-melancon","tag-matt-belisle","tag-oliver-perez","tag-reynaldo-llopez","tag-sammy-solis","tag-shawn-kelley","tag-yusmeiro-petit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12827"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12831,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12827\/revisions\/12831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}