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After missing the MLB playoffs in 2015 and parting ways with manager Matt Williams, the Washington Nationals named three-time National League Manager of the Year Dusty Baker as their skipper on Tuesday.

The Nats made the announcement on their official Twitter account. On Wednesday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported Baker’s contract is for two years, $4 million guaranteed with incentives that could be worth up to an extra $3 million. 

According to Amanda Comak of Curly W Live, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo believes the 66-year-old Baker is the ideal hire to lead the franchise to its first World Series:

I am so pleased to welcome Dusty Baker to the Nationals family. In getting to know Dusty and identifying what we wanted in the next on-field leader of our team, we are excited to have him on board.

Dusty’s experience, as a winning player, coach and manager, is vast and varied. We are excited to bring him to Washington and put his steady demeanor, knowledge and many years in the game to work in our favor. I think I speak for the entire organization when I say I am very much looking forward to working with him.

Baker took to Twitter to express his excitement at the chance:

On Thursday, Baker explained why he decided to take the position in Washington.

“My son gave me a whole list of Nationals shirts and jerseys he wanted,” Baker told reporters. “It was my wife and my son that really helped me make up my mind to accept and take this job. I knew I had their total blessing, and they knew I had a burning desire.”

Baker also said the Nationals are his “fourth and final team,” adding Washington has “the best talent” of any of his stops.

The Nationals were previously in negotiations with former San Diego Padres manager Bud Black, but according to Nightengale, talks broke down when the team made a lowball offer of $1.6 million for one year.

There will be some questions regarding whether Baker is the right fit since he is an old-school manager who doesn’t rely solely on analytics or statistics, per Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan:

However, Baker boasts 20 years of experience on his resume and a 1,671-1,504 record (.526 career winning percentage) along with seven trips to the postseason.

He managed the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 2002 and won the 2002 National League pennant. He then took over the Chicago Cubs from 2003 to 2006 and led the franchise to the 2003 National League Championship Series, coming within one game of the World Series.

Baker last managed the Cincinnati Reds from 2008 to 2013 and took the team to the playoffs in 2010 for the first time since 1995. The Reds fired Baker despite winning 187 games in his final two years in Cincinnati, and the team has struggled since.

That said, Baker has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2003 campaign and doesn’t have a championship during this analytics-driven age.

Bomani Jones of ESPN.com acknowledged Baker isn’t the perfect manager, but it is hard to ignore the former player’s career accomplishments:

The Nationals are in win-now mode with plenty of experience in the locker room and some of the best talent in the league, and Baker is a veteran leader.

If he can establish long-term stability and consistent playoff appearances in Washington, it will be an improvement from what fans have seen in recent years.

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The list of starting pitchers set to hit free agency this winter reads like the notes in the margin of a Cy Young Award ballot.

One arm, though, could turn the market on its head—and he’s currently signed through 2016.

We’re talking about Stephen Strasburg, and if the Washington Nationals make him available, we’re also talking about an offseason game-changer.

To get this out of the way: There is no guarantee the Nats will move the hard-throwing right-hander and former No. 1 overall pick.

Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister, two-fifths of the starting rotation on Opening Day, could bolt as free agents. And even with reserves in the minor leagues—including top prospect Lucas Giolito—the Nationals may be gun-shy about jettisoning Strasburg.

Then there’s the fact that, while Strasburg has some of the best raw stuff in baseball when he’s right, he’s coming off an enigmatic season.

Yes, Strasburg finished 2015 on a promising note, pitching into the eighth inning in three of his final five starts and racking up 57 strikeouts next to just five walks over that stretch.

But the 27-year-old former All-Star battled back and neck injuries and looked downright mediocre at times. On July 4, his ERA sat at an unsightly 5.16.

Still, all that said, Strasburg is a franchise talent, well worth a roll of the dice and a hefty package of prospects. 

“I learned a lot about myself this year,” Strasburg said after his final outing on Oct. 1, per James Wagner of the Washington Post. “I’m just going to continue to try getting better every single day.”

So, will the Nats—who went from World Series favorites to a smoldering tire fire of disappointment—dangle him? 

There are indications they will. In mid-September, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported that Washington had “wide-ranging” talks with the Texas Rangers about Strasburg prior to the 2015 season. And on Oct. 18, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wrote that there is “a lot of buzz” surrounding a Strasburg trade.

If that’s true, if this is more than idle speculation, it’ll throw a serious wrench in the hot-stove machinery. 

You’ve seen it before, but for a refresher, here’s a partial rundown of the pitchers who should be available to sign once the World Series wraps up, in addition to the aforementioned Zimmermann and Fister: David Price, Zack Greinke, Scott Kazmir, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Marco Estrada—the list goes on.

As usual, the list of teams that’ll be shopping for pitching is also extensive, and includes the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox, MLB‘s top four payrolls, per Spotrac.com. You don’t need a crystal ball or advanced degree in economics to see some crazy bidding wars on the horizon.

If Strasburg is ripe for the picking, however, expect the market to develop slowly. Of the teams listed above, Los Angeles, New York and Boston all have the assets to swing a deal with Washington, which will likely seek a combination of blue-chip prospects and MLB-ready talent.

Add the Chicago Cubs, title-hungry after a trip to the National League Championship Series, to that list as well.

Even without a tantalizing trade target, top free agents can sit on the shelf for months. Last winter, recall that Max Scherzer, the big-ticket free-agent arm, didn’t sign until January 21, when he finalized his seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals.

But toss the possibility of a Strasburg blockbuster into the mix, and we could see an epic logjam, with top-tier names like Price and Greinke waiting and the rest of this deep pitching pool backed up indefinitely.

Everyone will sign eventually, of course. And maybe the Nats will decide early on that they want to keep Strasburg, making all of this a moot point.

With Scherzer already locked in for top dollar, though, and the possibility of inking another starter for far less than Strasburg will likely command when he hits free agency next year, this feels like a move Washington will seriously consider.

Last December, Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post outlined the unlikelihood of the Nationals re-upping Strasburg after the 2016 season:

Strasburg‘s agent is Scott Boras, who lives to set new contract records and usually represents players who agree with that view. The result: sayonara scenarios. [Owners the Lerner family] better not think they can use the money they are “saving” on Zimmermann or [Ian] Desmond to sign Strasburg a year from now because, in my view, a deal done on that schedule will never get done.

So that’s the argument, boiled down: Your franchise is in turmoil after a bitterly disappointing season. Strasburg is probably leaving for big money next year anyway. Shop him now and get something back.

If the Nats buy into that line of thinking, suitors will be circling early and often. The pitching market will grind to a halt. And an already-fascinating offseason will become even more compelling.

All statistics current as of Oct. 28 and courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals are talent-laden teams with seemingly unending budgets, each looking to get over the hump and contend for a World Series, and both showed an interest in Bud Black as a potential manager. 

In the end, Bud Black chose to become a National. Per James Wagner of the Washington Post on Wednesday, Washington and the veteran manager “intend” to agree to a contract, as Black will reportedly take over for the fired Matt Williams.

A formal announcement is not expected until after the World Series, as CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Mark Zuckerman noted:

The Nationals made their final decision on Black within the last 48 hours, according to the source, but intend to adhere to Major League Baseball’s longstanding request that clubs not make significant news during the World Series. Thus, a formal announcement and press conference isn’t likely to take place until sometime next week. 

The Nationals were one of baseball’s biggest disappointments in 2015, finishing 83-79 and missing the playoffs despite being considered a World Series contender in spring training. The down season ruined an MVP-level breakout from outfielder Bryce Harper and a successful first year in D.C. for Max Scherzer, Washington’s big offseason signing.   

Most of the blame fell on Williams, who butted heads with his players and lost the clubhouse a year after winning the NL Manager of the Year. The ugliest on-field incident happened when reliever Jonathan Papelbon attempted to choke Harper during a dugout argument, but behind-the-scenes reports painted an even more dysfunctional situation. 

“He’s like the guy in his house who hears a sound, like someone breaking in,” a player told the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga of Williams. “And his reaction isn’t to take care of the problem or investigate. It’s to put his head under the pillow and hope it goes away.”

Black, 58, spent most of the last nine seasons as the San Diego Padres‘ manager. They fired him in June after the team started 32-33 despite a number of high-profile winter acquisitions. San Diego never made the playoffs under Black, but he did win Manager of the Year honors after a 90-72 campaign in 2010. 

“Very attractive position,” Black said of the Washington job earlier this offseason on SiriusXM MLB Network Radio (h/t Chris Johnson of MASN). “Very good team. A great city. That’s a good one.”

Joe Sheehan of Sports Illustrated said Black should thank the Padres for his ouster:

The Nationals also seriously considered former Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker for the position, per CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. With a roster filled with veteran talent, it was clear from the outset that the team would hire someone with an extensive resume. 

“We feel that where we’re at in our timetable of winning a championship, we certainly would lean toward someone that has some type of managerial experience, especially at the major league level,” general manager Mike Rizzo said, per Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press. 

It’s worth noting that Williams did not have managerial experience before arriving in Washington. The Nationals were likely looking to steer away from a similar situation following 2015’s troubles. 

Whether Black’s the right man for the job is up for interpretation. It’s a bit strange to hire someone without a single playoff game’s worth of experience to lead your World Series push. Then again, given the massive budgetary difference between San Diego and Washington, this move might finally unleash Black’s true potential as a manager. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.

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In the 15-year span from 1990-2004, Barry Bonds won the National League‘s Most Valuable Player award seven times. He finished in the top five in MVP voting in five of the other eight years.

Whatever you want to say about how he did it or what became of his legacy, the fact is he was absolutely dominating on the field.

Here’s another Bonds fact: In all those years, and in all the other years in his 22-year major league career, he went to the World Series exactly one time, with the 2002 San Francisco Giants.

Blame it on what you will, but without a doubt it stands as a missed opportunity for the two teams that employed him (the Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates).

The Washington Nationals and Bryce Harper can’t afford to miss their opportunity.

Harper isn’t Bonds, off the field (good thing) or on the field (more debatable). He is the overwhelming favorite to win his first MVP next month, at age 23 (three years ahead of Barry). He’s coming off a season that was arguably the best any player has had since Bonds retired (his Baseball-Reference.com OPS+ of 195 was the best since Bonds).

He’s also coming off a season in which the Nationals were the biggest disappointment in the game and is four years into a career in which the Nats have yet to win a single postseason series.

Maybe Dusty Baker can help.

Baker, as you may have read, is one of the two finalists to succeed Matt Williams as the Nationals manager. He and Bud Black each had a second interview this week, according to reports from CBSSports.com‘s Jon Heyman and others.

Black has an outstanding reputation, from his time in San Diego. Many of the other candidates for the job have fine resumes, too, as does Don Mattingly, who would have been a nice fit but seems headed to the Miami Marlins instead.

Without sitting in on the interviews—sorry, they wouldn’t let me—I’d go with Baker, the one manager who took Bonds to a World Series (they lost, in seven games to the Anaheim Angels).

Baker can deal with superstars, and he can deal with clubhouses that include strong personalities. He would walk in and command the type of respect his former player Williams so obviously didn’t get.

He won with the Giants. He won in Chicago, where he’s still the manager who got the Cubs closer to the World Series than they’ve been in 70 years (six outs away, in 2003). He won in Cincinnati.

He won with Barry Bonds, with Sammy Sosa, with Joey Votto. He can win with Bryce Harper.

The Nationals need to get this one right, and Harper is a big part of the reason.

It’s not that he’s difficult to manage. As one former Nationals coach said this week, “He just wants to play, and wants to win.”

He also wants to get paid. Most players do, and most players who employ Scott Boras as an agent really do. Perhaps the Nationals will be able to pay him what it would take when he’s eligible for free agency after 2018; perhaps they won’t.

It sure would help if they can win before that.

Harper was the one Nationals player to publicly endorse Williams in mid-September (“I love him as a manager,” he told reporters, according to the Washington Post). He was also at the center of Williams’ final embarrassment as manager, when Jonathan Papelbon went after Harper in the dugout and Williams claimed not to notice how bad it was.

Harper is often misunderstood by fans, and sometimes in his own clubhouse, too. The fans part needn’t concern the manager, but he’ll need to take control of the clubhouse part. The Nationals need someone experienced enough to handle it, someone who can keep Harper’s intensity channeled in the right direction and push the rest of the team in the right direction, too.

Whatever the length of the new manager’s contract, he and the Nationals have a three-year window to get it right. They have maybe the best player in the game—a player capable of historic numbers.

It would be an historic missed opportunity if they waste it.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball. 

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The Washington Nationals fired manager Matt Williams on Monday, according to a team release, after a tumultuous 83-79 season that saw the squad miss the postseason and severely underachieve after being preseason contenders for a World Series title. Thus began the search for the club’s next manager.  

Continue for updates.

Nationals Reportedly Considering Cal Ripken Jr. For Vacancy 

Monday, Oct. 5

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reported Ripken was being considered for the gig, a connection that was first noted by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports in late September. He mentioned that general manager Mike Rizzo and principal owner Mark Lerner are “fond” of the Hall of Famer.

Per Rosenthal, Ripken “recently confirmed to ESPN 980 Radio in Washington that he had ‘serious discussions’ with the Nationals about managing before they hired Williams during the 2013-14 offseason, adding, ‘it never really got down to the point of choice.'”

Ripken, 55, was one of the finest players of his generation and set baseball’s record for consecutive games played (2,632). He was widely respected for his work ethic and intelligence alongside his talent. He was the 1982 AL Rookie of the Year, a two-time AL MVP, a two-time Gold Glove winner and a 19-time All-Star selection. 

Ripken has worked as a baseball analyst for TBS Sports since retiring, though he has no managerial experience. That fact should be a major concern for the Nats, however, according to Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports:

The single biggest argument in favor of Matt Williams when he was hired was that he was a top player in his day, wasn’t too far removed from his playing career and could be a good clubhouse guy who understood what made major leaguers tick. His lack of experience was brushed off. All of which would be the same thing for Ripken, except he doesn’t even have the coaching experience Williams had and is even farther removed from his playing days.

Rizzo already has expressed his desire to have an experienced manager, saying on a conference call with reporters Monday that “we certainly would lean toward someone who had some managerial experience, particularly at the major league level,” per Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post.

At this point, Ripken seems like a long shot, even if he was considered previously and has been considered for the job this time around. If Rizzo hires a second inexperienced manager and Ripken doesn’t pan out, the general manager would likely be the next man on the chopping block, so the Nationals may ultimately choose to go the more conservative route and bring in a manager with big league experience. 

Ripken may be a popular choice with the fans initially given his pedigree, but those fans would quickly sour on the experience if he couldn’t improve upon the team’s disastrous 2015 campaign.

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Hey, not sure if you’ve heard, but 2015 has been a pretty lousy season for the Washington Nationals.

OK, that’s an understatement. More like an “epically disappointing” season. Or “colossally horrendous.” Or, well, you get the idea.

This was a team that was supposed to run away with the National League East and streak through the postseason. Instead, it’s crumbled in a heap of injury, inconsistency and infighting, and the Nats will be watching the playoffs from their La-Z-Boys.

There has been one bright spot in Washington’s lost campaign, however—one move that has paid serious dividends. That would be the signing of Max Scherzer, who reminded the world Saturday why he’s one of the very best pitchers on the planet.

For nine brilliant innings at Citi Field, Scherzer befuddled and downright dominated the New York Mets, the club that streaked past Washington in the second half to claim the division flag.

The historically huge piece of Scherzer’s final line is obviously the hit total, as in the zero he surrendered. The 2-0 win makes two no-hitters this year for the 31-year-old right-hander. And it makes him the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1973 to log a pair of no-nos in a single regular season, per B/R Insights. 

Equally impressive, though, were the career-high 17 strikeouts Scherzer recorded, including nine of the final 10 batters he faced. 

It was, by any measure, a transcendent appearance, the kind that separates very good pitchers from the truly great.

After the game, Scherzer described what it’s like to get locked into such an otherworldly zone.

“You’re in sync with your mechanics, and you’re in sync with the catcher and what you want to do,” he said, per Bill Ladson and Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “You have a feeling what the out pitch is, and you’re reading swings, reading what they’re doing and just trying to execute pitches around that.”

With that exclamation point, Scherzer finished his first go-around in a Nationals uniform, with a 2.79 ERA and 276 strikeouts in 228.2 innings pitched. He won’t win the NL Cy Young Award—not with the numbers the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Zack Greinke and Chicago Cubs‘ Jake Arrieta are putting up.

But if there were any doubt he’s an ace among aces, Scherzer laid them to rest.

So put the seven-year, $210 million deal the Nationals handed Scherzer this winter in the franchise win column. Even if Scherzer falters near the end of the contract, he’s shown he’s worth every penny.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t erase the sting of other moves that didn’t pan out, to put it kindly.

Take the sad saga surrounding manager Matt Williams, who lost control to the point where players were openly griping to reporters, with one unnamed Nat telling Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post the clubhouse was “a terrible environment.”

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported Thursday that Washington will fire Williams, but it’s worth asking why the manager stuck around that long. In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, it would have behooved the Nats to go with a different skipper from the get-go.

“He’s a nice man, and he tried hard,” Heyman wrote, “but he probably was miscast as a first-time manager with a team toting huge expectations.”

Then there was a rash of terrible injury luck, which saw Denard Span, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Doug Fister, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman make trips to the disabled list. And others, including shortstop Ian Desmond, significantly underperformed.

Finally and most explosively, there was the trade-deadline move to bring in Jonathan Papelbon. The veteran closer was supposed to shore up the Nats’ bullpen, but instead he solidified his reputation as a classless malcontent with the Bryce Harper choking incident that will serve as the definitive symbol of Washington’s crash-and-burn season.

That’s too bad, because Scherzer’s pair of no-hit gems deserve the honor. Among all the dashed expectations and ugly incidents, here is a man at the top of his game doing incredible things with a baseball.

In a perfect world, that’s what we would focus on.

And even in the Nationals’ decidedly imperfect world, Scherzer represents hope. 

Really, there are other causes for optimism in the nation’s capital. There’s an enviable offensive nucleus of Harper, Rendon and young talent such as Trea Turner. And there’s Strasburg, who has finished his up-and-down, injury-riddled season on a strong note and joins Scherzer to form a potent top-of-the-rotation duo heading into 2016, with top prospect Lucas Giolito in the pipeline.

Nats fans will slog into the long, cold winter with a nasty taste in their mouths. But here’s a possible remedy: Re-watch Scherzer’s no-hitters, rinse and repeat—because, in a season where almost everything went wrong, Scherzer is one thing that went very, very right. 

All statistics current as of Oct. 3 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Max Scherzer’s expression tells the story of the Washington Nationals‘ 2015 season.

Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for the Nats—the biggest disappointment in baseball—they did. A lot worse.

Jonathan Papelbon made sure of that on Sunday, when the volatile closer incited a dugout brawl with Bryce Harper by trying to choke out the best player in the bigs.

Now, general manager Mike Rizzo can add discarding Papelbon to an already daunting offseason to-do list. There’s no way around it—Rizzo has a ton of work to do this winter as he looks to put out the dumpster fire and get the club back in playoff contention in 2016.

The exec needs to revamp the bullpen, re-work the infield and decide what to do with an assortment of high-profile free agents. He also needs to show manager Matt Williams the door.

Begin Slideshow

Just when you thought the Washington Nationals couldn’t sink any lower, there they go, plunging to new depths.

Less than 24 hours after they were officially eliminated from postseason contention, the Nats watched Jonathan Papelbon, their mercurial closer, try to choke Bryce Harper, their star player and the potential National League Most Valuable Player—and the rest of us got to watch it, too.

I say “got to.” But at this point, there’s not even much perverse enjoyment to be gleaned from this train wreck. The Nats have gone from a disappointment to a downright embarrassment. The only appropriate response is to shake your head and look away.

The latest incident occurred Sunday in the eighth inning of Washington’s 12-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. After Harper flied out to shallow left with the score knotted 4-4 and barely jogged down the first base line, Papelbon had words for his teammate in the dugout.

The exchange quickly escalated and came to an ugly head when Papelbon grabbed Harper by the throat before the two men were separated.

In the ninth, Papelbon took the hill, promptly coughed up the lead and exited to a serenade of boos from the Nationals Park crowd.

After the game, Papelbon attempted to downplay the scuffle.

“I grew up with brothers, he grew up with brothers, I view him as a brother,” Papelbon said of Harper, per ESPN.com. “And sometimes in this game, there’s a lot of testosterone and things spill over.”

Manager Matt Williams told ESPN it is a “family issue” but added that “it’s no fun when stuff like this happens.”

This season hasn’t offered much fun of any kind for the Nationals, who came into spring as prohibitive favorites to win the NL East, with their loaded lineup and star-studded super rotation.

Instead, the New York Mets have whizzed past them, while Washington has crumbled into a fractured heap of undelivered promise.

Even before Papelbon laid his hand on arguably the best hitter in baseball, there was acrimony swirling in the clubhouse.

“It’s a terrible environment,” an unnamed player told Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post. “And the amazing part is everybody feels that way.”

Blame can no doubt be spread around. Papelbon, who cemented his status as a classless malcontent while playing for Philadelphia, flashed his colors again on Sunday.

And the bad blood was already brewing between Harper and Papelbon. The pitcher drilled the Baltimore Orioles‘ Manny Machado on Wednesday in apparent retaliation for a home run celebration he deemed too emphatic. Harper responded by calling Papelbon’s tactics “tired,” per FoxSports.com.

But the buck stops with the skipper, and right now, Williams looks like a man with a dagger dangling over his head.

The Nationals won 96 games and the NL East last season under Williams, and the former All-Star third baseman won NL Manager of the Year.

Now, he appears to be losing his grasp on a team in free-fall.

“A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have thought it made any difference,” another player told Svrluga, speaking about the importance of a manager in relation to overall cohesiveness. “But after what we’ve been through for two years? It’s huge. Huge.”

Does that mean Williams will get the axe? Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo left the door wide open, saying he would “evaluate everything that went right and went wrong this season,” per Chris Lingebach of CBS D.C.

Rizzo will have plenty to jot in the “what went wrong” column.

The Nats were bitten by injuries, with Denard Span, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Doug Fister, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman all making trips to the disabled list. And others, including shortstop Ian Desmond, have significantly underperformed. 

They’ve frequently swallowed their mitts, ranking 22nd in baseball with minus-18 defensive runs saved as of Sunday, per FanGraphs.

And the pitching staff, while not horrible, has failed to measure up to the preseason hype, posting the seventh-best ERA in the NL—almost literally the middle of the pack.

Really, it’s been death by a thousand paper cuts for Washington, as CBSSports.com’s Dayn Perry spelled out:

Again, there’s no singular and obvious shortcoming with the Nats this season. You can’t point to a league-worst offense or a bottom-feeding pitching staff or anything like that. It’s instead been “soft” failures on a number of fronts that have made them the most disappointing team of 2015. 

The Nationals have plenty to build around, including an offensive nucleus of Harper, Rendon and young talent such as Trea Turner. And they have studs in the stable, including Strasburg and Max Scherzer, the latter mostly living up to the massive deal he signed over the winter.

The first step is probably to wave goodbye to Williams and change the clubhouse vibe, symbolically and practically. Then you slap a muzzle on Papelbon (who is signed through 2016) and keep him the hell away from your franchise player’s esophagus. 

That by itself would be a great start.

Sunday might be remembered as the day the Nationals finally, emphatically hit bottom. At least, they’d better hope so.

Because if it gets worse than this, it’s going to be painful to watch.

All statistics and standings current as of Sept. 27 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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Washington Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon was suspended for three games by Major League Baseball on Friday for throwing a pitch toward the head of Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado.

MLB Communications confirmed the punishment relating to the incident during the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game. The Nationals announced Papelbon will appeal the suspension, which means he can continue to pitch until his case is heard.

Machado hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Orioles a 4-3 lead, and they held on to win.

Afterward, Machado didn’t hold back when asked what he thought about getting hit after providing the game-changing moment, as tweeted by Rich Dubroff of CSN Mid-Atlantic: “I’m not worried about getting hit. … That’s just bulls–t. It’s coward stuff. It’s just cowardly.”

Nationals slugger Bryce Harper didn’t exactly rush to Papelbon’s defense, instead preparing himself for potential retaliation, per James Wagner of the Washington Post.

“I mean, Manny freaking hit a homer and walked it off and somebody drilled him,” Harper said. “It’s pretty tired. It’s one of those situations where it happens. I don’t know. I’ll probably get drilled tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.”

As it turned out, the Orioles didn’t hit Harper or any other members of the Nats in Thursday’s game, which they won 5-4.

Washington has just 10 games remaining in the regular season and, barring a major comeback in the NL East (7.5 games back of the New York Mets), won’t make the playoffs. Depending on the timetable of the appeal resolution, which wasn’t announced, the punishment could carry into next season.

In the bigger picture, the idea of hitting an opponent in order to make a point is still ingrained into baseball culture. While that may never change, MLB must continue to enforce punishments to strongly discourage throwing anywhere close to an opponent’s head.

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A frustrating season for Washington Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa will end early, as the 28-year-old is battling a hamstring injury.   

Continue for updates.

Espinosa Done for Season

Thursday, Sept. 24

According to William Ladson of MLB.com, Espinosa is dealing with a hamstring issue that will likely take at least one month to recover from:

Espinosa last appeared in a game on Sept. 17, appearing in the ninth inning of a 6-4 loss against the Miami Marlins. Washington manager Matt Williams said, per James Wagner of the Washington Post, on Tuesday that an exam on Espinosa’s hamstring revealed a small tear that doesn’t require surgery. 

This marks the third consecutive season Espinosa will play in less than 120 games, reaching the 118 mark in 2015. He was once one of the best power-hitting second basemen in the league, racking up 108 extra-base hits from 2011-12. 

Injuries and poor performances since 2013 have led to Espinosa likely facing a career crossroads this offseason. He is eligible for arbitration, so the Nationals will have to decide if they want to bring him back in 2016 or move in a different direction. 

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