Should it be a surprise to anyone that Papelbon is listed on the line-up card for available pitchers? All this means is that of right now Papelbon has not accepted any type of suspension including his appealed 3 day suspension for the plunking of Machado. As we learned in our previous post, working through a team suspension is not easy as it is covered by the 2012 CBA (collective bargaining agreement) that all teams and players must abide by and there is no specific language for fighting with a teammate in the CBA. As much as we don’t like it, this is a process.
The Nats do have a 3pm makeup game against the Reds today and the Nats roll-out a split-squad type of line-up with a glimpse of the future and the past. Trea Turner starts at shortstop and Dan Uggla starts at 2nd base. Max Scherzer is the pitcher.
Here is your line-up and updates to follow:
- MAT CF
- Turner SS
- Rendon 3B
- CRob 1B
- Ramos C
- TyMo LF
- MdD RF
- Uggla 2B
- Scherzer P
Brandon Finnegan, one of the stars of the 2014 Royals will start for the Reds. He is a hard throwing lefty and this will be the 1st time the Nats have faced him.
BREAKING 12:42: According to our sources, Papelbon will immediately accept the 3 game suspension for plunking Machado
BREAKING 1:38PM EST: With the 3 game MLB suspension and 4 game suspension from the Nats, Papelbon is indeed done for the season and confirms what our sources said were the intention to accomplish.
UPDATE 2:10PM EST: Papelbon accepted and will not appeal the Nats 4 game suspension without pay according to our sources.
