Jonathan Papelbon Suspended 4 Games, But Bryce Harper Shares Blame for Dugout Fight

The Washington Nationals are broken. They’ll be watching postseason baseball from home despite sending the best young player in baseball out to right field every game and carrying a $165 million payroll. Slow-building tension finally exploded in spectacular fashion yesterday as Jonathan Papelbon and Bryce Harper brawled in the dugout.

Some see the ugliness as an example of how baseball’s unwritten rules are also broken. Papelbon is in the twilight of his career. Harper’s best days — amazing as it is — lie ahead. All of the new school vs. old school elements are there.

But, this fracas is not the spark that should light the torch for an angry mob referendum on baseball’s code of conduct. It’s simply a referendum on the behavior of Papelbon, who was looking for a fight, and Harper, who put this trainwreck’s wheels in motion.

The confrontation didn’t crop up out of nowhere. It wasn’t about Harper’s slow jog to first base on a routine fly ball. Instead, it came in response to Harper’s comments last week when Papelbon plunked Manny Machado after the Baltimore Orioles star blasted a clutch go-ahead home run and took his time rounding the bases.

“Manny freakin hit a homer, walked it off and somebody drilled him,” Harper said after the incident “It’s pretty tired…I’ll probably get drilled tomorrow.”

In his column today, Fox Sports’ C.J. Nitkowski points out that Harper sent a message that publicly calling out a teammate was okay. Knowing Papelbon and his penchant for speaking his mind, it’s safe to assume the closer had been waiting for the first opportunity to give Harper a taste of his own medicine. A less than all-out sprint down the line provided him that chance.

I want to make something perfectly clear here: I don’t think Papelbon should have publicly confronted Harper. But, I also don’t think Harper had any business calling out Papelbon in the media.

This situation demands nuance instead of sweeping generalizations. Yes, the unwritten rules of baseball are responsible for seemingly pointless conflict. Yes, it’s unreasonable to think they wouldn’t be when everyone’s reading a different section of invisible ink.

Does that mean we throw them out and never look back because a loose cannon like Papelbon takes the wrong tact while trying to enforce them? Do we allow marquee players like Harper to be exempt from them.

Hell no.

As sanctimonious as baseball’s self-policing can be for the average fan, it serves its purpose and serves it well. The casual fan doesn’t like being told this, but the rules aren’t for them. They’re for players. All players — from fan favorites like Harper to reviled ones like Papelbon.

The public doesn’t get that. Players do.

Nitkowski said he polled more than a dozen current and former players about the dustup and not a single one backed Harper. You can claim he cherry-picked the answers that support his point of view. It’d be tougher to claim fans and players see the game — especially clubhouse relationships — through the same prism.

UPDATE: Predictably, the Nationals haven’t reacted kindly to Papelbon putting his hands around the franchise player. He’s been suspended four games for the incident. Add that to the three he’ll serve for the Machado beaning and he’s done for the year.

Harper is also benched for today’s game.

No winners here.