Jonathan Papelbon - Bryce Harper Dugout Altercation

[1992casey]

While Harper's assessment of the hit batsman thing is spot on, calling out a teammate in public is never good. In this case, it added fuel to the fire for a fine and suspension.

 

The video that trwi7 posted doesn't really indicate the level of effort that Harper put into running running out the fly. But the little we see almost indicates that he might have come close to not running at all.

[tmwiese55]

Just scrolling Yahoo and they had an article on this, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-much-does-bryce-harper-actually-hustle--quite-a-lot-195153539.html

 

I haven't read it all yet but this is near the top and about this topic:

 

Perception: Harper did not run out his pop fly to left field in Sunday's game.

 

Fact: Harper, angry with himself, took less than one second to express frustration at the ball he lofted before starting to jog to first base. He reached the base before the ball was caught. From the time it hit the bat to when it was caught, the ball hung in the air for 6.08 seconds, meaning even if Harper busted it out of the batter's box like a banshee, the chances of him taking second base on a Jeff Francoeur error were minuscule.

 

The effort put forth by Harper, as Adam Kilgore so astutely noted, was far from offensive, not worthy of a snide remark, let alone an assault. A great hitter got angry with himself and exerted the proper amount of energy rather than doing something because it's supposed to be done a certain way.

 

In baseball, it's called eyewash. It's false hustle, doing something so others can see you do it. For some, it's a sin. For those like Harper, the victim of excessive hype and, occasionally, his own youthful hubris, it's a necessity, lest he be accused of not playing the game right.

 

Every time Harper huffs it down to first base, he averages 18.18 mph, which ranks 95th in Statcast's query. Is Brian McCann, an unwritten-rules connoisseur, not playing the game right because he runs just 16.07 mph, the slowest in baseball by nearly a quarter mph? Are James Loney and Adrian Gonzalez insulting the game because their average speed to first is slower than Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, both professional lopers?

[jjgott]

I'm cool with Harper not "busting his butt" down to first for two reasons: (1) the season is over. No matter how hard he was running, the team's not getting to the playoffs with a win, and (2) for every one time he may have lollygagged it down to first, there were many more times he hustled his way to a double on hits that other guys would've jogged out for a single.

[jerichoholicninja]

Did I not post after this happened that Harper was going to end up being seen as the bad guy in this? What exactly has Bryce done in his career that can warrant the hate he gets? Sure, he's a little arrogant but what professional athlete isn't? His rookie year Cole Hamels drilled him because, well only Cole Hamels knows why, I don't remember Bryce saying anything about it. He put his head down and went to first and then proceeded to steal home off of him.

[I Heart Brewers]

This is two separate issues to me. Harper running out a fly ball should have been handled by Matt Williams.

 

The choking issue is what I have a problem with. Who put Papelbon in charge of doling out discipline to Harper if he thought it was wrong; and why did he think choking him would get his point across? It's insane behavior from a professional.

[torts]

the whole papelbon thing is much more than just what happened between machado/harper though. I said this to a friend back when they acquired him, but he's pretty much blown that team up in my mind. Nationals get him on 7/29 when they were still in first place. Since then they went 16 - 20, and have watched Storen just completely implode to the tune of a 7.56 ERA after being probably one of the best closers to that point with 29 saves and a 1.64 ERA prior to getting demoted for literally no justifiable reason. yes, the mets also got really hot on top of the nationals imploding, but I cannot imagine they'd be down by 9 games if they'd have left Storen in the closers role, and may not have gone 0-6 against the mets in August/September.

[tomwopat]

Who would have Papelbon choked after the Brewers 2014 collapse if they would have traded for him at the deadline? Braun?

[TURBO]

Acquiring Papelbon as their closer, and inserting him immediately was asinine to begin with. Why mess with something that had worked all season long? Storen had dominated the closer role right up until the day Papelbon replaced him. This wasn't a move made to replace a struggling closer, this was a move made to insert a "name" closer where it wasn't needed, and it didn't work, it imploded the entire team. Had the Brewers made a move like this, I would have been furious, to the point of a possible boycott.

 

Whoever made that decision to begin with was an absolute idiot!

[A Swing and A Drive]

Papelbon is unquestionably the biggest "River Dancing" prick in baseball.

 

With that said, the fact that he choked Harper makes me smile.

 

Harper is playing a child's game for a living and being well compensated.

 

This is not the first and won't be the last time he "dogged" it on the field.

 

He has more talent than anyone in baseball not named Trout.

 

However, he's not the type of player I'd want on my team if I was building my franchise.

 

He doesn't play the game the right way. Period.

[jerichoholicninja]

Papelbon is unquestionably the biggest "River Dancing" prick in baseball.

 

With that said, the fact that he choked Harper makes me smile.

 

Harper is playing a child's game for a living and being well compensated.

 

This is not the first and won't be the last time he "dogged" it on the field.

 

He has more talent than anyone in baseball not named Trout.

 

However, he's not the type of player I'd want on my team if I was building my franchise.

 

He doesn't play the game the right way. Period.

 

I won't touch how wrong you are with that statement but I'm curious what part of St. Louis you live in?

[tmwiese55]

Papelbon is unquestionably the biggest "River Dancing" prick in baseball.

 

With that said, the fact that he choked Harper makes me smile.

 

Harper is playing a child's game for a living and being well compensated.

 

This is not the first and won't be the last time he "dogged" it on the field.

 

He has more talent than anyone in baseball not named Trout.

 

However, he's not the type of player I'd want on my team if I was building my franchise.

 

He doesn't play the game the right way. Period.

 

I won't touch how wrong you are with that statement but I'm curious what part of St. Louis you live in?

 

I was just about to say the same thing Jericho. He is exactly the type of guy I would want on my team. Hate to break it to you, but Mike Trout jogs to first on popups and routine fly balls too.

[molitor fan]

Exactly what was said above me regarding St. Louis boy above...what a silly statement....Harper sacrifices his body in the outfield on a daily basis...

[DuWayne Steurer]

Everyone jogs to first on pop outs

 

Except guys like David Eckstein.

 

I'm not a Bryce Harper fan, but one thing that can't be said about him is that he dogs it out there. There's reports that he's been told to curb his reckless play to avoid injury. That's not a player who dogs it.

 

I get it that Harper is the type of guy who rubs people the wrong way because he's a cocky arrogant kid, and people feel like he has to "earn his stripes" before he gets to act the way he does. I get that. I'm not a fan of his either. I suspect if he was a Brewer, 85% of our fans (and posters) would love the kid (and his act) and the other 15% would love the stats he puts up, regardless if he jogged to first on popups or not.

[1992casey]

There've also been reports that Harper can rub his teammates and manager the wrong way. I wouldn't stretch things to say he plays the wrong way "period," but I think it's fair to say that that things happen from time to time.

 

I don't know that the popup was one of those "things." It seems to me that Papelbon was looking for a fight and found a weak excuse to start one. Harper was wrong about taking the HBP stuff to the press (although his angle on it was right). But Papelbon's actions created a "two wrongs make a right" situation, and that never works.