Former Red Sox P Jonathan Papelbon goes on tirade, says Blue Jays are 4th place team
Do you remember Jonathan Papelbon, the promising Red Sox reliever whose ego and attitude forced him out of town? Then remember how he signed with the Phillies only to have them realize how toxic he is as well? Remember how the Phillies traded him to the division rival Nationals, who saw Papelbon choke out Bryce Harper in the dugout?
I remember.
Papelbon, now 42-years-old, has been known over the years as something of a hot head who has troubles - well, keeping his mouth shut.
He recently was brought on as a guest on Audacy's podcast Baseball Isn't Boring (which is usually a great listen) and proceeded to rip the Toronto Blue Jays apart. As a matter of fact, he says the Blue Jays did so little this offseason that they are "barely above the Red Sox" for last place in the AL East division.
Yes, you read that right.
"What have they done this offseason?", he asked host Rob Bradford. Bradford goes on to say, "they traded for a really good relief pitcher (Swanson), signed Chris Bassitt -" to which Papelbon interrupted with a "WHO?!", and that's when the conversation really begins to go downhill.
"If you're the Blue Jays and you go out and say 'I'm going to go out and sign Chris Bassitt and his 4.00 ERA' without having a bonafide No. 1 and no help in the bullpen, you need to go out and sign some damn pitching because behind Gausman, there's nobody."
That is ... certainly something. Someone on Twitter was gracious enough to record the entire segment and posted it, so see below and listen for yourselves.
Papelbon saying that outside of Kevin Gausman there's no pitchers of note on the entire staff is a crazy take. Does Alek Manoah not exist? Is José Berríos not coming off of a six year stretch where he was one of the most reliable starting pitchers in the entire league? Not to mention Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano in the bullpen forming one of the better backend combos in the game entering the season.
When someone like this goes on air to make comments like these, they should be taken with a grain of salt. However, it's baffling that somebody with such a checkered past is still being given platforms like this to make comments that suggest he doesn't follow baseball at all.
In 2014, Papelbon flipped off hometown Phillies fans. Later, he nearly got into a physical fight with longtime umpire Joe West, only to be suspended for seven games.
In 2015, he was on the verge of fighting broadcaster Howard Eskin before being held back and restrained from further tarnishing his reputation.
Later in 2015, he was suspended for throwing at people's heads and then later got into a physical fight with his TEAMMATE Bryce Harper in the dugout. He was released at the end of the following year and never resurfaced in the majors.
What a guy.