im conflicted about the papelbon trade too but im wondering what the people who are adamantly against it wanted rizzo to do instead. seems like he deemed the prices for kimbrel/chapman too high, and even if hed sucked it up and paid it, theyd be displacing storen instead of papelbon. either way drew gets shafted
i get that drew is beloved here and papelbon has a bit (ok, a lot) of a reputation (overblown imo. the guy could stand to shut up from time to time but his past teammates rave about him, and all his media drama seems to be a product of playing for some...interesting fanbases. plus, remember all that "clubhouse cancer" talk about yunel escobar? i havent heard a peep of drama since he came here) but the nats badly needed bullpen help and rizzo got some. storen's having a great year and what the nats really needed was a solid setup man, but if there were none available that fit the price, why not go big and make your lights out closer your new lights out 8th inning guy.
having said that, the success of the trade hinges entirely on how well storen adjusts back to the 8th inning. if he pitches with a chip on his shoulder and gives the nats two shutdown closers, it's the best move rizzo couldve made this week. if he melts down again, the nats are back to square one with a single reliable reliever and less time to fix it. either way, especially with papelbon signed next year (for not too much money, all things considered), i imagine storen is traded this offseason. he seems like a good dude and watching him mature as a pitcher has been great, but its clear his future isnt with this team. tough break but its a results business and storen's late season past has been too shaky for comfort
