Rachel Levitin: How will Jonathan Papelbon mix in with Nationals bullpen?

It looks like there's a new closing pitcher on Washington's roster. All-Star pitcher Jonathan Papelbon was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday in exchange for minor league pitcher Nick Pivetta, and now it'll be interesting to see how the team's newest player integrates into the clubhouse.

Outside of the business of baseball, many fans have expressed displeasure with the selection. That aside, I think the effect Papelbon has on the clubhouse and on the bullpen will be something folks will be watching with a close eye.

Eyes will also be on on-and-off-again closer Drew Storen, who continues to have hurdles tossed in his direction while he continues his attempts to establish himself in a role that he keeps subsequently getting knocked out of for bigger name closers who are coming in to try and clean up a messy bullpen.

What Storen does for the rest of the season will be yet another test of his character while with the Nationals. While his role may be limited now, he may be able to step into a set-up role or close games when Pabelbon needs a rest.

The National League East is really switching things up for the Nats during the second half of the season. Former Washington reliever Tyler Clippard was traded from the Oakland A's to the New York Mets. And now the Phillies' former closer plays for Washington.

An impending trade deadline always switches things up for fans, players, coaches and managers. Even the most thorough predictions can never quite determine what the second half of baseball's season will look like once it arrives. So, here we are. It's not quite what you expected, is it?

Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for District Sports Page. Follow her on Twitter: @RHLevitin. She will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.