Papelbon suspended by Nationals after dropping appeal of MLB ban (updated)

Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon has dropped his appeal of a three-game suspension for throwing at the head area of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and was to begin serving the ban today.

However, the Nationals announced a few minutes ago that they have suspended Papelbon for four games without pay for his altercation Sunday with teammate Bryce Harper. Added to the three-game ban from Major League Baseball, the Nationals' suspension means Papelbon is done for the season.

"The behavior exhibited by Papelbon yesterday is not acceptable," said Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo in a team-issued press release. "That is not at all in line with the way our players are expected to conduct themselves, and the Nationals organization will not tolerate it in any way."

Manager Matt Williams said Harper would "be out of the lineup today" as a result of his part in the fight.

Major League Baseball suspended Papelbon and fined the right-hander an undisclosed amount on Friday for hitting Machado in the shoulder on Wednesday. Papelbon initially said he would appeal the suspension, which was held in abeyance pending the appeal.

Papelbon was ejected by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger without a warning after his high and tight pitch struck Machado in the ninth inning. In the first pitch of the at-bat, Papelbon came up and in, but Machado ducked out of the way. Two innings before, Machado had hit a go-ahead home run off Nationals starter Max Scherzer.

Benches briefly cleared after Machado was hit, but order was quickly restored and the Orioles finished off a three-game sweep of the Nationals.

Because he was appealing the ban, Papelbon was available over the weekend. Including Sunday afternoon, when he confronted Harper after Harper flied out in the eighth inning. That led to a dugout altercation in which Papelbon tried to choke Harper before teammates and coaches intervened and separated the two players.

CBSSports first reported that Papelbon had dropped his appeal of the MLB suspension.

Update: Williams began his pregame press conference by reading a statement:

"We've suspended Jonathan Papelbon for four games without pay reflecting how seriously we take the incident in the dugout yesterday. Additionally, for his part in the altercation, Bryce will be out of the lineup today.

"At the time I left you yesterday, decisions had not been made. I told you it was an internal matter. And when I said that, I meant it, becasue there's a process to this. It does not mean that we didn't take it seriously, but I was not going to open that process publicly.

"When I left this room and was able the view the footage of yesterday's incident, I was upset. I was appalled. I think the punishment we've announced today fits and reflects the feeling we have about the tolerance of issues such as this and the standard we hold all of our players in our organization to."

Williams was asked if Papelbon, who is under team control for another year, will be part of the Nationals' future.

"It's been a very difficult 24 hours for the organization," Williams said. "Incidents like that in the dugout is not the way we want to play our games. So that being said, we have other games to play in the remainder of this season and we look forward beyond that too. As it sits right now, Jonathan is part of that.

"So we have to get past that and we have to come together as a team and move past that. Right now, we've got seven to play, which starts with another one today, and we'll do our best to get past this incident and go beyond that."