Will Jonathan Papelbon be part of the Nats' future in 2016?

Jonathan Papelbon will not be around his Nationals teammates for the final seven games of the season. The question remains whether Papelbon will ever call them teammates again.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo acquired the controversial closer three days before the trade deadline. How much the move affected the clubhouse is not entirely known, but the Nationals went 27-31 after the trade and turned a two-game division lead into a 9 1/2-game deficit.

Besides the fact that Papelbon blew two saves in nine chances while posting a mediocre 2-2 record with a 3.04 ERA with the Nats, he did his best to embarrass the organization over the past week.

Last Wednesday, Papelbon chose to play tough guy by whizzing two fastballs in the head area of Manny Machado. The second heater plunked Machado on his left shoulder. The reason: Papelbon was allegedly sticking up for his team after Machado showboated his eventual game-winning two-run homer off Max Scherzer in the seventh inning.

Major League Baseball issued Papelbon a three-game suspension for the beanball. He originally appealed, but changed his mind and the suspension began today. It will carry into another suspension, one delivered by the Nationals without pay for attacking and choking Bryce Harper in the eighth inning of yesterday's 12-5 loss to the Phillies.

In a pregame media session earlier this afternoon, Nationals manager Matt Williams said the decision to suspend Papelbon involved an all-night process that included ownership, Rizzo and Williams.

"When I left this room and was able the view the footage of yesterday's incident, I was upset," Williams said. "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.

"It's been a very difficult 24 hours for the organization. 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."

Williams said he was "upset" and "appalled" when he reviewed the tape of Papelbon's actions yesterday. Williams indicated that he had not spoken with Papelbon after the suspension.

Williams did say that Papelbon won't make the season-ending road trip with the team to Atlanta and New York.

Speaking after the game on Sunday, Papelbon seemed to think his conversation with Harper after the altercation cleared up any differences.

"I didn't maybe necessarily do it the right way, and there's better ways to do it," Papelbon said. "But it happened, I can't take anything back. Bryce and I are good, and we will be good. Like I said, we have a brotherly relationship, everyone in this clubhouse. It is what it is. We'll be good and we'll get better from this. I truly do think that we'll get better from this, our relationship will get better from this. Next year when we are in the thick of it and we are grinding together and big games mean something, we'll pick each other up."

Williams was asked whether he believes the two players will be able to move past the problems for next year.

"I would hope so," Williams said. "I know that Jonathan, from everything I've seen, felt bad about it. We spoke about it publicly in our own room. Jonathan expressed regret in front of teammates. So, yeah, I hope they're on the same page and they can help each other compete to win games."

The Nationals owe Papelbon $11 million in 2016, the final year the closer is under contract. Whether he remains on the roster is one of the many questions facing Rizzo this offseason.

"This has been a very disappointing season," Williams said. "Everybody understands that. Emotions show. And with expectation comes great responsibility to do it and do it correctly. That being said, it's important for us to come together and not have this define our organization and not have this define this particular team. And get through it and be better for it."

Rizzo is addressing the media now, and I'll have more from him shortly.