So he's pretty much persona non-grata in Washington at this point. The Nationals don't have much of a choice other than to jettison him and (potentially) to pick up a lot of his $11MM salary. From mlbtraderumors:
The Nationals have no choice but to part ways with Papelbon in the wake of this embarrassing situation, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman opines. The team may have to end up releasing him outright and eating the $11MM owed to Papelbon for 2016 given that his trade value is at rock-bottom. As Heyman notes, “several – and I mean several – major-league GMs declared at deadline time they wouldn’t ever consider touching Papelbon” due to his reputation as a bad clubhouse personality.
Now, obviously there are huge red flags all over that guy. But not necessarily because of performance. If you're telling me that Dayton Moore could swoop in there and grab him for 21016 just by offering, say, $2MM with the Nationals picking up the other $9MM, stick him into the 7th or 8th inning role, with the option to straight cut him at any time - that might be a risk worth taking.
