Nationals' Jonathan Papelbon: Expected to be released by Nationals

Papelbon is expected to be granted his release from the Nationals, the Washington Post's Chelsea Janes reports.

He asked to be released, rather than designated for assignment, so that he could catch on with another team as soon as possible, as the DFA process takes 10 days to finalize a switch in teams. Rather than remain with the Nationals as a setup man after the team acquired Mark Melancon at the deadline to take over the closing duties, Papelbon would prefer to go to another organization. It's hard to envision which team would bring Papelbon aboard as a closer at this point in the season, especially given his 4.37 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 31:14 K:BB in 35 innings. Of course, he could just want to get away from the Nationals and might be fine being used in the seventh or eighth inning on another contending team.