Jonathan Papelbon Rips The Phillies, ESPN, And More

 Former all-star relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon had some blunt words for several people and organizations. Based on an interview with BetWay and his Twitter account Papelbon has revealed his true feelings on quite a few things 

First, we know he is not feeling ESPN's new docuseries titled "The Captain" chronicles the life of Derek Jeter. Pap referred back to the fight his former teammate Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez got into years ago. 

Hey ESPN when y’all are ready to do a documentary on the real captain who whipped A Rods Ass let me know !

— Jonathan Papelbon (@TheRealJPap58) July 19, 2022

During an interview with BetWay, he was asked about his former team the Philadelphia Phillies 2022 season. Jonathan Papelbon referred to the Phillies as being a sh**show. He also thinks Bryce Harper is not built to be a leader. 

Check out the dialogue below. 

And the Phillies?

Their pitching is okay, their bullpen is okay. But in order to be a good team and have a good postseason run, you have to have leadership. I don't think the Phillies have any of that.

It's always been kind of chaotic in Philadelphia, with the fans, with the players, with the front office. It's like a shitshow there. And, for me, I see the shitshow continuing. I mean, they fired their manager, what, two months into the season? As long as that stuff happens, Philadelphia will never win again. Philadelphia will never get back to the playoffs.

When they brought in me, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, everybody started getting hurt, and the shitshow began after that, I believe. It's been nothing but downhill for the Phillies since then, and there hasn't been anything even close to resembling a postseason team, nor do I think they have that this year, nor do I think they tried to do that with Gabe Kapler. That's Philly for you.

How much are they going to miss Bryce Harper?

I'm not sure what's going on with Bryce Harper right now. Thumbs, fingers, wrists, all those are very, very hard to come back from when you're a hitter.

I don't necessarily see him being a huge leader of the team, because he was never really a leader when I played with him. He kind of went about his own business and more was a me-guy or an I-guy, and wasn't really into what was happening in the clubhouse, and didn't have that pull for the team.

I don't view him as a true leader but when he's out it obviously takes a bat out of the lineup. Somebody's going to have to step up for them. I don't know who it may be. Schwarber is hitting some bombs this year, but it's gonna take more than that.