Honestly, Nationals reliever Drew Storen has been through this enough times you'd think he might be used to it.
Apparently not.
MLB TRADE RUMORS: Carlos Gonzalez | Justin Upton | David Price
Storen was bumped from the closer's role after the Nats acquired Jonathan Papelbon from the Phillies on Tuesday. That much was clear from Washington manager Matt Williams' comments about Papelbon after the trade was announced:
"He is an All-Star closer," Williams said (via MLB.com). "He has been in pressure situations during his whole career, so we are happy to have him. We want to make our team better. It provides us opportunity to do that. It's not easy. Paps is going to pitch the ninth."
According to MLB.com, before the deal was consummated, Nats GM Mike Rizzo talked with Storen as a professional courtesy to let him know that Papelbon was coming.
Despite the heads up, Storen didn't sound happy about the change that marked the third time in his career that he has been forced to relinquish the ninth inning.
"All I'm going to say is, I'm aware of the move and I've talked to Mike about it. I've talked to my agent about it," Storen said. "We've had some ongoing discussions. Until those have progressed, I'm just going to leave it at that. No comment for now. But as the situation goes, I'll keep you guys posted."
Coming off a 43-save season in 2011, Storen started 2012 on the disabled list because of an elbow injury. Tyler Clippard took over and stayed in the closer's role even after Storen was activated. However, Storen regained the ninth-inning role toward the end of that season.
He then lost the closer's role the next offseason when the team signed free agent Rafael Soriano, who kept the job until he slumped badly in the second half of 2014. Storen flourished last September and the success continued this season. In 38 games, Storen has 29 saves and a 1.73 ERA.
Storen still could get some opportunities to close because, Rizzo said, Papelbon isn't expected to pitch three games in a row.
