On Tuesday, the Nationals acquired closer Jonathan Papelbon from the Phillies for a pitching prospect. They also restructured his contract and essentially signed Papelbon to a contract extension for the 2016 season.Papelbon is still a great closer, and there's no such thing as having too many good relievers, but the Nats already had an excellent closer in Drew Storen. In fact, Papelbon's and Storen's performances this season have been very comparable:Papelbon: 1.59 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, 1.8 BB/9 in 39 2/3 innings
Storen: 1.73 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 10.9 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 in 36 1/3 inningsNats GM Mike Rizzo made it clear Papelbon will be the team's closer and Storen will set him up after swinging the trade Thursday. "Papelbon is our ninth-inning pitcher," said Rizzo to Chris Johnson on MASN Sports. 
"Drew will pitch the ninth inning at times when Papelbon's not available and be our set-up guy in the eighth inning as we constructed today."Needless to say, Storen didn't seem too thrilled with the move, which is understandable. It's an undeserved demotion in the sense that he was excelling at his job and didn't force the team to go out and get a replacement. The rest of the bullpen is the problem -- they have a 3.64 ERA. Storen's effectively lost the closer's job because his setup men didn't take care of business.Here's what Storen said to Johnson after the club acquired Papelbon on Tuesday:
"Drew will pitch the ninth inning at times when Papelbon's not available and be our set-up guy in the eighth inning as we constructed today."Needless to say, Storen didn't seem too thrilled with the move, which is understandable. It's an undeserved demotion in the sense that he was excelling at his job and didn't force the team to go out and get a replacement. The rest of the bullpen is the problem -- they have a 3.64 ERA. Storen's effectively lost the closer's job because his setup men didn't take care of business.Here's what Storen said to Johnson after the club acquired Papelbon on Tuesday:
"Really, all I'm gonna say is that obviously I'm aware of the move," Storen said. "I've talked to (Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo) about it. I've talked to my agent. We've had some ongoing discussions. Until those have progressed, I'm just gonna leave it at that and no comment for now. But as the situation goes, I'll keep you guys posted."That's about the nicest possible way he could say he's not happy without saying something inflammatory. Storen's angry with the move and he didn't exactly hide it.Remember, this isn't the first time the Nationals have demoted Storen. After saving 43 games in 2011 and missing time with an elbow problem in 2012, the club bumped Storen to Triple-A in 2013 and let Tyler Clippard close. They also signed Rafael Soriano a few years back and gave him the ninth inning, similar to acquiring Papelbon.Storen will be eligible for free agency after next season, so he'll soon be able to pick his employer and role. Given his excellence, I'm sure some team will hand him their closer's job. That said, Storen's salary in 2016 will be lower than it should be because he's not closing -- saves pay quite well in arbitration. The demotion has hurt his earning potential. I'd be upset about that too.Mike Axisa/CBS Sports
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