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Stephen A. Smith goes scorched-earth on Jonathan Papelbon over MLB, Mike Trout issue
Image credit: ClutchPoints

Former MLB pitcher and current NESN analyst Jonathan Papelbon didn’t hold back about his feelings on ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith after Smith went in on injured Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout.

“I’ve grown disgusted with his lack of availability,” Smith said. “I’ve grown disgusted with his lack of availability. What the hell are you doing to take care of yourself? Always injured. I mean, (expletive), it’s baseball. What are we talking about here? It’s not football. It’s not boxing. It’s not the UFC.”

After accusing Smith of being kicked out of the Phillies’ clubhouse some years back and even referring to Smith as a racist, the former MLB star is now the subject of Smith’s response.

Said Smith, “I’ve never been thrown out of a locker room, I’ve never been thrown out of a clubhouse. I’ve never had any discipline action exacted against me. Because I have never been professionally unethical in my career. That is a lie. Now, I could sue your (expletive) for telling such a lie like that. But I won’t waste my time.”

Former MLB pitcher addresses Smith’s comments

Papelbon addressed Smith’s alarming comments about Mike Trout’s recent injury. Smith referred to Trout’s injury as “karma” for staying with the Angels in a rant that received no shortage of backlash. Papelbon recalled a story about Smith, who used to work for the Philadelphia Enquirer, while responding to the ESPN analysts’ shocking Trout comments.

“When he makes these kinds of comments, he truly does not know what he’s talking about,” Papelbon said. “And that’s why he makes such asinine comments because he truly doesn’t know… When I was in the Philadelphia clubhouse, we had a traveling secretary… Well, I got into this conversation with him about Stephen A Smith one day. I said, ‘well how come he never comes in the clubhouse anymore?’ And he says to me, ‘oh no, we had to kick him out of the clubhouse.’ I said, ‘Oh really?’ I said ‘Y’all kicked him out of the clubhouse?’ I said, ‘Well why did y’all kick him out of the clubhouse?’

“And he proceeds to tell me that he (Smith) was doing all kind of shady s**t like going through the manager’s office and when he wasn’t in there going through the training room, pulling out reports and all kind of places he shouldn’t have been. So, for me I’ve always looked at this guy like a complete joke and really is just really shady. Real shady guy like when you get kicked out of a Major League clubhouse that means that you should never be able to be a journalist ever again.”

Papelbon had more to say about Smith, however. He said that Smith is “more narcissistic” than Donald Trump.

But that was not the primary accusation Papelbon made against Smith. The former All-Star closer later referred to Smith as a “racist.”

Expect Papelbon to return fire on Smith soon.

This article first appeared on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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