If you go back about six weeks, back when the Nationals were still wondering if they'd be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, one of the arguments supporting them to go for it was the Mets' schedule. New York, despite leading the National League East most of the season, was going to face an absolute gauntlet in mid-August, with 13 consecutive games against the Dodgers and Giants. If the Nats could just stay close until then, the thought went, they would have a chance to surpass them...
Tanner Rainey should be a part of the Nationals bullpen during these final two months of a season that began with October hopes but is ending in full-scale evaluation mode. As Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez gauge what they now have in a relief corps filled with inexperienced arms, Rainey's absence is all too noticeable.
Though Kyle Finnegan has done a nice job serving as the team's de facto closer since Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand were traded, Rainey was the guy all along who most profiled as...
When they remember this game years from now, they might remember that the Nationals lost to the Marlins 4-3 in 10 innings. They will for sure remember what happened prior to that, when two 23-year-old right-handers dueled for the first time and showed why their respective clubs have such high hopes for both of them.
Josiah Gray and Edward Cabrera went head-to-head and perhaps appropriately emerged with a draw. Gray struck out seven but departed after six innings of two-run ball with the...
Lane Thomas hasn't supplanted Victor Robles as the Nationals' starting center fielder and leadoff hitter. But he has performed at such a high level since his acquisition from the Cardinals that manager Davey Martinez feels compelled to keep playing him for now, even as Robles returns to full health after falling ill last weekend.
"Victor's feeling better," Martinez said during his Zoom session with reporters before tonight's game in Miami. "Lane's playing well and I want to continue to...
Every Josiah Gray start has been an event since the young right-hander arrived in Washington earlier this month. Tonight's game in Miami, though, becomes an even bigger event because of the fellow young right-hander who will be facing Gray: Edward Cabrera.
Cabrera, the Marlins' top pitching prospect, makes his major league debut. Which makes this a rare matchup between two pitchers who rank among the top 100 prospects in baseball. Cabrera has an electric arm, with a power sinker that reaches...
The Nationals' 5-1 victory Tuesday night in Miami was never seriously in doubt, but there was perhaps one moment late when it appeared things might tighten up. With two outs and two on in the seventh, rookie reliever Andres Machado had to face Marlins leadoff hitter Miguel Rojas.
As any Nats fan who has paid scant attention over the years knows, Rojas is as tough an out as this team ever seems to face. He works long at-bats, gets the bat on the ball, and usually finds empty space to deposit...
There was a point, four or five years ago, when the Nationals could look into the future and imagine a rotation that included both Erick Fedde and Jesús Luzardo. And there probably was a point in more recent years when Luzardo (a third-round pick in 2016 who has since been traded to the Athletics and then the Marlins) looked to have a brighter future than Fedde (a first-round pick in 2014).
These things don't always work out as everyone thinks they will, of course. Neither Fedde nor Luzardo...
Two days after adding two fresh arms to their bullpen, the Nationals added two more, continuing an ongoing attempt to find the right combination of youthful relievers to get them through the remainder of the season.
Today's additions: Sam Clay and Patrick Murphy, each promoted from Triple-A Rochester. They replace Gabe Klobosits, who was optioned to Rochester, and Jefry Rodriguez, who was designated for assignment.
Clay is no stranger to the Nationals bullpen, having spent the first four...
After a run of games against contending clubs, the Nationals tonight open a three-game series against the club that currently occupies the basement of the National League East, right below them. The Marlins, like the Nats, are rebuilding, though in their case it feels more like a perpetual rebuild.
But like the Nationals, the Marlins have some intriguing young players, especially on their pitching staff. And tonight we'll see one of them in Jesús Luzardo, the former Nats prospect who went...
The Nationals are promoting Cade Cavalli to Triple-A Rochester, bringing their top pitching prospect one step closer to the big leagues, a source familiar with the decision confirmed.
Cavalli, the organization's 2020 first-round pick, made 11 starts at Double-A Harrisburg, producing a 2.79 ERA, 1.276 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in only 58 innings. At times, the right-hander dominated the competition, though he continues to have some command issues, which led to 35 walks and five wild pitches in his...
In their continued quest to improve organizational depth, the Nationals claimed Mike Ford off waivers from the Rays on Monday, hoping the former Yankees first baseman can produce at Triple-A and perhaps help out at the big league level at some point.
Ford, 29, has spent parts of the last three seasons in the majors with the Yankees, first making a name for himself as a rookie in 2019 when he hit .259 with 12 homers, a .350 on-base percentage and .909 OPS in 50 games.
He failed to reproduce...
Well, it was kind of an ugly weekend in Milwaukee for the Nationals, but these last two losses shouldn't completely overshadow the three wins that preceded them last week. Nor the continued positive developments involving several young players who are starting to make a name for themselves as long-term parts of the plan around here.
We're nearly four weeks removed from the trade deadline now, and as painful as it's been at times, there does seem to be some legitimate optimism surrounding the...
An inexperienced pitching staff is going to make mistakes. Davey Martinez understands and accepts that. What the Nationals manager has a harder time accepting is a pitching staff that is killing itself not by getting hit by more accomplished hitters, but by handing them free bases over and over and over.
It happened during Saturday's loss in Milwaukee, and it happened in even more mind-numbing fashion during today's 7-3 loss to the Brewers.
Five Nationals pitchers combined to issue 11 walks...
An ever-changing Nationals bullpen saw the return of two familiar right-handers today, with both Austin Voth and Kyle McGowin activated off the injured list. And an ever-changing Nats roster saw the departures of two familiar faces as a result, with Javy Guerra designated for assignment while Andrew Stevenson was optioned to Triple-A Rochester.
The transactions, announced about 90 minutes before today's series finale in Milwaukee, give the Nationals a couple of moderately experienced arms, in...
The Nationals' winning streak ended Saturday in Milwaukee, but they've still got a chance to win the weekend series if they can bounce back in this afternoon's finale. All things considered, that's not a bad position to be in.
They're going to need to get some quality innings out of Sean Nolin, who gets the start as Joe Ross' replacement for now. Nolin, the 31-year-old journeyman left-hander, made one other start for the Nats 10 days ago in New York and gave up four runs on eight hits in...
For 2 1/2 seasons, the Nationals had nothing but veteran catchers on their roster. Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki joined forces to win a championship in 2019, then returned to work together in 2020. And after Suzuki departed as a free agent last winter, the Nats brought in Alex Avila to back up Gomes this season, again ensuring they'd have two seasoned guys behind the plate.
These days? Well, the Nats' catching position couldn't look any more dramatically different. With Gomes traded to the...
The Nationals' rebuild will be a success if they can get more than a few of the young players who now make up the majority of their roster to develop into legitimate contributors.
It'll be an even bigger and faster success if they can also get their few remaining veterans to return to the form they displayed while winning the World Series two years ago.
So consider tonight's 4-1 victory over the Brewers a best-case-scenario kind of night. They not only got contributions from a host of...
The Nationals didn't need to utilize a fifth starter until next weekend, but they've decided to go ahead and plug Sean Nolin into their rotation now.
Nolin, the 31-year-old left-hander who has been available out of the bullpen for the last week since making one spot start against the Mets, will start Sunday's series finale against the Brewers, manager Davey Martinez said.
Nolin takes over the rotation spot that opened up with Joe Ross had to be shut down for the rest of the season with a...
Fresh off a two-game sweep of the Blue Jays, the Nationals now embark on a nine-game road trip that kicks off with a tough challenge: a weekend series in Milwaukee. The Brewers have won eight of 10 and now hold a commanding 8 1/2-game lead in the National League Central. They're doing it with elite pitching, especially from an imposing threesome atop their rotation (Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta) that should give them a chance to beat anybody come October. (Sound...
From the moment he arrived in the big leagues in 2018, Juan Soto's ability to reach base has outshone every other baseball skill of his. And he's got plenty of elite skills.
For all his prowess hitting for power, hitting to the opposite field, just hitting in general, Soto has always made a name for himself first and foremost because of his batting eye. That, more than anything, has led to his .422 career on-base percentage, a mark that during that four-season span has been bested by only one...