Source: Nats sending Gonzalez to Brewers

As the clock ticks toward 11:59 p.m., the Nationals aren't done trading away veterans to other clubs seeking some help for the stretch run.

The Nats have a deal in place to send Gio Gonzalez to the Brewers, a source familiar with the transaction confirmed just minutes before those two teams opened a three-game series on South Capitol Street, bringing an abrupt end to the left-hander's seven-year tenure in Washington.

The trade, which was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, isn't expected to be announced until after tonight's game, and Gonzalez remained in the home dugout wearing his Nationals uniform during the first inning.

Though he'll need only to move down the hall to the visitors' clubhouse for the rest of the weekend, Gonzalez won't be pitching against the Nationals. He just started Wednesday in Philadelphia, so he won't be ready to return to the mound until Monday at the earliest.

It's not yet known what the Nats are getting in return for Gonzalez, but of more note may be how much of the $2 million still owed to him that the Brewers will pick up. The Nationals already have shaved more than $9 million off this season's payroll with their wave of trades over the last month, plus at least another $5 million for 2019 that would have been owed to Brandon Kintzler had the reliever picked up his player option.

Whether that's enough to get the Nationals under Major League Baseball's $197 million luxury tax threshold remains to be seen, but they appear to be getting closer to that number with today's moves. Earlier this afternoon, they traded Ryan Madson to the Dodgers, who will pick up all of the roughly $1.2 million the reliever is owed.

Gonzalez could at times be maddening to watch, especially after he went 1-9 with a 6.78 ERA over his last 15 starts, but his significance to this franchise over the last seven seasons should not be overlooked.

Acquired from the Athletics in a November 2011 blockbuster deal that sent prospects Derek Norris, Brad Peacock, Tommy Milone and A.J. Cole to Oakland, Gonzalez was a stalwart in the Nationals rotation ever since he arrived. He went 86-65 with a 3.62 ERA in 213 starts. The only left-handers in the majors to make 200 starts since 2012 and post a lower ERA: Chris Sale, Cole Hamels and Jon Lester.

Gonzalez's success didn't translate to the postseason, and he'll certainly be remembered for his 4.78 ERA and zero decisions in six career playoff starts, not one of which reached the sixth inning.

All of that, plus Gonzalez's contract status, left the Nationals highly unlikely to re-sign the 32-year-old this winter. And so he joined his fellow soon-to-be-free agents as obvious trade candidates on what has become a wild final day of August.