Nationals pick up trio of relievers, including Strickland (updated)

As 4 p.m. drew ever closer, the time had come for general managers around the league to settle on best offers and get deals done before the trade deadline strikes. And sure enough, the action picked up fast and furious for the Nationals, who landed three late-inning relievers in the span of about 30 minutes this afternoon, headlined by the once-notorious Hunter Strickland.

The Nats got Strickland and lefty Roenis Elias from the Mariners in separate trades, plus veteran right-hander Daniel Hudson from the Blue Jays, giving up four minor leaguers in total, but none of them highly rated.

Strickland, an experienced late-inning reliever known all too well around D.C. for his longstanding feud with Bryce Harper, was acquired for Double-A left-hander Aaron Fletcher. Hudson, a 32-year-old rental player with a history of pitching out of jams, comes at the cost of Single-A starter Kyle Johnston. The return for Elias, a 30-year-old lefty under club control for two more seasons after the current one, was a pair of minor leaguers: Triple-A lefty Taylor Guilbeau and 20-year-old outfielder-turned-pitcher Elvis Alvarado.

"These aren't the sexiest names in the trade market, but we think we got good quality, reliable guys with some moxie and some experience," general manager Mike Rizzo said minutes after the deadline passed, minutes after his team suffered a 10-inning loss to the first-place Braves, minutes before they all boarded a bus for their upcoming three-city road trip. "We got guys who have accumulated a lot of saves in the past. We got a couple controllable relievers for not only this year but the foreseeable future. And the player return was something that was acceptable to us.

"We feel good about what we did today. We feel like we upgraded ourselves and improved ourselves. And we are excited to take this road trip and really step on the gas and get things rolling."

Strickland is the biggest name of the three, a well-known late-inning reliever with some closing experience. The 30-year-old right-hander owns a 2.98 ERA and 21 saves in 257 career big league games with the Giants and Mariners. He made only four appearances for Seattle this year, missing extensive time with a lat strain near his throwing shoulder, but he returned to throw a scoreless inning over the weekend.

"We are comfortable with it," Rizzo said of Strickland's recovery from the injury. "We've seen him pitch recently, since he's come off the (injured list). He had a lat strain and medically we have cleared him. And we've scouted him and we feel good about it."

That scouting report included not only an evaluation of Strickland's health and pitching effectiveness, but of his character, which is what fans in Washington know most about him.

It all dates to the 2014 National League Division Series, when Harper hit a pair of towering homers off the then-Giants setup man, who didn't like the way the brash young slugger reacted to his moonshots. Three years later, in their first head-to-head encounter since that playoff series, Strickland fired a 98 mph fastball into Harper's hip, inciting a benches-clearing brawl.

Strickland would be suspended six games by Major League Baseball for the incident, with Harper getting a four-game suspension that was later reduced to three.

"Shouldn't really get a 98 mph fastball in your hip for hitting home runs," Ryan Zimmerman said at the time. "I don't get to fight the pitcher when he strikes me out twice."

Harper, of course, now plays up the road in Philadelphia (though he'll perhaps get a chance to face Strickland when the Phillies come to D.C. for a potentially huge five-game series in late September). And others from the 2017 Nationals roster are long gone. But some remain, and surely the addition of Strickland to their clubhouse will be awkward, though Rizzo insisted they did their homework on the reliever.

"Love the attitude, the chip on his shoulder," Rizzo said. "He's a tough guy that brings it. You love him or you hate him, and he's a National now. So I think he's going to fit in beautifully with the clubhouse."

To acquire Strickland, who is owed about $433,000 the rest of this season and is under club control through 2021, the Nationals are sending Fletcher, a young lefty who was rated their 15th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline. A 14th-round pick in last year's draft, Fletcher posted a combined 1.79 ERA in 32 relief appearances across three levels of their farm system this season, concluding with Double-A Harrisburg.

Hudson wasn't among the biggest names available today, but he fits the Nationals' needs. An experienced late-inning reliever, he owns a 3.00 ERA and 1.271 WHIP in 48 innings this season, striking out 48. He also has excelled at pitching out of jams, stranding 21 of 22 inherited runners.

"He's a veteran relief pitcher that's done it for a long time that we believe is reliable," Rizzo said, "and a guy that brings a lot to the table."

The Lynchburg, Va., native and former Old Dominion pitcher is due to become a free agent this winter and is owed only $500,000 the rest of the season.

Because of that, the Nationals had to part ways only with their 27th-rated prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. A sixth-round pick in the 2017 draft, the 23-year-old Johnston was 9-9 with a 4.03 ERA in 20 starts for Single-A Potomac this season.

Elias is under club control through the 2021 season, so he came at a bit of a higher cost to the Nationals, in the form of two minor leaguers. The 30-year-old Cuban has six seasons in the big leagues with the Red Sox and Mariners and had been pressed into the closer's role in Seattle this summer after Strickland was injured, recording 14 saves. His 4.40 ERA and 1.255 WHIP in 44 games don't stand out, but he's been lights-out against right-handed batters this season, holding them to a .182 batting average. (Lefties, curiously, are batting a robust .353 against him, though that hasn't been his career norm.)

"I think you're seeing him ... take the next step and become - in his second, really, full year as a reliever - I think he's going to improve as he gets more experience," Rizzo said.

Elias is owed about $300,000 the rest of this season and figures to top $1 million in 2020 through salary arbitration (the second of his three years of eligibility).

Because he's under club control for two more seasons after this, Elias' price was a bit steeper than Hudson's price, though hardly exorbitant. Guilbeau, a 10th-round pick in 2015 who has a 2.89 ERA in 34 relief appearances this season between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Fresno, is the Nationals' 15th-rated prospect. Alvarado, a 20-year-old who originally came up as an outfielder but converted to a reliever last season, is not ranked among the organization's top 30 prospects.

In the end, the Nationals acquired three relievers who will earn a total of roughly $1.233 million the rest of this season. That allows them to remain comfortably underneath MLB's $206 million total payroll luxury tax threshold.

"It's been a goal of ours from the winter, and that's going to be something that we're going to do this season," Rizzo said. "And we've achieved it to this point."

In order to acquire these three players, the Nationals did have to clear up not only three spots on their 25-man roster but also three spots on their 40-man roster. They designated for assignment both Javy Guerra and Michael Blazek after today's game, taking care of two of the three moves. They also transferred Jonny Venters to the 60-day IL, which cleared one more 40-man spot.

They'll still need to remove one more player from the current active roster before Friday's road trip opener in Arizona.