Nats sign veteran righty Mark Lowe to minor league deal (with lineups)

The Nationals added some bullpen depth today, signing veteran right-handed reliever Mark Lowe to a minor league deal. The team announced that Lowe has been assigned to Triple-A Syracuse. Lowe started this season with the Angels, posting a 9.26 ERA in 11 2/3 innings. He allowed 11 hits, walked 11 and struck out seven in his 11 appearances with the Angels. Over his eight-year big league career, the 30-year-old Lowe has a 4.17 ERA. He's coming off a fairly strong 2012 season, in which he posted a 3.43 ERA over 39 1/3 innings with the Rangers. Lowe's strikeout-to-walk ratio was much better last season; he struck out 28 and walked 13. With Zach Duke and Henry Rodriguez having been designated for assignment, J.C. Romero having opted out of his minor league deal, Ryan Mattheus on the disabled list for another couple weeks with a broken hand and Fernando Abad, Ian Krol and Xavier Cedeno already having been added to the big league bullpen from the minor league ranks, the Nats were probably looking to bolster their relief pitching within the organization. In Lowe, they get a guy with big league experience who struggled this season but has had recent success in a tough division. Anthony Rendon will start at second base again for the Nats tonight, and Roger Bernadina will be back in left field. Dan Haren gets the ball tonight, looking to bounce back from a rough start his last time out, a start that left him incredibly frustrated with his inconsistent performances this season. For the Nats CF Denard Span LF Roger Bernadina 3B Ryan Zimmerman RF Jayson Werth 1B Adam LaRoche SS Ian Desmond 2B Anthony Rendon C Kurt Suzuki RHP Dan Haren For the Rockies CF Dexter Fowler 3B Nolan Arenado LF Carlos Gonzalez SS Troy Tulowitzki 1B Todd Helton C Wilin Rosario RF Tyler Colvin 2B DJ Lemahieu RHP Jhoulys Chacin