Top stories of 2018: The late-summer roster teardown

As we count down the final days of 2018, we're counting down the most significant stories of the year for the Nationals. Some are positive. Some are negative. All helped define this baseball season in Washington. Five top stories made the final cut, and we'll reveal one per day, continuing with ...

No. 2: The late-summer roster teardown

Daniel Murphy, Matt Adams, Gio Gonzalez, Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler all opened the season as major pieces of the Nationals roster. And there was little reason to believe that all (provided good health) wouldn't end the season as major pieces of the roster.

None of them, of course, made it to September with the Nats. Each was traded away during a five-week stretch of late summer when the organization finally conceded it wasn't going to win in 2018, the definitive stretch of a hugely disappointing season in D.C.

General manager Mike Rizzo knew all along his roster was littered with players on the cusp of free agency, headlined by Bryce Harper. That ended a sense of urgency to the season, but the notion of a trade deadline sell-off barely crossed anyone's mind until reality began to set in during the final week of July.

Even then, the front office wasn't quite convinced it was time to give up. Despite fielding an array of calls about all of their pending free agents, including Harper, the only July 31 trade the Nationals made was to ship Kintzler to the Cubs for a minor league pitcher.

The club sat 5 1/2 behind the Braves in the National League East as the trade deadline passed, too far out of it to justify a big addition, but too close to instigate a full-scale sell-off.

"I think it tells the team that we believe in the squad we have," Rizzo said that afternoon. "The 25 guys in that clubhouse, we felt all along, have a chance to win this division. We're the two-time defending champs. We've got the bullseye on our back and the crown our head. And until someone takes it away from us, we're still the champs."

The message was clear: The front office was giving the clubhouse one last chance to right its wayward ship. The clubhouse did not reward the front office for the show of faith.

Facing a critical stretch of games against fellow contenders that would make or break their season, the Nationals lost seven of 11 to the Braves, Cubs and Cardinals, several of those in soul-crushing fashion. And so with their record now shockingly under .500 on Aug. 21, they decided it was time to concede.

Murphy was traded to the Cubs, Adams was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals and managing principal owner Mark Lerner issued a statement few could have seen coming only a few months earlier.

"I believed in this team, and would have loved to see them all play healthy together this season," Lerner said. "However, the time has come for us to make decisions that will bolster our roster for next season and beyond."

Ten days later, as other contenders faced the deadline to acquire players eligible for the postseason, the Nationals completed their teardown. Madson was dealt to the Dodgers, while Gonzalez's nearly seven-year tenure with the organization came to an abrupt halt when he was traded down the hallway to a Brewers team that happened to be in town for a weekend series.

"I grew up here," Gonzalez said that night, wearing a Brewers cap and hoodie, his eyes turning red. "I had my family here. My wife. My kids. Just sad to see it end."

So were the Nationals and their fans, who couldn't believe a team with such high expectations had just been broken up upon recognizing success simply wasn't going to happen in 2018.