The Nationals head into today’s game in Citi Field trying to keep a series from slipping completely away after dropping the first two contests to the Mets. Yesterday’s loss ended the same way too many of these games have lately: with a blown save and another punch to the gut for a team that keeps finding new ways to give one away.
Washington’s bullpen still hasn’t been stabilized, even after the club added relievers at the trade deadline. Yovanny Cruz and Jake Bird came over in the deal with the Yankees, while the Will Dion trade with Cleveland has produced better results. Still, Cruz was the one in the spotlight in the loss, allowing two runs while getting only one out.
That leaves the Nationals with a salvage game today and the very real risk of getting swept. It’s not where they wanted to be, and it’s not the kind of finish fans want to keep seeing after so many games have already slipped through their fingers.
For now, there hasn’t been a roster move to bring in another fresh arm for Blake Butera’s bullpen. The options are thin, with Eddy Yean not yet eligible to return.
In Triple-A, the Nationals had initially planned for Luis Perales to start Saturday night, then shifted him to the bullpen in Rochester. He responded with 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out five.
After this game, Washington heads to Texas for a three-game series. The team also has a scheduled day off on Monday, which should give the bullpen a chance to catch its breath. The front office, meanwhile, has a decision to make on Brad Lord after his start yesterday didn’t even make it through a full inning, a short outing that helped put even more strain on an already overworked relief group.
With 36 games left in the regular season, the Nationals are running out of time to put together the kind of streak they need. To avoid a 100-loss season, they need three more wins.
To avoid 90 losses, they need 13. And if they want to finish with a winning record, they’d have to go 22-14 the rest of the way.
The offense has done its part more often than not. Washington leads MLB with 667 runs scored, a clip of 5.34 per game.
The problem has been on the other side, where the pitching staff is allowing 4.73 earned runs per game. A lot of the damage has come from unearned runs, with errors tilting games in the wrong direction.
Even so, the Nationals still sit at a +19 run differential.
Blake Butera’s bullpen chart reflects where things stand, and the FanGraphs WAR numbers have reached the point where the sample is large enough to start projecting out the full season. The OAA defensive metric is also beginning to show more clearly what this Nationals club has - and what it doesn’t.
In Other News...
Nationals Depth Picture Is Shifting Fast After Rochesters Latest Statement
The Nationals farm system keeps moving in a hurry, and Rochesters latest game was another reminder that the organizations depth chart is anything but settled. Across the affiliates, recent matchups in Rochester, Harrisburg, Wilmington and Fredericksburg have brought a mix of strong pitching showings, uneven offensive stretches and the kind of roster churn that usually follows when clubs are trying to sort out who is trending up and who needs a reset.
For Washington, the bigger takeaway is less about any one box score than the broader snapshot these games provide. Confirmed results and official transactions have already produced a few activations and releases, and the next wave of moves may not be far behind if these performances keep stacking up. The Nationals have plenty of players still trying to force their way into the conversation, and that competition is becoming harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Roster Shakeup Puts More Than One Young Piece In Focus
The Nationals latest roster shuffle put a familiar mix of urgency and opportunity on display, with Zack Littell released and Miles Mikolas designated for assignment to clear the way for top prospect Jackson Kent. It is the kind of move that says as much about the organizations timeline as its current standings, and it comes at a moment when the club is trying to sort out not just who stays in the majors, but where its young core fits when it gets there.
CJ Abrams is part of that picture, too, as Washington begins moving him to second base while the team keeps tracking the health of several key players. James Wood, DJ Herz, Josiah Gray and Connelly Early are all making progress in recovery, with throwing and rehab work providing the next clues about how soon the Nationals might start getting more of their future pieces back in the same conversation at once. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Deadline Arms Are Already Creating One Bullpen Problem
The Nationals post-deadline bullpen experiment got an early look in a recent game against the Mets, and it showed both sides of what Washington thinks it added. Will Dion settled in quickly and gave manager Blake Butera a reason to feel encouraged, handling a heavy workload and keeping New York off the board while missing plenty of bats. For a team trying to sort through relief options on the fly, that kind of immediate stability matters.
Yovanny Cruzs night was less reassuring, with the ninth inning turning into a reminder that a new arm can need time before it fits cleanly into a late-game role. Washington is still working to help him adjust and get more comfortable in the bullpen mix, but the gap between one newcomers smooth debut and anothers struggle is already shaping the conversation. The Nationals wanted depth, and now they have a problem to solve before that depth can be trusted. [Read more 🡒]