As the trade deadline creeps closer, the Nationals are living in a strange in-between space: not quite buyers, not quite sellers, and still very much convinced they can make noise. That tension was easy to feel Wednesday in the clubhouse, where a TV segment about the deadline plan ran silently in the background while CJ Abrams, James Wood, Foster Griffin and Luis García Jr. went about their business like it was just another day.
The reality is less ordinary. Washington is still looking at a wide range of options, according to people familiar with the team’s plans who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
One possibility is moving lower-pedigree prospects for help now, such as a rental reliever, but that is only one path on the table. And for the first time in years, the players in the room have some say in what comes next, at least through the way they perform over the final stretch before Monday’s deadline and the eight-game road trip ahead.
That makes the next few days feel especially loaded, starting with a four-game series against the Braves - the most meaningful series for this franchise since it won the World Series in 2019. The Nationals dropped Wednesday’s game 5-2 to the Blue Jays, and their postseason odds via FanGraphs slid to 9.1 percent. Seven of their last eight losses have come by one run or with a late lead change, which is exactly the kind of detail that turns every inning into a referendum.
The bullpen is one of the biggest pressure points, especially at the back end. The box score may not fully show it, but Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Beeter have both looked better lately.
Beeter’s July ERA sits at 4.91, yet his stuff and command have been sharper since the All-Star break. His increased slider usage - helped, in part, by pitches being called from the dugout - has given him more balance.
Ribalta gave up an important run Wednesday, though that came on soft contact and shaky defense, and his July has been a clear step forward after a June ERA of 7.27. His fastball has also ticked up and now sits at 98 mph.
There’s a specific wrinkle with Ribalta that matters. The Nationals throw changeups less often than any team in baseball, but it has been worth it for him to lean on his. Left-handed hitters have had almost no answer; opposing lefties have just one hit off his changeup and none off his slider this year.
That becomes even more important against Atlanta, whose offense has been the second-best in MLB in the eighth inning and beyond. Washington has already blown more saves than any team in the league, so the Braves will test whether Ribalta and Beeter can handle the kind of late-game stress this roster has not seen much of.
The lineup has its own split-personality challenge. For much of the season, the Nationals were careful with left-handed García against lefties, and they sent right-handed Dylan Crews to Triple-A Rochester this spring partly because of his struggles against righties. Entering Wednesday, both had been far better against opposite-handed pitching, each carrying an OPS of at least .900 in those matchups and under .700 against same-sided pitching.
Then Tuesday happened. García and Crews hit back-to-back homers, with García going deep off a lefty and Crews doing it off a righty.
García followed with a bat flip toward the dugout, and Crews flashed a long grin. That came only a week after García flung his bat in frustration after striking out against a lefty in Colorado, while Crews had been openly frustrated with his own swing choices against righties.
The mood around both bats has shifted, at least for now.
“I do think they are getting a little more comfortable in those spots,” manager Blake Butera said.
The platoon numbers still explain why the Nationals have leaned this way. Their right-handed hitters have an .843 OPS against lefties, which ranks first in MLB, while their left-handed bats have a .796 OPS against righties, good for sixth. But with only so many places to split up playing time, Crews and García are still going to be asked to take same-sided at-bats, and that could matter in a tight game against a Braves bullpen that features four pitchers with sub-3.00 ERAs and at least 30 innings pitched, split evenly between righties and lefties.
Then there’s the top of the lineup, where Abrams and Wood have been carrying the offense. They’ve been the two best hitters in the National League this month, and both are doing it while dealing with minor bumps.
Abrams fouled a ball off his calf Monday and served as the designated hitter Wednesday, though Butera said he could have played shortstop. Wood couldn’t get to a shallow pop fly in right field in the seventh inning Wednesday and has not been sprinting quite as fast in the second half.
Even so, Butera said he believes they are 100 percent “as much as they can be this late in the season,” and Wood has said he feels fine.
“Obviously, you know who is kind of in it, but I’m not really watching every day,” Wood said of the wild-card race. “A little bit more focused on what we can do day in and day out. But there’s some awareness, for sure.”
That focus has shown up in the numbers. Abrams and Wood entered Wednesday hitting .335/.425/.739 in July. The closest full-season comparison to that slash line, excluding the “non-steroid division,” is 2024 MVP Aaron Judge at .322/.458/.701.
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Nationals Make A Telling Move With Wild Card Pressure Rising
With the Wild Card race tightening and Washington sitting a game back of the final spot, the Nationals are starting to make the kind of roster choices that usually come with late-season urgency. On the eve of a series against the Blue Jays, the club sent right-hander Gus Varland to Triple-A and signaled a more flexible approach to the lineup, with Blake Butera planning to give CJ Abrams a turn as the designated hitter.
It is the sort of move that suggests the Nationals are trying to squeeze value wherever they can while keeping bodies fresh for the stretch run. There is also another pitching decision lingering in the background, with Jake Irvin a possible option for tomorrow in Atlanta, and Washingtons next few days could say plenty about how aggressively it wants to chase the postseason picture. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Fans Have Seen This Matt Krook Roster Twist Before
Matt Krook is back on the move again, and the latest stop in his brief Nationals run looks a lot like the last one. Washington announced that the left-handed reliever cleared outright waivers and was sent to Triple-A Rochester after being designated for assignment, continuing a month that has already seen him bounce through the organization once before.
The pattern matters because it comes as the Nationals keep sorting through their pitching depth with the trade deadline approaching. Washington has already been trimming and shuffling the staff, with Foster Griffin among the names that could draw attention, and there are other upcoming free-agent starters in the mix as well. For Krook, the transaction log is starting to read like a loop, and the bigger question is whether the club is simply cycling arms or quietly opening the door to more moves. [Read more 🡒]