The Nationals’ bullpen problem is not some shiny new disaster. It’s been a long-running mess, and the numbers back that up.
From 2015 through 2025, if you take the Rockies out of the picture, Washington’s relief corps was the worst in MLB. And that doesn’t even count 2026.
This season has not been the worst by ERA, WHIP, or most other measures, but the blown saves are another story. The Nats have 35 already, and they could wind up with the kind of record nobody wants attached to their team.
Washington’s 2021 club finished with 36 blown saves, which stood as the worst total in baseball history until the 2024 White Sox pushed it to 37. The 2026 Nationals look like a strong bet to go past that mark.
So what does the 2027 bullpen look like? If you’re building off who has actually looked usable in small samples, the list starts here:
Orlando Ribalta RHP 3.77 ERA
Erik Tolman LHP 0.00 ERA
Will Dion LHP 2.04 ERA
Jared Simpson LHP 0.00 ERA
PJ Poulin LHP 2.70 ERA
Brad Lord RHP 3.58 ERA
TBD
TBD
There are also current bullpen names not on that list, including Clayton Beeter, Riley Cornelio, Max Kranick, Luis Perales, and Matt Waldron. Of that group, Waldron probably stands out most. He has a 0.00 ERA in three games with the Nats this season, and he is team controlled through 2030.
The organization has more arms coming behind them, too. Minor leaguers not on that list include Jake Bird, Yovanny Cruz, Ben Grable, Cole Henry, Zak Kent, Wyatt Mills, Kyle Nicolas, Carson Palmquist, Paxton Schultz, Gus Varland, and Eddy Yean.
Everyone there except Grable is on the 40-man roster. And there are others as well.
President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni has strengthened the minor league bullpen pipeline through the draft, trades, and undrafted free agents. It apparently took some time to fully recognize how thin that system had become.
Then there’s the bigger swing: what if the Nationals got creative and moved Jake Irvin and Jarlin Susana into relief roles?
Keith Law of The Athletic had this to say about Susana, which lines up with the case that’s been made for three years:
“ Jarlin Susana sat 99-101, topping out at 101.6 mph, and he threw a handful of vicious sliders at 87-88, firing them at the back feet of some left-handed hitters to generate helpless swings. He still has no third pitch at all, and the delivery still puts a lot of stress on the shoulder, both of which point to a more likely future in the bullpen. ”
“The stuff is wow, and he could just miss enough bats to stick around as a twice-through-the-order starter even with fringy command and nothing for lefties.”
- Law wrote in that article
It is not hard to imagine Susana in a late-inning role, with the kind of impact that changes games. The value of a closer is massive because that pitcher can erase the blown-save losses that keep piling up.
And in today’s market, that kind of arm is expensive. A top closer in free agency can cost about as much as a No. 2 starter, and a trade for one can take the top two prospects in a system, which is roughly what the Padres paid for Mason Miller from the A’s.
That is why the idea is simple: commit to Susana now, build the bullpen from within, then use the offseason money on two rotation additions and a key bench bat or two.
Of course, betting on Susana carries risk. But expensive free-agent relievers are not sure things either, as the Dodgers and others have learned.
Edwin Diaz is not automatically a lock, and even a future Hall of Famer like Craig Kimbrel can eventually run out of gas. Chapman is the outlier because he has kept doing this since 2010.
Kimbrel and Chapman, by the way, both debuted in the same year.
What fans want is simple: spend to fix the bullpen. But the Nationals have tried that route before.
In 2019, the front office had to get unusually creative to build what was basically a two-man “A” bullpen with Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson, a “B+” group of Fernando Rodney and Wander Suero, and a rest-of-the-roster mix of “B-” and “F” arms. That regular-season bullpen finished with a 5.68 ERA, and that number is very real.
The 2026 bullpen sits at 5.02 after today’s meltdown.
The issues go beyond talent. Usage, coaching, development, and plain old execution have all played a role.
Riley Cornelio’s outing yesterday against Sean Murphy showed how quickly things can go wrong: in a righty-righty matchup, Cornelio threw three straight sliders, hung one, and Murphy turned it into a three-run homer. The scouting report said Murphy does his worst damage against four-seam fastballs, and Cornelio never threw one.
There were two outs when the hanging slider got launched.
So yes, it is broken. And when you’re running position players out of the bullpen and leaning on arms who probably should not be in MLB, the results shouldn’t surprise anybody.
In Other News...
Nationals Were Helpless As Ronald Acua Jr. Made More Braves History
Ronald Acua Jr. kept adding to a rsum that already looks unlike anyone elses, and the Nationals were in the middle of it Friday night. Atlantas star outfielder stole a base early and later drove a three-run homer in the seventh inning of a 9-0 Braves win, the kind of all-around performance that reminded everyone why his mix of power and speed has become so rare in modern baseball.
The bigger takeaway for Washington was how quickly Acua has now separated himself from the rest of the sports elite company. By reaching the 200-homer, 200-steal mark in record time, he moved past Alfonso Soriano for a place that may stand for a long while, and he did it in a game where the Nationals never had a real answer for him or Atlantas lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Affiliate Let A Winnable Week Slip Away In Painful Fashion
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By the end, the Senators were left with the kind of series that lingers because it never felt far out of reach. After splitting the first two games and hanging around through the middle of the week, Harrisburg still had openings to seize control, only to watch Chesapeake close with the better finish and leave the Nationals affiliate searching for what slipped away. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Farm System Suddenly Has A Health And Depth Story To Watch
The Nationals affiliate scoreboard had a little of everything lately, from Harrisburgs 7-3 loss to Altoona to Fredericksburgs 8-3 win over Wilson, but Wilmington was the club that most pointed toward the bigger picture. The Blue Rocks beat Hudson Valley 5-0 behind a run of strong pitching, and the kind of efficient, tidy outing that keeps a farm system relevant is exactly what Washington wants to see as the summer wears on.
Wilmingtons shutout bid had enough momentum to make the night feel bigger than a routine minor league result, especially with the staff working deep into the game and the lineup doing its part early. The health-and-depth angle matters too, because the organization is watching for more than just box scores right now, and the next layer of that story runs through who is getting closer, who is being tested, and how much pitching help might be on the way. [Read more 🡒]