The Nationals just watched one of the top relief options come off the board, and that only sharpened the case for a different name sitting right in front of them.
Evan Phillips is headed to the Braves on a 3-year, $35 million deal, and that move could have a ripple effect in Atlanta. With Phillips in place, long-time Braves closer Raisel Iglesias is unlikely to return, which opens the door for Washington to make a serious run at him. The fit is obvious enough that it would not be a surprise to see the Nats push hard.
Iglesias checks the most important box first: he still gets outs at the back end of games. He has 287 career saves and has spent a decade handling the ninth inning without looking rattled by the moment. He turns 37 in January, but there has been no real drop-off in his production.
Last season, Iglesias put up a 2.55 ERA across 59 appearances and converted 34 of 37 save chances. His run with the Braves was the best stretch of his career, too. Over five seasons in Atlanta, he posted a 2.39 ERA and piled up 131 saves.
There is also the contract angle, and that may be what makes him especially appealing to Washington. Because of his age, Iglesias is unlikely to land a multi-year deal.
That matters, since reports have said the Nats are reluctant to hand out multi-year contracts to relievers. In Iglesias, they could get a proven closer without tying themselves down for years.
That does not mean he would be inexpensive. He signed a 1-year, $16 million deal with the Braves last offseason, and after another strong year, he is likely to be in that neighborhood again. That price might make the Nationals hesitate, but it is the kind of deal that makes sense if they want a real ninth-inning answer.
And after last year, they know what happens when that spot is not settled.
Iglesias earns his results with a mix of funk, movement and enough raw stuff to keep hitters uncomfortable. He has been one of the best chase-rate pitchers in the game, ranking in the 90th percentile or better every year since 2020. This season, he climbed all the way to the 99th percentile, with hitters chasing 39% of his pitches out of the zone.
The changeup is the engine behind all of it. It plays off his mid-90s fastball so well that hitters often start on heater timing before the pitch falls off the table. He also commands it with precision, which only makes the pitch tougher to sit on.
That is the centerpiece, but Iglesias is not a one-pitch arm. He mixes in a 4-seamer, sinker and slider, all coming from a low, funky delivery that helps everything play up.
The result has been the same for most of his career: strikeouts without a lot of walks. In 2026, he struck out 26.8% of hitters while walking only 7.1%.
If the Nationals want late-inning experience but do not want to commit to a multi-year reliever deal, Iglesias stands out as the cleanest solution. There is some age-related risk, sure, but a one-year agreement limits the downside.
Paul Toboni should offer Raisel Iglesias a 1-year $16 million deal to stay in the NL East and close games for the Nats. Iglesias has proven his skillset can age gracefully and he has a ton of closer experience. The Nats can get their 9th inning guy without committing to a multi-year deal.
If Washington ends up in the wild-card race, Iglesias could stabilize the ninth. If the season goes the other way, he would still hold value as a deadline trade chip. Either way, the match makes too much sense to ignore.
In Other News...
James Wood Just Gave Nationals Fans A Bigger Reason To Believe
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Wood did it over 135 games, and the production was hard to miss even with 27 games lost to injury. He finished with 30 home runs and a .388 on-base percentage, the kind of blend that makes him look less like a promising piece and more like a foundational one. The rest of the awards season offered a few more encouraging signs for Washington too, with CJ Abrams drawing support in National League MVP voting, but Woods honor is the one that really changes the conversation around the clubs future. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing of the next lottery is part of the intrigue, too, with the 2027 event expected to land during the Winter Meetings in December unless a possible CBA lockout changes the calendar. For a Nationals club trying to map out its future, the main takeaway is simple enough: plenty remains in play, and the final shape of the draft order is still a long way from settled. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Face A Bullpen Debate Fans May Not Love
The Nationals know the pitching staff needs real work heading into the 2027 season, and the bullpen is part of that larger reset. Ownership is expected to loosen the purse strings a bit, but not enough to chase the top end of the relief market, which points the club toward a more practical, and less glamorous, approach to filling innings.
Instead of handing out expensive bullpen deals, Washington is more likely to lean on waiver claims, short-term veteran signings and maybe a trade or two to patch the group together. The encouraging part is that several young arms flashed late in 2026, giving the front office some internal options, but the bigger question is whether that mix will be enough to satisfy a fan base that has already seen plenty of stopgap pitching plans. [Read more 🡒]