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The Biggest Trade In Nationals History Looks Better Every Day

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The 2022 Nationals found themselves at a crossroads. Washington had sold at the prior year's trade deadline, shipping Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers, sending Kyle Schwarber to the Red Sox, dealing Daniel Hudson to the Padres and trading Jon Lester to the Cardinals. The organization's steadfast hope had been that even while rebuilding, Juan Soto would be at the heart of those efforts to build back up. Longtime general manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged as much in June, plainly stating on the record that he had no intention of trading Soto.

The Nats offered Soto an extension reportedly worth $440MM in guaranteed money. It would've been the largest deal in MLB history at the time. Only after Soto turned that offer down -- drawing plenty of criticism for doing so -- did Washington begin to seriously explore the possibility of trading him. Moving the game's best young hitter when he had two and a half seasons of club control remaining was no small undertaking. It'd require a seismic haul of young talent -- the type of prospect package that several interested parties simply didn't have the inventory to assemble. Most other clubs simply couldn't stomach the asking price.

A limited market of suitors for Soto emerged. To no one's surprise, the hyper-aggressive Padres entered the bidding and made a strong push. San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller throws his hat in the ring when nearly any star-caliber player is available. From the moment Soto hit the market, the Padres -- then armed with one of baseball's best farm systems -- were among the most logical landing spots.

San Diego indeed wound up reeling in their big fish, and it took the type of trade haul we might not see again for years to come. Soto and Josh Bell went from the Nats to the Padres in exchange for shortstop CJ Abrams, left-hander MacKenzie Gore, outfielder James Wood, outfielder Robert Hassell III and right-hander Jarlin Susana. The Padres also sent first baseman Luke Voit to the Nats as something of a financial counterweight, and in a separate deal they shipped Eric Hosmer -- who'd invoked his no-trade rights to block his inclusion in the Soto trade -- to the Red Sox.

It was a jaw-dropping haul. Abrams, Gore and Hassell had all been top-10 draft picks within the past five seasons. Abrams was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport at the time. Gore had struggled through some mechanical issues in the upper minors but was only a few years removed from being one of the consensus top pitching prospects in the game. Wood was a 19-year-old who was just a year removed from being a second-round pick, and his stock was firmly on the rise at the time of the swap as he ripped through A-ball. Hassell entered the 2022 season as a top-40 prospect in the game. Susana was only 18 at the time of the trade and was in his first season of pro ball after signing out of his native Dominican Republic; Baseball America likened his upside to that of a high schooler who might go in the first round of the MLB draft.

While not every blockbuster trade pans out -- Washington hasn't gotten a ton of value from that Scherzer/Turner stunner, for instance -- the Soto trade has produced a bumper crop that seems likely to form the nucleus of the next contending Nationals club.

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Nationals Release Lucas Sims

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The Nationals announced that they’ve placed veteran reliever Lucas Sims on release waivers. They’ll make a corresponding bullpen move tomorrow. They now have a vacancy on the 40-man roster.

It’s an abrupt end to what proved to be a brief stint in Washington. Sims was on the mound for the Nats roughly an hour ago. He had a nightmare outing in a blowout loss to the Cardinals. Sims entered in the eighth inning with the Nationals trailing 6-0. He hit a batter (his MLB-leading seventh HBP of the season), walked four more, and gave up a hit in a three-run inning. He recorded two outs before being lifted for Andrew Chafin.

Sims joined the Nats a one-year, $3MM free agent deal early in Spring Training. He made 18 appearances but proved far too prone to blow-up outings. He allowed multiple runs in six appearances, including each of his last two. His Washington tenure concludes with 19 runs allowed across 12 1/3 innings. He issued 14 walks while recording 13 strikeouts.

It continues an incredibly challenging stretch for Sims, who was a high-leverage bullpen pickup for the Red Sox as recently as last summer. He carried a 3.57 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate over 35 1/3 innings with the Reds leading up to the trade deadline. Boston acquired him for A-ball pitcher Ovis Portes. Sims’ production tanked immediately with the Sox. He allowed 10 runs on as many walks while picking up nine strikeouts in 14 innings. A minor lat strain cost him a couple weeks in September.

Sims will remain on waivers for the next two days. Another team would need to assume his remaining salary to claim him. No one is going to do that. He’ll clear and become a free agent. The Nats will pay the remainder of his salary aside from the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time he spends in the majors with another club. The control issues will probably limit him to minor league offers.

Latest On Nationals’ Rotation

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The Nationals reinstated right-hander Michael Soroka from the 15-day injured list earlier today and he started their afternoon contest against the Guardians. Right-hander Eduardo Salazar was optioned as the corresponding move. TalkNats reported yesterday that Soroka would be reinstated to retake his spot in the rotation and relayed that manager Dave Martinez said righty Brad Lord would be moved to the bullpen.

Lord started the season in the bullpen but stepped up to take a rotation spot when Soroka hit the IL due to a right biceps strain. Lord took the ball six times and gave the Nats some fairly competent work, posting a 4.44 earned run average in 26 1/3 innings with an 18.9% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate. In spite of those decent numbers, moving him to the bullpen makes sense, as the other rotation candidates have more experience than he does. Most of them are having pretty good seasons as well, to varying degrees.

MacKenzie Gore is having a huge season so far, with a 3.33 ERA in 46 innings, and that’s underselling it. His 36.4% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate are both strong numbers. If it weren’t for a .343 batting average on balls in play, he would have allowed even fewer runs, which is why his FIP is 2.74 and his SIERA is 2.37. It’s a somewhat similar situation with Trevor Williams. His 18.8% strikeout rate is only about half of Gore’s but his 6.9% walk rate is good and he has allowed a .360 BABIP. Though his 5.86 ERA isn’t pretty, his 4.16 FIP and 4.25 SIERA suggest he deserves better.

Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker are a bit to the other side. Irvin has a 3.94 ERA despite a tepid 16.8% strikeout rate, with a tiny .230 BABIP and an 80.6% strand rate helping him out. His 5.08 FIP and 4.55 SIERA suggest there’s a bit of luck in that ERA. Parker has a 3.48 ERA even though his 12% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate are both rough numbers, though his 45.7% ground ball rate is good. His .223 BABIP makes ERA estimators less optimistic, particularly his 5.63 SIERA.

As for Soroka, today was just his second start of the season, as he landed on the IL after his first. Today’s outing started well but finished poorly. He had eight strikeouts through five scoreless innings but then the sixth innings went single, single, hit-by-pitch, bases-clearing double by Carlos Santana. Soroka was then pulled but the bullpen allowed Santana to score, adding that to Soroka’s ledger. He therefore finished with four earned runs allowed in five-plus innings pitched.

Soroka debuted way back in 2018 and then finished second to Pete Alonso in 2019 National League Rookie of the Year voting. However, it’s not currently clear if he can stick in the rotation. After that excellent 2019 season, he spent much of the next few years injured, mostly due to due tearing his right Achilles twice. He had some mixed results with the White Sox last year, posting a 6.39 ERA though nine starts and getting moved to the bullpen. Over his final 24 1/3 innings, pitching in a multi-inning role, he posted a 1.48 ERA with a massive 42.7% strikeout rate.

The Nats signed him to a one-year deal with a chance to retake a rotation job. Since he’s mostly been injured this year, it’s still to be determined whether that will work out or not. The Nats gave him $9MM this year, so they’re motivated to let him try. The benefits of him succeeding as a starter are simply higher than if he’s a good reliever, whether that’s helping their club in 2025 or getting traded at the deadline.

Lord will be in relief for now but another rotation shot in the future is plausible. Pitcher injuries are fairly inevitable. Soroka is also on a one-year deal and figures to be a trade candidate in the coming months. Williams is on a two-year deal and could be moved this summer as well if his results even out. Gore is surely less likely to be moved but he only has two remaining seasons of club control after this one, so rumors may pop up. On the other hand, Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray could be healthy and back in the mix later in this year as well while Shinnosuke Ogasawara is currently on the 40-man and pitching in Triple-A.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sousa, Imagn Images

Nationals Sign Adrian Sampson To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals signed righties Adrian Sampson and Parker Dunshee to minor league contracts this evening. Both players were assigned to Triple-A Rochester, which announced the moves.

Sampson is the far more experienced of the duo. The 33-year-old righty has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. He has worked 292 2/3 innings in a swing role, turning in a 4.43 earned run average. Sampson’s 17.5% strikeout rate isn’t especially impressive, but he throws enough strikes to be a serviceable depth arm. He spent all of last season working out of the rotation for the Rangers top affiliate. Sampson posted a 5.64 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout percentage against a solid 7.2% walk rate through 28 appearances in a tough setting in the Pacific Coast League.

Texas never promoted Sampson last year, and he returned to minor league free agency at season’s end. He’d remained unsigned throughout the offseason but now gets another opportunity. Shinnosuke Ogasawara and prospect Andry Lara are on the 40-man roster and working out of the Rochester rotation. The Nats are light on non-roster rotation depth. Joan Adon and Konnor Pilkington have some big league experience but are working mostly in relief (exclusively in Adon’s case) in the minors this year.

Dunshee, 30, is a former A’s draftee who received a cup of coffee with the Braves last year. He made one appearance for Atlanta, allowing five runs over 2 1/3 relief innings in his big league debut. The Wake Forest product had strong numbers at the top two levels of the Braves’ system, however. He combined for a 3.34 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opposing hitters over 59 1/3 frames. Dunshee was bombed for five runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Mexican League earlier this year, but he’ll get a chance to work out of Rochester’s bullpen.

Colin Poche Elects Free Agency

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Left-hander Colin Poche has elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, as the Nats announced earlier tonight.  Washington designated Poche for assignment earlier this week and he cleared waivers, but he had the ability to opt into free agency since he has more than five years of MLB service time.

Poche inked a minor league deal with the Nationals back in February and made the team’s Opening Day roster, but the results weren’t pretty.  The southpaw had an 11.42 ERA over 13 games and 8 2/3 innings with D.C., with more walks (12) than strikeouts (10).  With that rough month in the books, the Nats decided they’d seen enough, and DFA’ed Poche to make room for another veteran lefty reliever in Andrew Chafin.

While a small sample size, Poche’s struggles are a marked departure from the solid numbers he posted with the Rays from 2022-24.  He had a 3.86 ERA over 37 1/3 innings in 2024, but Tampa Bay chose to non-tender Poche rather than pay him $3.4MM in a projected arbitration salary.  While the Rays’ always-tight budget was certainly a factor in the decision, Poche’s strikeout rate has been on the decline (21.6% last year), and he spent time on the injured list with both shoulder and back problems in 2024.

The 31-year-old Poche will now search the market for a fresh start and another minor league contract.  Despite his poor numbers this year, he seems likely to catch on somewhere given his still-recent success in Tampa, and the ever-present need around baseball for left-handed pitching.

Nationals Sign Andrew Chafin To Major League Deal

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6:15pm: Chafin’s contract with the Nationals guarantees him $1MM, according to Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post.

5:45pm: The Nationals announced that they have signed left-hander Andrew Chafin to a one-year major league deal. Fellow lefty Colin Poche has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Chafin was with the Tigers on a minor league deal but had an opt-out in that pact. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Chafin was signing with the Nats prior to the official announcement.

Chafin, 35 next month, is a veteran with over a decade of solid relief work. He has logged 508 1/3 innings for various clubs, allowing 3.42 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 25.9% of batters faced, given out walks at a 10% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a 48.1% pace. He had a strong performance in 2024, with a 3.51 ERA between the Tigers and Rangers. His 12.6% walk rate was quite high but he also bumped his strikeout rate up to 28.5%.

Despite those good numbers, he lingered unsigned through the winter and somewhat surprisingly had to settle for a minor league deal with Detroit in late February. It still seemed like the Tigers would add him to the roster at the end of camp but that didn’t come to pass.

Chafin was an Article XX(b) free agent this winter, which is any player with at least six years of major league service who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Such players get uniform opt-out dates on minor league deals, provided they sign more than ten days prior to Opening Day. The opt-outs are five days prior to Opening Day, May 1st and June 1st.

Though he didn’t break camp with the club, Chafin decided to report to Triple-A Toledo. He put up great numbers for that club, tossing 12 2/3 innings with a 2.13 ERA, 31.5% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate. That’s obviously a small sample of work but, as mentioned, Chafin also has a lengthy résumé of big league success.

Despite that strong performance, the Tigers never called him up. They are seemingly content with their lefty relievers Tyler Holton, Brant Hurter and Sean Guenther. Chafin apparently triggered his opt-out and landed with a club that has a greater need for his services. The Nationals have used Poche and Jose A. Ferrer as their southpaw relievers this year, with disastrous results so far. Poche has an 11.42 ERA through 8 2/3 innings, with Ferrer at 7.36 through 14 2/3.

The Nats aren’t really expected to contend this year, currently sporting a record of 13-18. Regardless, Chafin can give them a veteran lefty presence in the bullpen for now. If he performs well for the next few months, they will be able to trade him for a prospect or two at the deadline.

Poche should end up on waivers in the coming days. As mentioned, he has had a rough start to the season. He has walked 12 batters faced already, an awful rate of 26.1%. Given those struggles, he’s likely to clear. He had to settle for a minor league deal in the offseason and obviously hasn’t improved his stock since cracking Washington’s Opening Day roster.

He will likely be able to find a minor league deal somewhere based on his previous track record. With the Rays from 2022 to 2024, he tossed 156 2/3 innings with a 3.27 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Paul DeJong Likely Out Until All-Star Break

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Nationals infielder Paul DeJong is on the 10-day injured due to a fractured nose he suffered when an errant pitch hit him in the face. Manager Dave Martinez tells Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post that he probably won’t be back until around the All-Star break.

“I think now they said about a month before he can actually do any activities,” Martinez said. “Hopefully we get him back sometime around the All-Star break, but we’ll see. I mean, only time will tell now. So it’s just about healing with him right now.”

It was April 15th when DeJong suffered the aforementioned HBP. As seen in the video from MLB.com, a pitch from Mitch Keller sails up and in and hits DeJong in the face. Though he was able to walk off the field after that scary situation, he was visibly bleeding and had to hold a towel to his face. Last week, Martinez told reporters that DeJong would undergo surgery on his nose, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Per Jon Heyman of The New York Post, that surgery would take place on April 28th, repairing his sinuses and orbital plate.

In the wake of that surgery, it seems DeJong is still a month away from getting back in any kind of action. Assuming that comes to pass, he’ll spend the month of June ramping up activities before going out on a rehab assignment, which could put him in line to return at some point in July.

The Nationals likely signed DeJong with the hope of trading him midseason. DeJong was flipped prior to the deadline in each of the past two seasons. The Cardinals traded him to the Blue Jays in 2023, getting minor league righty Matt Svanson in return, though his performance tanked with Toronto. He was released, landed with the Giants, struggled some more and was released again. He bounced back with the White Sox last year and was traded to the Royals, with the Sox netting right-handed pitching prospect Jarold Rosado in the swap.

Washington wrapped up its fifth straight losing season in 2024, with no clear short-term answer at third base. Prospect Brady House is the hopeful long-term answer, though he struggled in his first taste of Triple-A in 2024. The Nats signed DeJong to a one-year, $1MM deal this winter. Ideally, he could have played well for a few months, enough to be traded again. At that point, perhaps House would have been able to take over for the second half.

Things haven’t gone according to that script thus far. DeJong hit .204/.246/.278 through his first 57 plate appearances, striking out in 42.1% of them. With this injury absence, he won’t have too much time to improve that line before the July 31st trade deadline. Even though he’s had modest trade value in recent years, his performance has been highly volatile. He has a 32.1% strikeout rate dating back to the start of 2023. He has 38 home runs in that time but his combined .217/.266/.387 line leads to a 79 wRC+.

Since DeJong hit the IL, José Tena has been the regular at the hot corner. He’s hit .286/.302/.381 for a wRC+ of 88 this year. It wouldn’t be a shock to see House called up at some point, as he’s hitting .297/.363/.485 for a 127 wRC+ in Triple-A this year. On the other hand, his .400 batting average on balls in play will surely come down and he’s striking out in 29.2% of his plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Nationals Release Stone Garrett

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The Nationals have released outfielder Stone Garrett, reports Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post. Garrett opened the season in Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment in spring training but cleared waivers and remained with the organization as a non-roster player.

The 2025 season hasn’t been kind to the 29-year-old Garrett. He’s tallied 51 plate appearances with the Red Wings and recorded an anemic .087/.176/.130 batting line with a mammoth 43.1% strikeout rate. He has just one hit and 13 strikeout in his past 31 plate appearances with Rochester.

Garrett has appeared in parts of three major league seasons between the Nationals and Diamondbacks. In that time, he’s a .276/.341/.492 hitter — 25% than league average, per wRC+. There’s plenty of reason to take that output with a hefty grain of salt, though. Garrett has benefited from a .369 average on balls in play and has gone down on strikes in 30.2% of his major league plate appearances.

Big league playing time has been scarce for Garrett in recent seasons, thanks largely to injury. He suffered fractures in his fibula and ankle when crashing into the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium in 2023 and spent more than eight months recovering. He logged just six MLB plate appearances in 2024 and spent the rest of the season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he hit only .249/.348/.333 in 79 games.

At his best, Garrett has shown himself to be capable of clobbering left-handed pitching. He’s a career .279/.333/.541 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, and while his BABIP (.362) and strikeout rate (30.8%) even in those situations point to regression, his power against lefties is legitimate. He’ll need to show more than he did in Rochester this year, but the track record and two remaining minor league option seasons should help him find a minor league deal with another club.

MLB Announces Suspensions Following Nationals-Pirates Incident

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TODAY: Lopez had his suspension reduced to two games after his appeal, and he’ll start serving that suspension today.  (MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman was among those to report the news.)

APRIL 17: Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Nationals reliever Jorge Lopez and manager Davey Martinez have received suspensions after a Lopez fastball to Andrew McCutchen sailed high-and-tight, nearly hitting McCutchen in the head. Lopez has received a three-game suspension, which he will appeal. Martinez was suspended for one game and will serve that punishment today. (Managers cannot appeal suspensions of this nature.) Bench coach Miguel Cairo will manage in his place.

The errant pitch to McCutchen eventually prompted both benches to clear. Tensions had already been high. Mitch Keller had hit Nats infielder Paul DeJong in the face a day prior, breaking his nose and sending him to the injured list. Lopez had first hit Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds with a pitch before losing the handle on another offering to McCutchen, the very next batter. Lopez was ejected from the game.

The league’s announcement indicates they believe Lopez to have been “intentionally throwing” at McCutchen. Lopez has denied that, and even McCutchen himself suggested after the game that he didn’t believe there was intent behind the pitch.

“It’s just the nature of the situation,” McCutchen replied when asked postgame about the incident (video link via MLB.com). “Take it as is, even if it wasn’t on purpose, which I don’t think it was. I think the height of the moment just got to him, maybe. One got away from him, similar to [Keller]. … Just thankful I was able to move out of the way.”

Command troubles aren’t exactly new for Lopez. He’s walked 10.5% of his opponents this season, hit another pair of batters, and has been charged with a wild pitch. That all comes in just 7 2/3 innings of work. Dating back to 2021, Lopez has pitched 312 1/3 big league innings and walked nearly 10% of the batters he’s faced. He’s also hit another 29 batters — 2.1% of his opponents, well north of league-average — and been charged with 22 wild pitches.

Signed to a one-year, $3MM contract over the winter, Lopez got out to a nice start with the Nats before stumbling in his past two outings. Through his first six frames, he held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts. He’s since been tagged for seven runs in a total of just 1 2/3 innings, ballooning his earned run average to 10.57 on the young season.

Lopez logged a 2.89 ERA, 23% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 51% grounder rate in 53 innings between the Mets and Cubs last season. He collected 10 holds and four saves along the way. In 183 innings from 2022-24, he recorded a 3.74 earned run average with 30 saves and 21 holds.

Nationals Place Paul DeJong On Injured List With Broken Nose

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  • The Nationals placed Paul DeJong on the 10-day injured list before Wednesday’s loss in Pittsburgh. The veteran infielder suffered a broken nose during Tuesday’s contest. Mitch Keller lost control of a 93 MPH fastball that ran up and hit DeJong in the face. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com relays that DeJong spent the night in a Pittsburgh-area hospital for observation and was released on Wednesday. Signed to a $1MM free agent deal, DeJong opened the year as Washington’s third baseman. He’d spent time at shortstop with CJ Abrams shelved by a hip flexor strain. Amed Rosario and Nasim Nuñez are handling the left side of the infield with both players out. DeJong has opened the season with a .204/.246/.278 showing in 57 plate appearances.
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