The swap of Jose A. Ferrer for Harry Ford brought the Nationals their potential catcher of the future. It also left an already-thin bullpen without a clear closer for the upcoming season. The rebuilding club is unlikely to pursue an impact reliever in free agency. If they make a move, it’ll likely be finding a cheap veteran with closing experience in the hopes of flipping them at the trade deadline after a few months of decent production.
The Nationals ranked dead last in bullpen ERA by a significant margin in 2025. The team was 0.4 runs worse than the next-closest team (Colorado). Washington has been able to rely on Kyle Finnegan for the past few seasons. The righty threaded the needle of being capable of holding down the job, while not being talented enough to leave via trade or free agency. He fell back into the Nats’ lap in late February after garnering minimal interest on the open market. Washington moved him to Detroit at the trade deadline.
The Finnegan trade led to the emergence of Ferrer, who earned 11 saves over the final two months of the season. The hard-throwing lefty’s overall numbers weren’t amazing, but a 3.24 SIERA and a 3.43 xFIP suggested the best was yet to come. Ferrer will now join Seattle’s elite bullpen.
Washington has a new general manager and a first-time skipper. It’s the perfect time to unearth a stud reliever out of a rag-tag mix of arms. So who could the closer-in-waiting be?
After multiple years as one of the organization’s top pitching prospects, Henry moved to a relief role in 2025. Persistent injury issues kept the 2020 second-round pick from putting it all together as a starter. Henry opened the season in the minors, but was quickly promoted to the big-league club. He slowly worked his way into a high-leverage role. The righty finished the season with 10 holds, which ranked behind only Ferrer. He also notched a pair of saves.
Henry has the fastball to be a closer. The 26-year-old’s four-seamer sits in the mid-90s with well-above-average arm-side movement. The pitch held hitters to a .191 batting average and recorded a +4 Run Value. Henry’s curveball is a decent complement, with its solid whiff rate and tight shape. As a former starter, Henry unsurprisingly used a deep pitch mix, but his sinker, cutter, and changeup were unremarkable. The key will be narrowing down an arsenal he can throw for strikes. Henry had a 13.3% walk rate, which ranked in the second percentile. He posted a miserable 85 Location+.
If the season started today, Beeter would likely draw the 9th-inning assignment. He finished just behind Henry with nine holds and also chipped in a save. Beeter closed the season with a save and five holds over his final seven appearances. Interim manager Miguel Cairo leaned on him when Ferrer faltered down the stretch. He’s another former starter who recently made the move to the bullpen.
Beeter has the strikeout numbers of an elite reliever. After multiple minor league seasons with a strikeout rate above 35%, he’s continued to punch out hitters in the majors. Beeter has a 31.9% strikeout rate across 29 MLB innings over the past two years. It’s a straightforward repertoire, just an upper-90s fastball and a hard slider. Beeter’s slider had a massive 49.1% whiff rate last season. It was responsible for 29 of his 33 strikeouts. Beeter had a 2.97 xFIP with the Nats, so his 2.49 ERA seems somewhat legit. If there’s an internal option who could rack up 15 saves and be on the move in late July, it’s probably Beeter.
PJ Poulin or Konnor Pilkington
Washington only has two left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster, so while Poulin and Pilkington are locked into MLB roles, neither is likely to be reserved for the 9th inning. A free agent addition of the southpaw variety would probably be the only way for one of them to step into the gig. If that happens, there’s a route toward Poulin or Pilkington vying for the job.
Poulin would be a non-traditional pick, even as lefties go. His heater barely cracks 90 mph, and he walks too many hitters for a soft-tosser. But, he did compile a 2.10 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A in Detroit’s system in 2024. He had multiple stops with big strikeout numbers, including a 33.7% strikeout rate with Triple-A Toledo before getting claimed by the Nats.
Pilkington’s velocity jumped up in the Nats’ bullpen compared to his days as a starter with the Guardians. He was sitting above 94 mph as a reliever this past year. Pilkington missed bats at an above-average rate, but walked too many and was barreled too frequently.
Grissom has steadily worked his way up Washington’s system, reaching Triple-A this past season. While he stumbled with Rochester, there’s enough of a minor league track record to believe Grissom could make an impact with the big-league club. He posted a 2.21 ERA across two minor league levels in 2024. That earned Grissom an invite to MLB Spring Training in 2025. He also played in the Futures Game this past year, where he went up against his dad (who was managing the AL team). Grissom has totaled 27 saves in the minors over the past three seasons. The fact that he isn’t on the 40-man roster hurts his chances, but the club doesn’t have many obvious impact relievers in the minors.
A team bereft of reliable starters outside of MacKenzie Gore probably can’t afford to keep Lord in the bullpen, though his stuff is enticing there. Lord scooped up seven holds in a hybrid role last season. He was sitting at 96 mph at times as a reliever. Lord put together a two-month stretch from mid-May to mid-July with a 2.70 ERA and a 23.5% strikeout rate over 26 relief appearances. He doesn’t have a clear answer for lefties (which will be a problem as a starter), but the fastball/sinker/slider combo could play with the velocity bump out of the bullpen.
Looking at the options I’d say Chad Cordero is barely older than Jesse Chavez and seems as suitable as any of those guys at this point. Tho Clayton Beeter has a nice name which I’ve resisted making further comments about.
Man I remember the Chief. Had such a promising career that just fizzled out.
Sportrac shows the Nationals 23rd in payroll out of 30 teams at $116M. You would think they would be considered a bigger market team and spend a bit more.
Another example of how being a big-market team is more a choice than a condition. Like when Seidler bought the Padres and they were suddenly a “big-market” team because he wanted to spend to win.
Theyre considered a revenue sharing team. Their market is big, their owners are just miserly.
One of my favorites of the original Nats. He was never the same after his labrum tear, back when that was rhe kiss of death for pitchers.
Seems odd to mention Henry’s control issues but not Beeter’s, which are arguably worse (17.3% walk rate, 86 Location+).
This team, on paper, is so far from relevency it is staggering. They have staked so much on Dylan Crews as a can’t miss star. If he flames out it will set the rebuild back even further. Honestly, the highlight will probably be in December when they are lottery eligible, agsin. They have had pretty good luck with the ping pong bslls.
Sad but true. The bullpen being the biggest issue undoubtedly. It’s not impossible that the young guys break through to create a legitimately solid offense… but that includes multiple guys breaking out and multiple guys building on what they were (like wood heavy a FULL season as a superstar), etc.
Its because they have owners that are so far from spending … and they’ve reset the clock for another 5 of the same. Hopefully they sell.
Just hope it’s a hottie that does it.
Still think the importance of a closer is overrated. The better hitters come up in the 8th inning a lot.
Well yes, that’s how the Nats got away with using Finnegan for the last few years. But, you still need a guy to fill the job.
You don’t need one guy. Three will do.
Need a top five set of high leverage relievers, a pair of lefties is preferable. Its nice to have a lock it down bull in the ninth. Always exciting when the designated closer takes the mound.
Closer by committee seemingly a better option playing the matchups and the statistics and Id say in the long run, there could be an edge playing the ninth in that manner but not enough of one to eliminate the position.
Id rather have a guy in the role of closer, creates some healthy competition amongst your group internally and that can be good for everybody.
Most imortantly, having a set closer makes it easier for us fantasy managers, lol. Although I do enjoy speculating on who will win the role when there is a competition.
I havent played since Trout’s rookie season. I plucked him on waivers the first week he was available.
I was thinking about playing again but NFBC instead of Yahoo, not for winning money, mostly for titles. A lot of nuances in the league configurations and there is a learning curve to each but I may play again.
I mostly make picks on moneylines. That has been my focus but I thought about giving it up and going the route of beat writer. Undecided, I’m really against the ABS and it had me contemplating giving the game up entirely.
Plenty of pitchers with closing experience still available and many could be had on 1 year or minor league contracts
Craig Kimbrel is available
No
Some kinda decent-ish closing options still available on the market. The bullpen is going to be bad enough, probably not a bad idea to take a flier on one of them and hope they don’t suck and relegate everyone else to roles they have less pressure
Michael Kopech makes a lot of sense here. Even beyond him though are guys like Luke Jackson, Liam Hendricks, Paul Sewald and so on. They will most likely add one of those guys, another RHed arm and honestly even a lefty because Pilkington’s cracks showed as the season went on. I’d say Kopech, Jalen Beeks and Tyler Kinley make a fair amount of sense as guys who could be traded later but help stabilize the ‘pen to start the season.
Nationals just selected their closer in the rule 5 draft.
The one with the funny name?
I only care because of fantasy so I’ll be paying attention. Cheap saves are good saves.
Yeah, it was nice having Ferrer on a team late last year. And that’s another reason I like fantasy. It keeps you focused on every team.
100% and makes chatting here easier.
They have been so inactive this year. What is the problem?
Gotta go with Henry here. When he’s on, he can look unhittable. Just need more of that “on”. Maybe the new management can help.
It seems the Nats idea of rebuilding – at least Nats’ ownership’s idea anyway – is to try to position themselves every year to have a chance at the No 1 pick in the draft.