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Nationals Designate Dominic Smith For Assignment

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The Nationals announced Tuesday that they’ve designated first baseman Dominic Smith and right-hander Cory Abbott for assignment. Washington has also granted righty Andres Machado his release so that he can pursue an opportunity in Japan. That slate of moves clears space on the 40-man roster for lefties DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker as well as righties Cole Henry and Zach Brzykcy. That quartet of pitchers is now protected from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Smith, 28, was a first-round pick, longtime top prospect and (more briefly) a quality run producer for the division-rival Mets prior to being non-tendered in the 2022-23 offseason. From 2019-20, Smith treated the Mets to a stellar .299/.366/.571 batting line in 396 trips to the plate. He swatted 21 homers and connected on 31 doubles in that time before stumbling to a .643 OPS over his next two seasons and being cut loose. Smith’s lone year in D.C. brought about a rebound to some extent, as he turned in a .254/.326/.366 batting line with a dozen homers, but that wasn’t enough for the Nats to retain him and offer him a raise in arbitration.

Also 28 years old, Abbott has spent the past two seasons with the Nats. The former Cubs farmhand has logged 87 1/3 innings of 5.87 ERA ball in the Majors with Washington, fanning 21.3% of his opponents against an 11% walk rate. Abbott posted strong minor league numbers up through the Double-A level and once ranked as one of the Cubs’ more promising pitching prospects, but he’s now struggled in both Triple-A (5.46 ERA in parts of three seasons) and the big leagues. He’s out of minor league options as well, which could make it tough for another club to claim him.

Both Abbott and Smith will be traded or placed on waivers within the next week. Both can become free agents if they’re unclaimed.

As for Machado, he’ll start the next chapter of his career overseas — likely on a seven-figure guarantee that wouldn’t have been available to him in North American ball. He’s out of minor league options and not yet arbitration-eligible, so he was likely to lose his 40-man roster spot and spend next year trying to work his way back to the big leagues.

From 2021-22, Machado was a quietly solid member of the Washington bullpen, tallying 91 appearances and 95 innings of 3.41 ERA ball. He benefited from a .264 average on balls in play and had success in spite of pedestrian strikeout and walk rates of 18.3% and 9.9%, respectively.

Some degree of regression appeared in store, but perhaps not to the extent he saw in 2023 when he was torched for a 5.22 ERA in 50 innings despite marked improvements in his K-BB profile (20.8% strikeout rate, 6.3% walk rate). While Machado improved in terms of missing bats and limiting free passes (to say nothing of a 1 mph uptick in fastball velocity, to 96.7 mph on average), he also become staggeringly homer-prone; in 50 innings he served up 12 long balls — 2.34 homers per nine frames (and a home run on 24% of the fly-balls he yielded). He’ll take that plus velocity and improved command overseas, though it’s not yet clear precisely which team he’ll join.

All four of the prospects added to the Nationals’ 40-man roster today rank among their top 30 prospects at MLB.com. Herz is 22 years of age, while the others are all 24. Herz was the Cubs’ eighth-round pick in 2019 and came to the Nats by way of this summer’s Jeimer Candelario trade. He punched out nearly a third of his opponents while working as a starter in Double-A but also issued walks at almost a 14% clip. Injuries have plagued the career of Henry, a 2020 second-round pick with a potentially plus slider and plus-plus changeup. He pitched just 33 1/3 innings this past season. Similar to Herz, Parker is a lefty who missed bats in droves in the upper minors but did so with shaky command. Brzykcy is a bullpen prospect with a power fastball who missed the 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery.

Nationals Select Andrés Machado, Transfer Víctor Robles To 60-Day IL

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The Nationals announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Andrés Machado, with righty Amos Willingham optioned to Triple-A Rochester in a corresponding move. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Machado, outfielder Víctor Robles was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Machado, 30, has been with the Nats since 2021, though he was outrighted off their roster in the offseason. He got added back at the end of April but was clobbered for 16 earned runs in 17 innings, leading to an ERA of 8.47. Having burned all his option years, he was outrighted off their roster again in June and had the right to reject that assignment since it was his second, though he decided to accept and stay in the organization.

Since returning to Rochester, he has thrown 16 1/3 innings with a 4.96 ERA, but with strong peripherals. He’s stuck out 27.9% of batters faced while walking 4.4% of them. A .349 batting average on balls in play and 56.1% strand rate may have pushed some extra runs across, as his FIP is a much more palatable 2.98. That’ll seemingly get him another shot in the Nats bullpen, which is one of the worst in the league. Their collective 5.47 ERA is almost the worst in the majors, just barely better than Oakland’s 5.49. It’s also possible that Kyle Finnegan ends up traded in the next week, since he has garnered some interest.

As for Robles, he was placed on the 10-day IL on June 21 due to back spasms in the lumbar spine, his second IL stint for that issue this year. It seems the club doesn’t expect him back soon, as he’ll now be ineligible to return until mid-August. Andrew Golden of The Washington Post relayed this week that Robles is staying in D.C. for the foreseeable future to do rehab work around the big league club.

It’s another frustrating development for the former top prospect, who has always had speed and defense to offer but generally struggled at the plate. He had hit .233/.306/.359 in his career coming into this season but seemed to show positive strides here in 2023. He has a stronger line of .299/.385/.364 this year while significantly cutting his strikeouts, but the back spasms have limited that to just 36 games.

Robles will be eligible for one more pass through arbitration this offseason, though might not be able to get much of a raise beyond this year’s $2.325MM salary based on all his missed time. He might have been a trade candidate this summer if he were healthy but that’s unfortunately not the case. Players on the IL can be traded but it’s unlikely the interest is high right now, based on his uncertain health status.

Nationals Outright Andres Machado

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Nationals reliever Andrés Machado has gone unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment this week, the club announced. Machado has the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of minor league free agency because he’s cleared waivers multiple times in his career. However, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com tweets the right-hander will bypass the open market and join the Nats’ Triple-A club in Rochester.

Machado opened the season in Triple-A. He tossed 12 1/3 frames of five-run ball to earn a call back to the majors at the end of April. He couldn’t carry that success over against big league hitters. Machado allowed 16 runs over 17 MLB frames, surrendering a staggering six homers in the process. He’s out of option years, so the Nats had to take him off the 40-man roster to send him back to the minors.

The 30-year-old Machado has pitched in each of the last three seasons for Washington. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in both 2021-22 but never had the peripherals to match that decent run prevention. Machado fanned less than 20% of opposing hitters in both years while walking opponents at a slightly higher than average pace. That led to him going unclaimed on waivers over the offseason and again clearing this week.

Washington has made a couple changes in the bullpen in the last few days. The Nats also designated veteran righty Erasmo Ramírez for assignment this morning. The pair of moves has dropped their 40-man count to 38.

Nationals Designate Andres Machado For Assignment

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June 6: The Nationals have now made these moves official.

June 5, 1:28pm: The Nationals are recalling righty Jordan Weems from Triple-A in a corresponding move to the Machado DFA, per Talk Nats (Twitter link). Weems is already on the 40-man roster, so the Nats’ 40-man will simply drop to a count of 39 players for the time being. It’ll be Weems’ second stint of the season with the Nats. He tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames earlier in the year and has a 3.75 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in 24 Triple-A innings.

9:29am: The Nationals designated right-hander Andres Machado for assignment Sunday, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, although the team has not yet announced the move or a replacement for Machado in the bullpen.

Machado, 30, was an oft-used member of the Washington bullpen in 2021-22, appearing in 91 games and pitching to a 3.41 ERA in 95 innings. Those solid bottom-line results came despite pedestrian strikeout and walk rates (18.8% and 9.9%, respectively) and came with a well below-average .261 average on balls in play, contributing to some far less favorable grades from fielding independent metrics (4.56 FIP, 4.45 SIERA).

They also likely aided in the Nationals’ successful effort to pass Machado through waivers unclaimed back in January, when he was designated for assignment after the team signed outfielder Corey Dickerson to a one-year contract. Machado remained with the organization and was selected back to the big league roster at the end of April.

It’s been a tough go for the right-hander since his return. Machado has appeared in 14 games and been clobbered for 16 runs on 25 hits and six walks in 17 innings. He’s punched out just 15.4% of his opponents against a 6.4% walk rate, and opposing hitters have already connected for six home runs — more than half the number he allowed (11) in total from 2021-22.

Machado is throwing harder than ever before, averaging 96.8 mph on his fastball this season, but the uptick in velocity hasn’t done him any favors. Machado has seen a slider that ranked as his best pitch in 2021 hit increasingly hard across the past two seasons, which has prompted him to instead favor his changeup as his primary secondary offering. The changeup has been a good pitch for him this year, but his four-seamer, sinker and now-seldom-used slider have all been hit hard.

The Nats will have a week to trade Machado or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team to acquire him would need to carry him on the big league roster. Because he was also outrighted back in January, Machado would have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency even if he once again goes unclaimed on waivers.

Nationals Select Andres Machado

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The Nationals have selected the contract of right-hander Andres Machado, per a team announcement. To make room for Machado on the 40-man and active rosters, the club designated left-hander Anthony Banda for assignment.

Machado, 30, made his MLB debut with the Royals during the 2017 season. Machado struggled badly in his first taste of big league action, surrendering nine runs on 10 hits (two home runs) and three walks while striking out just one in 3 2/3 innings of work. After that disastrous debut, Machado wouldn’t return to the big leagues until he joined the Nationals in 2021. Machado has put up solid numbers for Washington since then, with a 3.41 ERA (117 ERA+) in 95 innings of work the past two seasons, though his 4.55 FIP leaves plenty of reason for caution.

Heading out in favor of Machado is Banda, a 29-year-old lefty currently in his seventh season in the majors. The journeyman has a 5.69 ERA in 118 2/3 innings of work during his career, during which he has played for seven different clubs. That includes what has been a very difficult stint in Washington during which Banda has allowed five runs in seven innings of work. Without Banda, the Nationals have no left-handed relievers in their bullpen, though Jose Ferrer and Matt Cronin are both on the 40-man roster as possible options down the road.

Nationals Announce Several Roster Cuts

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TODAY: Adams will wait until at least Tuesday to decide on his future, the infielder told Mark Zuckerman and other reporters.  He’ll report to the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate unless another team presents a clear big league opportunity in the coming days.

MARCH 25: With Opening Day now less than a week away, teams around the league are making their final roster decisions. The Nationals announced several such decisions today, with right-hander Paolo Espino and infielder Jeter Downs getting optioned to the minors, while non-roster invitees right-hander Alex Colome, Andres Machado and Wily Peralta were all reassigned to minor league camp. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com spoke to manager Dave Martinez about the roster configuration, who added that first baseman Matt Adams has been informed that he won’t be making the club.

These moves bring the club’s roster down to 26, which suggests everyone who has not been cut has made the team. However, it seems that is not set in stone, with the Nats staying open to a late waiver claim or perhaps some other player become available by an opt-out. “There’s no set roster right now,” Martinez said. “We still have decisions to make. We probably won’t make any decisions until we go back to D.C.” Several veterans on minor league deals have opt-outs they could trigger this weekend and other players could wind up on waivers as teams make their final roster decisions, so the Nats aren’t carving things in stone. However, the cuts do seem to indicate who won’t be on the club.

Espino, 36, seems like he could be the first one called if the Nats need another starter. With Stephen Strasburg on the shelf for the foreseeable future and Cade Cavalli set to miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, the club’s rotation has already taken a couple of hits. It seems like they will start the year with Patrick Corbin, Trevor Williams, Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore and Chad Kuhl as the top five, with Espino staying stretched out in Triple-A.

“I think I’ve done a really good job in spring,” Espino said. “But at the same time, I have options. There’s always a possibility (of getting demoted) having options. I know some of the guys, most of them, don’t have options. It’s just part of the game, part of baseball, and some decisions they have to make. For my part, I’m just going to go where they send me and I’m going to put in the innings I need to do to get the job done. And hopefully be back up soon.”

Of the five aforementioned rotation members, only Gray and Gore can be optioned, but they are two of the club’s top prospects. Getting them big league experience is a priority for the team this year, which seemingly nudged Espino down to the minors. Kuhl is not yet on the 40-man but can opt out of his minor league deal today if he doesn’t get a spot. Espino operated as a swingman for the club last year, posting a 4.84 ERA in 113 1/3 innings. It seems highly likely he’ll get another shot in the big leagues as soon as health or fatigue among the other pitchers warrants it.

Colome and Machado, meanwhile, both seem likely to factor into the Nats bullpen at some point this season, while Peralta could feasibly contribute in either role, given 139 of his 258 career appearances have come as a starter, though the Nationals mostly used him as a reliever during camp. Of course, Colome and Peralta will both have the ability to opt out of their contracts this weekend, should their wish to do so.

With ten seasons under his belt as a big league reliever, Colome is among the more experienced options at Washington’s disposal for their bullpen, but with a 4.82 ERA (92 ERA+) since the start of the 2021 season, it’s easy to wonder if the 34 year old Colome might not reclaim the success he saw from 2016 to 2020, when he posted a 2.62 ERA (163 ERA+) in 274 2/3 innings while racking up 138 saves for the Rays, Mariners, and White Sox.

Machado, 29, has posted a 3.41 ERA (117 ERA+) in 95 innings of work in the big leagues since making his Nationals debut in 2021. That being said, underlying metrics don’t rate the right-hander’s work so highly, with subpar strikeout (18.3%) and walk (9.9%) rates explaining his 4.56 FIP over the past two seasons. Peralta, meanwhile, provides the Nationals with a veteran swing-man who has posted a 4.29 ERA (95 ERA+) in 911 1/3 innings of work over ten seasons in the major leagues.

On the positional side, Downs was among the more highly regarded prospects in baseball in the lead-up to the 2020 season, when he was shipped from Los Angeles to Boston as part of the Mookie Betts deal. Since, then, however, Downs has struggled mightily, with a .661 OPS in 180 games at the Triple-A level. Downs figures to attempt to right the ship in Triple-A with the Nationals to begin the season, and could supplant Ildemaro Vargas as a middle infield option for the big league roster sometime this season if he manages to bounce back.

Adams was a member of the World Series champion 2019 Nationals, though he struggled to a .226/.276/.465 slash line in 111 games that season. A power bat with a high strikeout rate, Adams stood as the primary challenger to Michael Chavis for a role as a pinch hitter off the bench. That role appears to be poised to go to Chavis while Adams, 34, will decide whether or not to try his luck in another organization or stick with the Nationals.

Nationals Outright Andrés Machado

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The Nationals announced that right-hander Andrés Machado has cleared outright waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment last week when the club signed outfielder Corey Dickerson.

Machado, 30 in April, tossed 59 1/3 innings for the Nats last year with a 3.34 ERA. Despite those solid results, there were reasons for the Nats to be bearish. Machado’s 17.6% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate were both worse than league average, with a .267 batting average on balls in play helping him keep runs off the board. The opposite was true in the minors, as a .375 BABIP led to a 5.82 ERA in 17 Triple-A innings.

Beyond the work on the mound, Machado is also now out of options. The Nats optioned him seven times over the past couple of seasons, clearly valuing his ability to move on and off the roster as needed. That was no longer going to be possible this year, giving him a little less hold on a spot at the fringe of the roster.

Machado will now stick in the organization and serve as depth but without occupying a roster spot. Players with more than three years of MLB service time can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but Machado is still shy of the two-year mark.

Nationals Designate Andrés Machado For Assignment

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The Nationals have officially announced their deal with outfielder Corey Dickerson. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, reliever Andrés Machado was designated for assignment.

Machado, 30 in April, has spent the past two years with the Nats as a depth reliever, getting frequently optioned and recalled as needed. He’s thrown 95 innings over those two seasons with a solid 3.41 ERA. His 9.9% walk rate and 43.6% ground ball rate in that time were both roughly average, but his 18.3% strikeout rate was a few ticks below par.

Machado’s opponents have registered a .264 batting average on balls in play against him, which is on the low side. For example, the league average in 2022 was .289, a 25-point difference. A pitcher can sometimes earn a lower BABIP than average by minimizing hard contact, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Machado. Statcast only places him in the 23rd percentile among qualified pitchers in terms of average exit velocity, 15th in hard hit rate and 27th in barrel rate.

It’s possible that good luck was helping Machado keep earned runs off the board. Whether that’s true or not, he’s now out of options, giving the club less versatility in using him on the roster. They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. If another team were to acquire him, he has between one and two years of service time and has yet to reach arbitration. Though he hasn’t racked up huge strikeout numbers in the big leagues, he did average over 95 mph on his fastball in 2022. He also struck out 26.6% of Triple-A batters faced in the past two years.

Roster Moves: Blue Jays, Nationals

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The Blue Jays have placed Trevor Richards on the 15-day injured list with a neck strain and recalled Matt Gage to take his roster spot, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter). The oft-used Richards actually leads the American League right now with 29 appearances, though the aggregate numbers are none too impressive for the veteran righty. Richards owns a 6.59 ERA/5.79 FIP with a 33-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Richards has particularly struggled of late, with a 13.50 ERA over his last eight appearances.

  • The Nationals placed rookie Evan Lee on the 15-day injured list with a left flexor strain, recalling reliever Andres Machado to take his roster spot, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com (via Twitter). Lee had been pitching out of the bullpen, leaving his appearance yesterday with the injury. Machado helps the bullpen immediately, which is especially important after a doubleheader yesterday. Machado, 29, has made 17 appearances on the year for the Nats with a 5.48 ERA/4.87 FIP across 23 innings.
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