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Matt Adams Announces Retirement

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Veteran first baseman Matt Adams has announced his retirement from baseball. The 36-year-old penned a lengthy farewell to the sport he loves and thanked his teammates, coaches, clubhouse staff, fans and family in a statement you can read in full on Adams’ social media accounts (X link and Instagram link). Adams will sign a ceremonial one-day contract with the Cardinals next week, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, giving him the opportunity to retire as a member of the organization that first selected him in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft.

The 6’3″, 260-pound Adams made his big league debut just three seasons after being drafted, getting a May/June look during his age-23 season and hitting .244/.286/.384 in his first taste of the majors. By 2013, he’d establish himself as a fixture in the Cardinals’ lineup, hitting .284/.335/.503 and popping 17 homers in just 319 plate appearances. “Big City” went on to produce solid offense in the middle of the order from 2013-17, hitting a combined .272/.317/.473 with 73 homers, 97 doubles and six triples in 1762 plate appearances from ’13-’17.

After moving Matt Carpenter to first base for the 2017 season, the Cardinals no longer had regular at-bats for Adams at first base, however. An early-season injury to Freddie Freeman in Atlanta created an opportunity, and the Cardinals flipped Adams to the Braves in exchange for then-prospect Juan Yepez. Adams caught fire in Atlanta, hitting so well early in his time there that Freeman even briefly moved across the diamond upon his return from the IL and played 16 games at third base as a means of keeping both lefty sluggers in the lineup (prior to the NL’s implementation of the designated hitter).

Adams hit free agency that offseason and signed with the Nationals on a one-year deal. He hit well as the Nats’ primary first baseman (.257/.332/.510), and when the Nats wound up embarking on a late-August sell-off that year, Adams found himself on the waiver wire, where he was claimed — by the Cardinals. His return to St. Louis didn’t go as well as his original stint, however. He slashed just .158/.200/.333 in 60 plate appearances over the season’s final six weeks.

Adams became a free agent again at season’s end, and almost one year to the date of his original deal with the Nationals, he re-signed in Washington on another one-year contract in D.C. It was a fateful return, as although Adams hit only .226 with a .276 on-base percentage, he provided a key source of lefty power and big bat off the bench in what wound up being the Nationals’ Cinderella season. Adams belted 20 homers for manager Davey Martinez’s club as the Nats embarked on a near-unfathomable rebound from a 19-31 start to win the 2019 World Series.

That 2019 season marked the last in which Adams saw even semi-regular action in the majors. He returned to Atlanta for a brief spell in 2020, appearing in 16 games but struggling at the plate. He had a similarly brief run with the Rockies in 2021, logging 22 games and again finding it difficult to recapture his form. Adams spent the 2022 season with the Kansas City Monarchs of the independent American Association and returned to the Nationals organization in 2023, though he spent the entire year with their Triple-A club. He’s been playing with the Mexican League’s Toros de Tijuana this season (.272/.309/.491, 13 homers) but will now formally call it a career just two weeks after turning 36.

Adams doesn’t sound like someone who plans to be away from baseball for long. In his retirement statement, he expressed an eagerness to travel down a new path within the game.

“I’m excited to seek out opportunities in coaching, where I can continue to contribute to the sport I love,” wrote Adams. “Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of taking on a mentoring role as a veteran player. Through that experience, I’ve found a new way to love the game — one that allows me to share my knowledge and help guide the next generation of athletes. That’s the direction I’m eager to explore. … I look forward to the chance to keep competing and winning, this time from a different vantage point.”

With his playing days now formally in the rearview mirror, Adams will turn the page on a career that saw him bat .258/.306/.463 in 2614 major league plate appearances. Along the way, he totaled 624 hits, including 118 home runs, 130 doubles and six triples. Adams scored 297 runs in his career, plated 399 of them, and participated in three different postseasons (2013, 2014 and that 2019 World Series season). He suited up for four major league teams and earned nearly $15MM in salary while accruing more than eight years of big league service. Best wishes to Matt as he takes the next step in his baseball journey.

Why The Nationals Could Pursue A Juan Soto Reunion

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The regular season hasn’t even drawn to a close yet, but there’s already ample anticipation regarding what a potential Juan Soto free agency will look like. The 26-year-old superstar will hit the market as the top free agent and one of the most coveted talents in the history of free agency. A bidding war between the Yankees and Mets is already widely expected, and big-money clubs like the Dodgers, Blue Jays and Giants have also been speculated as potential landing spots. Nary a major free agent goes by without Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller at least throwing his hat into the ring. Other clubs will surely be in the mix.

Among the other potential suitors, writes Jorge Castillo of ESPN, could be Soto’s original club. The Nationals “would love a reunion” with Soto, reports Castillo, though it’s not yet clear whether ownership will be willing to offer more than they did when Soto rejected a 15-year, $440MM extension. That decision floored many fans, but it’s proved prudent in the long run. That 15-year term would’ve included Soto’s final two arbitration seasons. He earned a combined $54MM in those two seasons anyhow. Soto need “only” top the remaining $386MM to come out ahead on the gambit, and it would be stunning if he fell short of that mark, given his age, track record and sensational platform season for free agency.

Could that offer still come from the Nationals? It’s impossible to know precisely where the Lerner family (who own the Nationals) lie in terms of their comfort level, but there’s reason to believe they could put forth an even larger offer than last time.

For one, the Nats were in the nascent stages of a rebuild when they made that original offer to Soto. Max Scherzer and Trea Turner had been traded to the Dodgers at the prior season’s deadline. The Nationals weren’t close to competing then but are exponentially closer to doing so now, thanks in no small part to the return they received from trading Soto in the first place. MacKenzie Gore has seized a rotation spot. CJ Abrams has solidified himself as their shortstop, second-half slump notwithstanding. Outfielder James Wood was ranked the top prospect in baseball when he debuted in July. Fellow outfielder Robert Hassell III and left-hander Jarlin Susana are still in the minors.

It also bears emphasizing that the Lerner family was exploring a potential sale of the team at the time. That process began early in 2022. Several potential ownership groups spoke to the current owners about the possibility, but two years later, managing principal owner Mark Lerner (the son of the late Ted Lerner, who passed away in 2023) publicly stated that his family is no longer looking to find a buyer. “We have determined, our family has determined, that we are not going to sell the team,” Lerner told the Washington Post in February.

That shift in long-term planning obviously carries ramifications with regard to how the Lerner family might allocate its resources. While putting forth a $400MM+ offer amid a potential sale process shows a clear willingness to spend, there were also presumably limits as to how much money ownership wanted to put on the long-term books. Any interested buyers would effectively be on the hook for paying out the remainder of that sum, after all — particularly since the offer reportedly did not contain any deferred money (a departure from their prior big-money contracts, which nearly all included deferrals).

Now, more than two years after that extension offer was made, the Nats are closer to contention and have a far cleaner payroll outlook. This is the final season of Patrick Corbin’s six-year contract. The only players guaranteed any money beyond the current year are Stephen Strasburg, whose career is over but who is still signed through 2026, and catcher Keibert Ruiz, whose relatively modest $50MM extension runs through 2030 and comes with a $6.25MM average annual value. Consider that at their peak in 2019, the Nationals finished the season with a hefty $205MM payroll, per Cot’s Contracts. The Nats can absolutely afford to make a competitive offer and build out a team around him and the rest of their emerging core.

On that note, while any team would move pieces around to make room for Soto in its outfield mix, that likely wouldn’t even be necessary for Washington. The Nats currently have Wood, defensive standout Jacob Young and top prospect Dylan Crews in the outfield. Young is an elite defender but carries just a .255/.315/.336 batting line on the season. He could easily be shifted to a fourth outfield role, or he could play center regularly while the trio of Wood, Crews and Soto rotated through the two corner spots and designated hitter. Getting at-bats for all of those names wouldn’t be particularly challenging.

On top of all that, the Nats themselves still know Soto as well as or better than any team in the game. The majority of the team’s key figures were all in place when they originally signed and developed Soto. Mike Rizzo has been the Nats’ president of baseball operations and general manager since being hired back in 2009, when Soto was 11 years old. The Lerner family has owned the Nats since the former Expos moved from Montreal to D.C. in 2006. Davey Martinez managed every game of Soto’s big league career before he was traded to the Padres. There are of course others in the organization, ranging from coaches to scouts to executives, who are holdovers from Soto’s days in D.C.

The broader question is likely one of whether Soto would want to return to a Nationals club that doesn’t have the look and feel of a present-day contender. He’d need to buy into the team’s farm system and the future and upside of players like Wood, Crews, Abrams, Gore, top prospect Brady House and others. His familiarity with Rizzo and particularly Martinez (with whom he’d interact on a daily basis) would certainly be a prominent factor, but Soto has also surely built rapport with key officials in both San Diego and the Bronx as well. Unless the Lerner family absolutely blew every other bidder out of the water, Soto going back to Washington would likely need to be at least somewhat based on nostalgia and fond memories of his original organization.

Still just 25 years old (26 in October), Soto is poised to land the largest contract ever signed by a position player — likely the largest contract in MLB history in terms of net present value. Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700MM deal is the current benchmark, although given the colossal slate of deferrals on the deal, the contract’s net present value is nowhere close to that total sum; Ohtani’s deal comes with a $46MM luxury hit, and the MLBPA calculated the NPV to be $437.5MM.

Some might wonder whether Soto and agent Scott Boras would consider a similar deal, though Boras’ comments in the aftermath of that Ohtani deal suggest otherwise. Speaking with Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic, Boras suggested that the deflated NPV of Ohtani’s contract was generally underwhelming for a player of his caliber: “The market remains status quo. No average annual value at or above $44 million. Clear evidence of a strategic and managed effort.” Readers can form their own opinions on the merit of that stance, but it seems to be a clear indicator that Boras will be looking to set a more concrete new precedent in terms of present-day value when he takes his own unicorn free agent to the market this winter.

Soto is already a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger winner (he’ll win a fifth this season), a World Series champion and a Home Run Derby champion. He’s a lifetime .285/.421/.533 hitter in the majors, and he’s currently enjoying the best 162-game season of his career, on a rate basis. He’s slashed .289/.418/.580 with a career-high 39 home runs while walking in 18% of his plate appearances against just a 16.2% strikeout rate. He’s on track for a fifth straight season walking more often than he’s struck out.

By measure of Statcast, Soto ranks in the 94th percentile or better among all MLB players in terms of average exit velocity, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, bat speed, chase rate, expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, expected wOBA and walk rate. He’s ultra-durable, averaging 155 games per season from 2021-23, and will match or exceed that pace again in 2024, barring a late injury. Defense has been a knock on him in the past, but Soto has delivered the best defensive grades of his career this season. Statcast credits him with 97th percentile arm strength. He has below-average but not plodding speed, which does limit his range and restrict him to the outfield corners.

The Nats and other clubs know all this quite well, of course. Soto is due for a record-setting contract. Everyone expects as much. The incumbent Yankees figure to be viewed as the favorites, but competition will be steep, and there are plenty of reasons to think Soto’s original club could emerge as a genuine threat in the bidding war to come.

Travis Blankenhorn Elects Free Agency

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The Nationals announced that infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn elected free agency following last week’s DFA. The left-handed hitter had that right once he cleared waivers because he has been outrighted multiple times in his career. Washington took him off the 40-man roster when they claimed reliever Michael Rucker from Philadelphia.

Blankenhorn has gotten to the majors in five consecutive seasons without ever getting consistent playing time. He has tallied exactly 100 trips to the plate at the highest level. That includes 32 plate appearances since the Nats selected his contract around the time of the trade deadline. Blankenhorn only hit .129 with one walk and nine strikeouts in that limited look. He has a career .154/.230/.264 slash against MLB arms.

While he hasn’t performed in his sporadic MLB chances, the 28-year-old has a solid minor league track record. Blankenhorn popped 23 home runs in Triple-A for the Nats a year ago. He connected on another 26 longballs in 106 contests with their top affiliate this season. Blankenhorn has power but has also struggled to make contact consistently in the minors. That continued this year, as he fanned in 26% of his plate appearances.

A third-round pick of the Twins in 2015, Blankenhorn has also had a brief stint with the Mets and spent time in the Mariners’ and Dodgers’ farm systems. He should be able to find another minor league opportunity heading into 2025. Speculatively speaking, his Triple-A power numbers could lead to offseason interest from teams in foreign leagues as well.

Nationals Claim Michael Rucker, Designate Travis Blankenhorn

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The Nationals announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Michael Rucker off waivers from the Phillies and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by designating infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn for assignment. Rucker was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Washington’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.

The 30-year-old Rucker was designated for assignment by the Phillies earlier this week when they selected Nick Nelson’s contract from Triple-A. The Phils picked Rucker up in a cash deal with the Cubs back in February after he’d been designated for assignment in Chicago. He never got into a game with the Phillies in the majors, instead spending most of the season on the 60-day injured list owing to an arterial vasospasm in his right hand. The Phils reinstated and optioned him prior to the trade deadline. He’s pitched 26 minor league innings this season and been tagged for a 6.58 ERA, with the bulk of the damage coming in Triple-A.

Grim as Rucker’s run-prevention has been, his 26.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate are both fine marks (particularly the former). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a strong 45.2% clip. Rucker, however, has been plagued by an astronomical .479 average on balls in play during his time with the IronPigs.

As recently as 2022, Rucker was a solid member of the Cubs’ bullpen. He pitched a career-high 54 2/3 innings and logged a 3.95 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in that time. His followup effort in 2023 resulted in a more troubling 4.91 ERA in 40 2/3 frames, but his strikeout and walk numbers remained generally serviceable and his grounder rate spiked to a strong 51.4%. Overall, Rucker carries a 4.96 ERA in 123 1/3 innings as a major leaguer.

As for Blankenhorn, he’s spent the past two seasons as a depth option in the Nationals’ system, appearing in a combined 23 games and batting .145/.232/.210 in 69 trips to the plate. Those are obviously woeful numbers but come in a small sample; Blankenhorn popped 23 homers for the Nats’ Rochester affiliate last season while batting .262/.360/.517, and he’s tallied another 26 big flies in Triple-A this year while hitting .238/.322/.499.

Originally a third-round pick by the Twins back in 2015, Blankenhorn has bounced around the diamond in his pro career, seeing time at all of the non-shortstop infield positions and in both outfield corners. He’s a career .154/.230/.264 hitter in exactly 100 big league plate appearances but carries a more productive .254/.343/.489 slash and 74 homers in 363 Triple-A games. This is Blankenhorn’s final minor league option season. He’ll presumably clear waivers and soon become a minor league free agent, whether by rejecting an outright assignment or by exercising that right at season’s end.

Nationals Select Darren Baker

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September 1: The Nationals have officially announced the selection of Baker’s contract. Right-hander Trevor Williams was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Baker on the 40-man roster, and righty Zach Brzykcy has been recalled from the minors to fill the additional pitching roster spot created by today’s roster expansion. Brzykcy’s first appearance will be his MLB debut. The righty’s impending call-up was firs reported by Talk Nats.

August 31: The Nationals are planning to select the contract of second baseman/left fielder Darren Baker on Sunday, according to the Talk Nats feed (X link).  Some space will need to be cleared on Washington’s 40-man roster, but a corresponding move on the active roster might not be necessary, since rosters expand from 26 to 28 players on Sunday.

A 10th-round pick for the Nats in the 2021 draft, Baker isn’t considered one of Washington’s top 30 prospects by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.  However, he has been red-hot at the plate in August, building his season-long slash line to .285/.348/.340 over 483 plate appearances with Triple-A Rochester.  While he doesn’t offer much power, Baker makes a lot of contact and is a threat on the basepaths, with 38 steals in 43 attempts this season.

Baker has primarily played second base and left field during his minor league career, but might not get a ton of action at either position since Luis Garcia Jr. and James Wood (both left-handed batters, like Baker) are established in everyday roles.  Baker has played a bit of center field so he could get some platoon work up the middle with Jacob Young, and he could join the DH mix with the likes of Juan Yepez, Andres Chaparro, and veteran Joey Gallo.

Baker will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in a game, but the 25-year-old is no stranger to the big leagues.  The son of legendary manager Dusty Baker, Darren became known to fans when he was just three years old, and working as a batboy for the father’s Giants team during the 2002 World Series.  During Game 5, Baker was running towards home plate to pick up Kenny Lofton’s bat after a two-run triple, and might have been run over by baserunner David Bell if J.T. Snow hadn’t quickly grabbed the youngster out of harm’s way after Snow scored earlier on the play.

That incident led to the league instituting a rule that all batboys had to be at least 14 years old, and thus “the Darren Baker rule” has already ensured Baker some level of notoriety within baseball history.  Now, he can create a new name for himself by officially becoming a Major League player, and continuing the Baker family’s on-field legacy in the game.  (Current fans may know Dusty Baker best as a manager, but the elder Baker was a two-time All-Star and former NLCS MVP during an outstanding 19-year playing career.)

Nationals Promote Dylan Crews

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Aug. 26: The Nationals have formally selected Crews’ contract, per a team announcement. Their 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Aug. 25: The Nationals announced that they have optioned catcher Riley Adams to Triple-A, making room for Crews to join the active roster tomorrow.

Aug. 23: The Nationals are planning to promote prospect Dylan Crews, reports Grant Paulsen of MLB Network Radio on X. Crews will be making his major league debut when the Nats host the Yankees on Monday. The young outfielder is not currently on the club’s 40-man roster but they already have a vacancy there. Unless they use that roster spot over the weekend, only a corresponding active roster move will be necessary.

Crews, now 22, was selected with the second overall pick in last year’s draft, after his Louisiana State teammate Paul Skenes was taken first by the Pirates. Crews put up huge numbers at the plate throughout his college career and carried that over into his professional career. After drafting him last summer, the Nats got his feet wet with some time at the Complex League level, Single-A and Double-A. He slashed .292/.377/.467 in 159 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 135.

Coming into 2024, Crews was already considered one of the top ten prospects in the sport and he has continued to justify that status here in 2024. The Nats started him at Double-A and he got into 51 games at that level this year. He slashed .274/.343/.446 for a 122 wRC+ while also stealing 15 bases. He was then promoted to Triple-A and has played in 48 games at that level, producing a line of .271/.343/.464 and a 108 wRC+ while swiping another 10 bags.

In addition to that strong work at the plate and on the basepaths, Crews is considered a strong defender who could stick in center field for the long term. The Nats have given him a bit of time in the corners but have mostly had him up the middle, and will likely view him as a fit there for the future.

With his ability to contribute in all facets of the game, he is unanimously viewed as one of the best prospects in the sport at the moment. Baseball America currently lists him fourth overall, though fellow Nat James Wood is listed #1 and has since graduated from prospect status, effectively putting Crews in the #3 spot. The other two guys ahead of Crews are already in the majors: Jackson Holliday of the Orioles and Junior Caminero of the Rays. FanGraphs has Crews at #6, with MLB Pipeline at #3, ESPN at #12 and Keith Law of The Athletic at #7.

The Nats have been in rebuilding mode for a few years and have been gradually building a core of young and controllable talent. In addition to the aforementioned Wood, they have shortstop CJ Abrams, pitcher MacKenzie Gore and others. Their record is 58-70 this year, well out of contention, so they can focus on playing young players and getting them acclimated to the big leagues.

It’s likely not a coincidence that Crews is being promoted at this part of the calendar, as the Nats should be able to keep his rookie status intact for 2025. To lose rookie status, a position player needs to either spend 45 days on an active roster or log 130 at-bats. There are now less than 45 days left in the 2024 season, so the Nats will undoubtedly manage his playing time in such a way that he doesn’t get to that 130 at-bat threshold.

That is significant due to the prospect promotion incentive. In an attempt to mitigate service time manipulation, the collective bargaining agreement allows clubs the chance to earn an extra draft pick if they promote a top prospect for a full season and that player goes on to win Rookie of the Year or meet other awards voting criteria. By keeping Crews a rookie for 2025, the Nats will have a chance to reap that reward if he ends up sticking on their roster for all of next year.

For now, it will be interesting to see how the Nats deploy Crews in the outfield. As mentioned, Crews is considered a capable defender in center but has seen some time in the corners. The Nats currently have Jacob Young, one of the best defensive center fielders in the league. Young has hit just .248/.308/.318 this year for a 79 wRC+ but he has 13 Defensive Runs Saved and 18 Outs Above Average. That OAA total is tops among all fielders at all positions this year, while the DRS mark is third among center fielders behind Jarren Duran and Daulton Varsho.

Perhaps the club will have Wood in left, Young in center and Crews in right, though they could also have Alex Call in right and bump Young down to fourth outfielder status. Call is slashing .347/.429/.531 this year in his 112 plate appearances.

Regardless of how they disperse the playing time, it’s yet another promotion that is part of the Nats putting together a young group they can build around. As they push towards opening a new competitive window, their payroll slate is fairly clean. With the Patrick Corbin contract off the books after this season, their two notable commitments will be for catcher Keibert Ruiz and retired star Stephen Strasburg. Perhaps that will make them an interesting player in the upcoming offseason, though that might depend on how their young players perform in the remainder of the schedule.

Nationals Place Alex Call On 10-Day Injured List

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The Nationals have placed outfielder Alex Call on the 10-day injured list due to a partial left plantar fascia tear.  As initially noted by The Nats Report X feed, catcher Drew Millas will be promoted from Triple-A to take Call’s spot on the active roster.

While pursuing a pop-up in the second inning of yesterday’s 3-2 Nationals loss to the Braves, Call fell to the ground in obvious pain, and he had to be carted off the field.  As ominous as the injury looked, Call told reporters that he has been trying to play through a case of plantar fasciitis, and the Talk Nats feed reported earlier today that an MRI indeed revealed a fascia tear rather than initial concerns of a torn Achilles or a broken foot.

Call will visit a specialist to determine how to best proceed with treatment, and since the Nationals aren’t in contention, the chance exists that Call might just be shut down for the remainder of the season if his recovery period will stretch too close to the end of the season.  Some fascia tears can prove beneficial overall since a clean tear would lessen the ongoing discomfort in Call’s foot, but the Nats’ description of the injury as a partial tear leaves some doubt about Call’s situation.

It’s a tough setback for Call, who has quietly been one of baseball’s hottest hitters since Washington brought him up from Triple-A in July.  Between this hot stretch and a seven-game stint on the Nationals’ roster earlier this season, Call is hitting .343/.425/.525 with three homers over 113 plate appearances in 2024.  A hefty .403 BABIP is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on that production, but Call has been doing his part by making a lot of contact and also getting on base via a 10.6% walk rate.

After Lane Thomas was traded to the Guardians at the deadline, Call stepped into the everyday right field job and cemented himself in the lineup with his hot bat.  In terms of how D.C. will fill the spot now that Call is injured, the replacement is coming on Monday when star prospect Dylan Crews will make his Major League debut.  Call’s IL placement didn’t change the timeline on Crews’ promotion, so Joey Gallo or Ildemaro Vargas figure to handle right field duties this weekend until Crews arrives Monday.

Nationals Select Joe La Sorsa, Place Derek Law On 15-Day IL

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TODAY: The Nationals officially announced that La Sorsa’s contract has been selected.  In other moves, righty Joan Adon was also called up from Triple-A, while the Nationals placed left-hander Robert Garcia on the bereavement list and placed right-hander Derek Law on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow flexor strain.

Despite the serious-sounding nature of Law’s injury, he told reporters (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post) that he thinks he’ll be back to normal in 5-6 days time.  Law’s elbow has been bothering him for over a week, ever since pitching during rainy conditions in the Nationals’ 9-5 loss to the Giants on August 8.

AUGUST 16: Left-handed reliever Joe La Sorsa is on his way from Triple-A Rochester to join the Nationals, per Andrew Golden of the Washington Post (X link). Golden notes that La Sorsa might not be activated for today’s game, however. MLBTR has confirmed that La Sorsa is indeed headed to Philadelphia to join the Nats, and a source says he’ll have his contract selected following tonight’s game. He’ll formally join the roster tomorrow. The Nats have a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding 26-man roster move to accommodate the southpaw.

La Sorsa, 26, appeared in 25 big league games during last season’s MLB debut and pitched to a 4.41 ERA with a 19.3% strikeout rate and 6.2% walk rate in 32 1/3 innings between the Rays and Nats. Washington outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in December but has kept him in Triple-A as a non-roster player all season.

Things have gone well for La Sorsa with the Red Wings. He’s appeared in 42 games and logged 56 innings of relief with a pristine 2.25 earned run average. His 18.2% strikeout rate there is several percentage points shy of average, but he’s helped to offset the lack of whiffs with pinpoint command (4.9% walk rate) and a hefty slate of grounders (50.9%). La Sorsa now sports sub-3.00 ERA marks at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels in his career.

The Nats already have a pair of lefties in the bullpen in Robert Garcia and Jose A. Ferrer, although the latter has struggled considerably since returning from a long stay on the 60-day injured list due to a lat strain. However the Nats decide to make room for him, La Sorsa should be getting a legitimate audition down the stretch. If he performs well over the final five-plus weeks of the 2024 campaign, it’s easy to see the Nats keeping him on the 40-man roster this time around. La Sorsa still has two minor league option years remaining, so he could be an up-and-down depth arm for manager Davey Martinez next year even if he doesn’t carve out a permanent spot in the bullpen just yet.

Nationals Outright Jordan Weems

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The Nationals announced Friday that right-hander Jordan Weems cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment a couple days back. Weems has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, should he choose.

The 31-year-old Weems has logged 136 innings out of the Nats’ bullpen dating back to 2022, sandwiching a sharp 2023 campaign between a pair of tough seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s been tagged for a grim 6.70 ERA with career-worst 17.9% and 12.2% strikeout and walk rates, respectively, in 2024. He’s just one year removed from a 3.62 earned run average, 25.9% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings, however. In 155 2/3 career innings between the A’s, D-backs and Nats, Weems has a 5.26 ERA.

Now that he’s cleared waivers, Weems can choose between free agency and reporting to Rochester. If he stays in the Nats organization, he’d have the right to become a minor league free agent at season’s end anyhow, as is true of all players with three-plus years of service who are outrighted off a major league roster and not added back by the end of the season.

Nationals Release Harold Ramirez

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August 14: Washington announced on Wednesday that they’ve placed Ramirez on unconditional release waivers.

August 13: The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of infielder Andrés Chaparro and right-hander Orlando Ribalta, two moves that were previously reported. In corresponding moves, they designated infielder/outfielder Harold Ramírez and right-hander Jordan Weems for assignment.

Ramirez, 29, enjoyed a pair of productive seasons with the 2022-23 Rays, hitting a combined .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, but he stumbled badly out of the gates in 2024 and yet to recover. The righty swinger posted a nice .268 batting average in 169 plate appearances with Tampa Bay but couldn’t couple that with any on-base or extra-base value; he managed only a .284 OBP and slugged just .305. Ramirez was designated for assignment on June 7 and released after no team wanted to acquire/claim the remainder of his $3.8MM salary.

Following his release, Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Nats and was back in the majors just a couple weeks after his release. He’s appeared in 25 games with Washington but hasn’t fared much better at the plate, hitting .243/.273/.365 in 77 plate appearances. The rebuilding Nationals will now use his roster spot to take a look at the younger Chaparro — another right-handed bat that they acquired in the deadline trade sending reliever Dylan Floro to Arizona.

Weems, 31, has been a regular presence in the Washington bullpen since 2022. He’s piled up 136 innings as a Nat but logged a combined 5.03 ERA in that time. Weems sandwiched an impressive 2023 showing between a pair of lackluster seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s pitched 41 2/3 innings this season but been rocked for a 6.70 ERA with a career-low 17.9% strikeout rate and a career-worst 12.2% walk rate (excluding the 20% walk rate he notched in 5 2/3 innings back in 2021).

Weems reached three years of big league service in 2024 and is out of minor league options. That means the Nats would’ve had to tender him a raise in arbitration this winter and carry him on the big league roster to begin the 2025 season. They’ll instead move on from the right-hander and, as with Ramirez, turn that roster spot over to a more youthful option who’s posted some interesting numbers in the minors this year.

With the trade deadline now behind us, the Nationals’ only course of action with Ramirez and Weems will be to place them on either outright waivers or release waivers. The other 29 clubs will all have a chance to claim them. (Ramirez’s salary is still being paid by the Rays, so he’d only cost a new team the prorated league minimum.) Both will have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, by virtue of their MLB service time.

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