Nationals Rumors

Nationals Willing To Discuss Gio Gonzalez, Jeremy Hellickson

By Jeff Todd | July 31, 2018 at 10:04am CDT

The Brewers are “pursuing” veteran Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). While the Nats have pulled back their relief arms, they are willing to consider scenarios involving Gonzalez or Jeremy Hellickson, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (Twitter link).

It’s an interesting situation for both ballclubs. The Milwaukee outfit is obviously turning over all stones to get a rotation upgrade, as Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. And the Nationals still appear to be dangling some veterans even after deciding not to move Bryce Harper.

It’s not immediately clear why the D.C. organization is willing to listen on those two hurlers. The team doesn’t seem to have replacement rotation pieces lined up. While Gonzalez is expensive ($12MM salary), Hellickson is quite affordable ($2MM base salary with up to $4MM in incentives), so they aren’t quite on equal footing as rental pieces. Perhaps it’s conceivable that the club is angling to add a different starter, though we’ve seen no particular recent rumors to that effect.

Mike Rizzo Says Nationals Will Not Trade Bryce Harper

By Jeff Todd | July 31, 2018 at 9:36am CDT

Nationals president of baseball operations and GM Mike Rizzo has issued a strong statement about his intentions amid speculation that the club has considered trading star Bryce Harper. As Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports on Twitter, Rizzo says: “Bryce is not going anywhere. I believe in this team.”

It’s hardly surprising to see the Nationals land on this stance. After all, for all its struggles this year, the club remains within reasonable striking distance in both the NL East and the Wild Card races. While the club has several high-end players, moreover, Harper remains the most visible member of the organization.

On the other hand, the 25-year-old Harper is heading to free agency at season’s end. If the Nats aren’t going anywhere, they’d surely love to recoup some value for Harper, who’s also still playing on a hefty $21,625,000 salary this year. A qualifying offer seems sure to bring back some draft compensation, unless Harper elects to return to D.C., but that surely won’t be as useful as the potential prospect return in a trade.

To be sure, though, Harper’s value as a rental asset isn’t as great as his name recognition. He has not looked himself for much of the season, with mortal (but still good) offensive numbers and putrid grades for his glovework in the outfield. His salary is a factor, too. Surely, the potential return for Harper weighed into the Nationals’ decisionmaking, though it’s unclear whether that was the major driving force.

While this news seems to take away any realistic possibility of a surprising deal coming together today on Harper, it doesn’t necessarily strip the Nationals of trade deadline intrigue. Notably, however, the Nationals organization is sending signals that it will not move its high-priced relief arms, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). But the organization employs several other expensive pending free agents as well, including one veteran starter who just popped up in a rumor.

Of course, there’s also still at least some potential for the club to consider repositioning or even buy-side moves, particularly if it would mean adding a controllable player who’d make an impact now and in the future. If the team ends up moving a starter, in fact it could conceivably do so in order to facilitate the addition of a different arm. As things stand, there still seem to be loads of possibilities.

Bryce Harper Trade Deadline Rumors

By Jeff Todd | July 31, 2018 at 8:30am CDT

There was a rising sense yesterday evening that the Nationals may increasingly be willing to consider trade scenarios involving long-time franchise superstar Bryce Harper. The team is said to be weighing multiple paths even as the non-waiver trade deadline sits just hours away. We’ll track any developments on Harper’s situation in this post.

The latest:

As Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post notes on Twitter, the Nationals could conceivably move Harper (and other rental assets) while not fully giving up on the present season. That’d be particularly true, she notes, if a Harper swap not only cleared the way for top prospect Victor Robles but also helped the club line up with the Marlins on star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Perhaps there’s potential for the Nats to do something generally similar to what the Red Sox did in 2014, when they shipped core veteran Jon Lester to the A’s for Yoenis Cespedes.
The WaPo’s Jorge Castillo provides rather an interesting nugget of information, tweeting that a rival organization has been left with the impression that Nationals “ownership pulled the plug late last night” on potential trades — including one of Harper. While the phrasing suggests this ought to be taken with a grain of salt, it’s fascinating to contemplate. If true, it would indicate that the Nationals have moved rather far down the line on striking a swap. Of course, it also suggests that a deal may not come together — or, at least, that one potential avenue was shut down for the time being.

Bryce Harper Rumors: 7/30/18

By Jeff Todd | July 30, 2018 at 9:51pm CDT

While the Nationals have done background work in anticipation of a potential pivot to a selling stance, all indications to this point have been that the club has little appetite for offers on superstar outfielder Bryce Harper. That does not mean, however, that there’s no room for trade talks to occur. And there’s increasing indication now that the Nats may be more open than ever to the once-unthinkable possibility of trading a franchise cornerstone in his prime.

Here’s the latest on Harper heading into tomorrow’s trade deadline …

The Nats are “making it known to other teams” that Harper “is indeed available,” per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter). That’s assuredly notable news, though it remains unclear whether the D.C. organization is yet committed to moving Harper. There’s a big difference between being open to taking a big offer, on the one hand, and auctioning a player for the best return possible. It seems doubtful the Nats would do the latter. After all, while Harper is a pending free agent, the team is still in reasonable striking distance of the division and also may have designs on trying to re-sign the franchise’s marquee player this winter. Then again, surely there’s an argument to be made that the club should either hold or sell most of its rental assets rather than only moving a few of them.
Meanwhile, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post presents things in a somewhat less-committed manner. The Nats aren’t ruling out a move, she says, though the precise level of willingness to do a deal remains unclear. As she puts it: “The gap between picking up the phone and actively negotiating is wide, and no one with the team gave any indication of whether they had bridged it.”
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, on Twitter, reconciles things to an extent. The Nats are putting out “feelers,” he says, seeing if some team will go overboard with an offer. It seems, then, that the organization is actively interested in seeing what it can get for Harper, but hardly committed to moving him.

Earlier Updates

The Indians have held discussions with the Nationals on Harper, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, though there’s no indication that the sides have gained any traction. Earlier today, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports noted that Harper would make quite a lot of sense as a target for the Indians — presuming, of course, that the Nats would make him available.

Nats Fielding Offers On Rental Relievers, Also Still Involved In Realmuto Negotiations

By Steve Adams | July 30, 2018 at 3:24pm CDT

3:24pm: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets that the Nationals are indeed taking offers on impending free-agent relievers such as Herrera, Madson and Kelley. However, Rosenthal adds that Washington is trying to pry more away from rival teams than it gave up to acquire Herrera in the first place, seeking top-tier prospects in return.

Passan, meanwhile, tweets that he’s heard even further since writing this morning’s column that the Nationals’ clubhouse is a growing problem, and organizational confidence in Martinez has faded. Nationals ownership has been notoriously fickle with its managerial preferences, and the reported discord between Martinez and higher-ups is merely the latest data point in that bizarre trend.

Beyond all that, Janes now reports (via Twitter) that the Nationals and Marlins have held “extensive” negotiations regarding Realmuto in recent days, but Washington still deems the price tag to be too high. At the same time, they’re also listening to offers on rental players whose subtraction would help to reduce payroll, she adds.

1:27pm: The 52-53 Nationals have emerged as one of the most interesting teams to watch with just under 26 hours remaining before the non-waiver trade deadline. The presumptive NL East favorites sit six games back in a divisional race that has seen them outplayed by the upstart Phillies and Braves to this point in the season.

It was reported late last week that the Nats were preparing for the possibility of selling some veteran pieces in the event that their four-game set against the Marlins didn’t go well. Washington took the first two games of that series, only to see Miami rally and salvage a 2-2 split. The Nats have actually made up a game in the standings since the time of that report, but the talk of a potential sale persists.

For instance, Yahoo’s Jeff Passan kicks off his weekly 10 Degrees column with a lengthy, fascinating exploration of the apparent disarray in the clubhouse of a Nationals team that has underperformed in a transitional year both in terms of on-field management (where rookie skipper Dave Martinez replaced veteran Dusty Baker) and in terms of ownership (after owner Ted Lerner ceded control of the organization to his son, Mark). One source bluntly told Passan that the Nats’ clubhouse “is a mess,” and three others backed that sentiment. The details are well worth a full read-through for anyone, though Nats fans in particular should take a look.

Broadly speaking, Passan goes on to suggest that the Nationals had hoped to win three of four games in the series they split with Miami this weekend, and though the one-game difference may not prove to be pivotal, ownership will be involved as the club weighs potential trades of short-term veterans. There’ll be a substantial swath of names for decision-makers to consider, with Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Madson, Shawn Kelley, Gio Gonzalez, Mark Reynolds, Matt Adams, Daniel Murphy, Brandon Kintzler and Jeremy Hellickson all serving as potential free agents.

The Nationals have not, to this point, given any real consideration to trading Bryce Harper, Passan adds, which aligns with last week’s comments from Mike Rizzo to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, in which the general manager suggested that it’d take “something extreme” in order to consider trading Harper. Heyman, meanwhile, tweets that rival teams believe there’s virtually no chance the Nats will consider moving Harper, whom they hope to retain long-term.

Heyman adds, though, that other clubs expect the Nats to “investigate” possible trades of Herrera, Madson, Kelley and Of course, with so many relievers available on the market, it’s worth wondering just how much the Nationals could even extract for the majority of those bullpen rentals.

Given the sheer volume of rental players the Nationals could potentially peddle to other clubs, it’s also unlikely that there’d even be time to orchestrate an all-out sale. To that end, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweeted even after yesterday’s loss that she’d still be “stunned to see a major fire sale.” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that other teams expect the Nationals to largely stay the course, perhaps preferring to try to pass some players through waivers next month. It’s possible that some smaller-scale moves will come together, but it hardly seems that the Washington front office is prepared for any type of significant tear-down.

In fact, it seems it’s not yet entirely out of the question that the Nats would make a significant addition. Heyman tweets that they haven’t completely closed the door on a late push for Marlins star J.T. Realmuto. More interestingly, he suggests that the Nationals would at least consider parting with prized outfield prospect Victor Robles or top shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom, but the Marlins have been pushing for both to be included in a deal (as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro reported Saturday). Whatever talks have taken place have not been serious enough that anything has been brought to Marlins ownership, tweets Craig Mish of SiriusXM.

Though this isn’t any real indication that a Realmuto deal has a legitimate chance of coming to fruition, Josh Norris of Baseball America tweeted last night that Miami had vice president of player development and scouting Gary Denbo in Durham, where Robles and the rest of the Nationals’ Triple-A club squared off against the Rays’ top affiliate. As ever, it’s probably best not to read too much into one specific scouting assignment, but the timing of the two reports is of at least some note.

Suffice it to say, the Nats seem to have a number of avenues they can explore. While trading short-term veterans and acquiring a big-name player such as Realmuto would seemingly run counter to one another, the two ideas could coexist. Adding Realmuto would give the Nationals a boost for two years beyond the current season, as he’s controllable through 2020. Trading some veteran rentals, meanwhile, would modestly supplement the farm while saving some money that could be put toward adding to a core of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Adam Eaton, etc. this coming offseason. With just over a day to make so many crucial decisions, the Nats will be at the center of much of the intrigue surrounding the 2018 deadline.

NL Notes: Mesoraco, Cubs, Bucs, Nats, Brewers

By Connor Byrne | July 28, 2018 at 8:43pm CDT

There’s not much “momentum” on a trade involving Mets catcher Devin Mesoraco, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets, though he notes that a deal still may come together by the non-waiver deadline on Tuesday. Mesoraco has already been part of one trade this year, as he joined the Mets in May in a deal for now-Reds righty Matt Harvey. The 30-year-old Mesoraco has batted .230/.206/.393 with eight home runs in 219 plate appearances and caught 26 percent of would-be base stealers this season. He’ll be a free agent in the offseason.

Frisaro’s Latest: Straily, Ziegler, Barraclough, Realmuto

By Kyle Downing | July 28, 2018 at 10:44am CDT

Following this past offseason’s fire sale of MLB assets, the Marlins are likely to ship out a few more players in the coming days prior to the non-waiver trade deadline. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro has some updates on the market for a wide number of Miami assets as we approach July 31st.

An Athletics scout paid a visit to Marlins Park this past Thursday, and Frisaro reports that he was there to watch right-hander Dan Straily pitch. Straily fell just short of a quality start in that outing, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts against three walks. Astonishingly, Straily’s been able to hold together a 4.07 ERA this season despite a cataclysmic 5.41 FIP. After flashing improved control across the past two seasons, Straily has relapsed back to a 4.29 BB/9 and dealt with right forearm inflammation at the outset of the season, so it remains to be seen whether he’d be an attractive trade target to the A’s organization that drafted and developed him.
After a rough start to the season that saw him lose his job as the team’s closer, sidewinder Brad Ziegler has rebounded nicely to post a 3.08 ERA in 39 appearances since the start of May (though peripherals paint a worse picture). The Marlins have plenty of potential suitors for the right-hander, Frisaro says, and lists the Cubs, Indians, Red Sox and A’s as potential fits. It’s worth noting that the latter two clubs are already familiar with Ziegler, as he’s spent time pitching for both organizations. The 38-year-old has already been traded twice in his lengthy career, and is playing out the final months of a two-year, $16MM deal.
Ziegler’s not the only reliever fielding interest, Frisaro notes, as nearly a dozen scouts have been in Miami recently to watch Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider and Adam Conley pitch. Last we heard, the Marlins had placed a high price on each of the three, but it’s still certainly plausible that many teams would be willing to pay that price for relievers that come with such controllable relief arms; each of the aforementioned three is under team control through at least 2021.
The Nationals still aren’t having any luck trying to pry catcher J.T. Realmuto from the hands of the Marlins. Frisaro reports that Miami’s NL East rival once again checked in on the club’s best trade asset, but were told that any package for Realmuto would require Washington to fork over both outfield prospect Victor Robles and shortstop prospect Carter Kieboom, both of whom are generally seen as top 100 prospects. Unsurpringly, conversations didn’t go far.

Nationals Place Stephen Strasburg On DL

By Jeff Todd | July 26, 2018 at 4:58pm CDT

4:58pm: An MRI cleared Strasburg of any structural damage in his shoulder, tweets MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. He’s also set to be evaluated by a neurologist.

8:48am: Strasburg is dealing with a pinched nerve in his neck, Janes tweets. In its announcement, the team labeled it a “cervical nerve impingement.”

8:05am: The Nationals have placed righty Stephen Strasburg on the 10-day DL, MLB.com’s Jamal Collier tweets (and as the MLB.com transactions page reflected). The placement, which will keep him from taking the ball for a scheduled start tonight, is retroactive to July 22nd.

Needless to say, this is quite unwelcome news for a club that is still struggling to find its footing. The Nats already profiled as a potential buyer of rotation depth, even after recently welcoming Strasburg back from a six-week stint on the DL.

Details on the injury are not yet available, but Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that it appears to be related to the shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf previously. Strasburg threw with customary velocity in his first start back from the DL, though he also labored through 4 2/3 innings of six-run ball.

Nationals Preparing For Possibility Of Selling At Deadline

By Jeff Todd | July 26, 2018 at 2:13pm CDT

The Nationals are engaging in discussions with rival organizations regarding the possibility of moving several veteran players, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic hears similarly, writing in a subscription post that ownership is increasingly inclined to cut its losses (including the financial ones) to the extent possible.

Notably, the Nats have not yet committed to any particular direction at the deadline. But they appear to be getting the process started in case they decide to move rental pieces. According to the report, the D.C. organization has indicated it will set its course by the end of the weekend — at which point we’ll be just two days away from the trade deadline.

While the Nats are one game under .500, there is still a glimmer of hope. Neither of the two leading teams in the division — the Phillies and Braves — have run away with things, or (to this point) made any significant deadline improvements. Projections still tend to see it as a closer race, as they presume the Nationals will receive enhanced production from some key players down the stretch.

Of course, the long-awaited spark has yet to occur for the Nats. And the team just received another gut punch today with the news that Stephen Strasburg is headed back to the DL. It doesn’t help that the Wild Card race includes quite a few contestants, meaning it isn’t an obviously better path into the postseason.

It would certainly be difficult for the Nationals to give up on the current season — and not just because that’d be a bitter pill to swallow for a club that entered the season as a clear division favorite that hoped finally to advance through the postseason. The team would also face a less-than-clear situation in deciding what assets to move.

Passan suggests that the focus would likely be on rental relievers. Ryan Madson ($7.5MM salary), Kelvin Herrera ($7.9375MM), and Shawn Kelley ($5.5MM) are all potential chips who’d be of interest to other organizations, perhaps bringing back some prospects and trimming some salary obligations. But whether it makes sense to stop there would make for a tough question.

For his part, Rosenthal says expressly what Passan more or less implies: the Nats aren’t much interested in moving star outfielder Bryce Harper even if they part with other pieces. President of baseball operations/GM Mike Rizzo has indicated that a move on Harper would only be considered in an “extreme” scenario, though presumably that’s much the same situation that would justify the parting with relief assets.

Bidding adieu to Harper now might be difficult, but it’d also be the best possible way for the club to begin a new era without him on good footing. Of course, if the Nats intend to make a full run at bringing him back from the open market, they may well prefer not to set him free now. And it’s also fair to wonder whether the return will be all that great given Harper’s struggles and hefty ($21.625MM) salary.

Harper really isn’t the only established non-reliever who could conceivably be viewed as a trade chip if things head in that direction. For instance, starter Gio Gonzalez and infielder Daniel Murphy are also slated to reach free agency at season’s end, though certainly neither is in top form. Slugger Matt Adams has been excellent and would seem to be an interesting target for some clubs, particularly those in the American League. Other players are nearing the end of their arb years, though there’s no indication at all that the club is thinking of blowing up its near-future core.

All told, it’s clearly an undesirable situation for the Nationals organization. Perhaps the club won’t need to face these difficult questions if it can reel off a few wins in quick succession and its division rivals stumble a bit. Even if the Nats give up on the present season, they hold the promise of bouncing back next year. But it now seems realistic that the team could end up largely giving up on the race in 2018, an outcome that was hard to imagine at the start of the campaign.

Nationals Select Tommy Milone, Designate Jose Marmolejos

By Jeff Todd | July 26, 2018 at 9:15am CDT

9:15am: Washington has announced the move, along with a corresponding decision to designate first baseman/outfielder Jose Marmolejos for assignment. The 25-year-old had struggled at the plate this year at Triple-A.

8:24am: The Nationals are set to select the contract of southpaw Tommy Milone to start tonight’s game. The TalkNats blog first tweeted that it appeared Milone would get the nod, with MLB.com’s Jamal Collier tweeting that was indeed the plan.

Milone will step into the rotation spot opened when Stephen Strasburg was sent back onto the disabled list. While an active roster spot is already accounted for, the Nats also seemingly need to make a 40-man move to accommodate the return of Milone. The veteran southpaw last pitched for the organization in his rookie campaign of 2011.

Milone has compiled 736 2/3 innings of 4.37 ERA ball in his seven seasons in the big leagues, but has struggled in recent campaigns. This will represent his first MLB action of the 2018 season.

Through twenty starts at the Triple-A level on the year, Milone carries a 4.19 ERA over 109 2/3 frames. He’s averaging 9.3 K/9 — well above his typical levels in the majors but right at his career mean at the highest level of the minors — along with a characteristically minimal walk rate of 2.0 BB/9.

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