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Nationals Designate Aaron Sanchez For Assignment

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The Nationals designated starter Aaron Sanchez for assignment, the team announced after today’s doubleheader against the Rockies. Andres Machado, up as an extra man for the twin bill, will remain on the active roster. By DFA’ing Sanchez, the Nationals have opened a spot on their 40-man roster, which now sits at 39.

Given the options available to the Nats, Sanchez seemed a good bet to take on some of the innings load, but they’re moving on after six starts, 27 2/3 innings, and a 7.16 ERA/5.53 FIP. Those numbers don’t even include today’s start, in which Sanchez was pelted for seven runs over 3 2/3 innings, ballooning his ERA to 8.33. The 29-year-old could remain in the organization if he goes unclaimed by another organization.

To replace him in the rotation, the Nats could turn to an old stand-by in Paolo Espino or Josh Rogers. The more exciting option for Nats fans would be Cade Cavalli, the club’s top pitching prospect, who threw seven scoreless frames tonight in Triple-A, lining him up to take Sanchez’s spot in the rotation. The rotation has been a particular area of need for Washington. Erick Fedde is currently their only starter with a sub 5.00 ERA.

Machado, 29, has a 2.45 ERA/3.32 FIP in ten outings spanning 11 innings with the big league club this year. He emerged as one of manager Dave Martinez’s more reliable arms last season, posting a 3.53 ERA/4.63 FIP over 35 2/3 innings.

Joe Ross Suffers Setback In Rehab From Elbow Injury

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Nationals starter Joe Ross left his first rehab start on Tuesday after just three innings, citing renewed elbow tightness. The righty went for an MRI on Wednesday he says revealed “more of a sprain” in an elbow ligament than had previously been believed (via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com and Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post).

Ross will head for further testing before deciding on his next steps, but it seems likely he’ll at least be recalled from his rehab stint. It’s not clear whether surgery is on the table on this time, but it’s obviously an unfortunate development in light of his injury history. Ross underwent a Tommy John procedure in July 2017, and the recovery cost him almost all of the following season. He worked primarily out of the bullpen in 2019, then opted out of the 2020 season over COVID-19 concerns.

The former first-round pick returned to the rotation last year. He worked to a 4.17 ERA with solid strikeout and walk numbers through 108 innings before his season was cut short. Ross was diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL in his elbow last August, and while he avoided another Tommy John procedure, he was shut down for the remainder of the season. He underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow this spring and has been on the injured list all year.

Last season’s innings tally narrowly mark a career-high. The 29-year-old has been in the big leagues since 2015, but injuries have never allowed him to assume a typical starter’s workload over a six-month stretch. This season was never going to afford Ross that possibility after he started the year on the IL, but it now remains to be seen whether he’s in for another extended absence.

It’s an important year for Ross personally, as he’s on track for free agency this winter. He and the Nationals agreed to a $2.4MM salary to avoid arbitration, and he’ll hit the open market for the first time in his career a few months from now.

Joe Ross Leaves Rehab Start With Elbow Tightness

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  • Nationals starter Joe Ross was pulled after three innings during yesterday’s rehab outing with Double-A Harrisburg, manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). The 29-year-old experienced renewed tightness in his elbow and is headed for an MRI. That’s obviously a worrisome development, as the outing marked Ross’ first game action since he was diagnosed with a partial UCL tear in his elbow last August. That ended his season, and he also underwent surgery to remove bone chips from the joint this spring. Ross, who threw 108 innings of 4.17 ERA ball last year, is in his final season of club control via arbitration.

Nationals Notes: Rizzo, Martinez, Soto, Ross, Strasburg

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The Nationals hold 2023 club options on general manager Mike Rizzo and skipper Dave Martinez, as each is currently in the final guaranteed year of their contracts. Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that Washington is expected to exercise their option on Rizzo, who has been running baseball operations in the nation’s capital since midway through the 2009 season. Nightengale adds that the team has until the All-Star Break to decide whether to pick up Martinez’s option, which he reports is valued at $4MM. Jon Heyman of the New York Post, meanwhile, writes that Martinez’s option is valued at $3.5MM.

The Nats were excellent for a good portion of the last decade, making the playoffs five times between 2012-19 and claiming a World Series title during their final postseason run. That unsurprisingly seems to have bought Rizzo more time at the helm, even as the club has sputtered over the past couple seasons. After underperforming in 2020 and during the first half of last year, Washington kicked off a deadline sell-off. The Nationals shipped off a host of impending free agents and somewhat surprisingly pulled the trigger on a Trea Turner deal even though the star shortstop was controllable through the end of the 2022 season.

Parting with Turner signaled the Nationals were going to embrace a multi-year reboot. There was no indication that encompassed a possible trade of Juan Soto, however, and the superstar outfielder isn’t likely to find himself on the move this summer either. The Nationals’ dreadful start (last place in the NL East at 14-28) will no doubt lead rival teams to inquire about Soto’s availability, but a blockbuster trade of the 23-year-old feels like little more than a pipe dream right now.

Both Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic and Jon Heyman of the New York Post pushed back against the possibility of a Soto trade last week. Nightengale, meanwhile, writes that the organization is unlikely to seriously entertain the possibility until after the 2023 season — if at all. Soto reportedly rejected a 13-year, $350MM extension offer over the offseason, expressing a desire at the time to proceed year-by-year via arbitration. He remains controllable through 2024, however, and trading Soto this year would signify a rebuild of greater scope than the Nationals seem to want to entertain.

It stands to reason that Washington will be aggressive next offseason in acquiring upgrades to build a new core around Soto. They’ve little chance of competing in 2022, so they still seem likely to move impending free agents over the coming months. First baseman Josh Bell would probably be their most in-demand rental, although players like Nelson Cruz (if he rights the ship offensively) and César Hernández could hold some appeal as well.

Starting pitcher Joe Ross is another impending free agent who could be a viable midseason trade candidate, but he’ll first need to establish health. The right-hander was diagnosed with a partial tear of the UCL in his throwing elbow last summer, an injury that ended his season prematurely even as he avoided Tommy John surgery. He did undergo a less significant procedure during Spring Training, as doctors removed a bone spur from his elbow in March.

Ross opened the season on the 60-day injured list and isn’t eligible to return to the majors until the first week of June, but he’s moving closer to his season debut. The club informed reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post) that Ross is set to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg this week. Pitchers can spend up to thirty days in the minors on rehab, so the 29-year-old should be back in the big league rotation within a month, barring a setback.

That’s likewise true of Stephen Strasburg, who has been on the 10-day IL all year as he recovers from last July’s thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. The three-time All-Star is beginning a rehab stint with Low-A Fredericksburg on Tuesday (via Dougherty), suggesting he’s also trending towards a return within the next few weeks. Strasburg has made just seven starts since the beginning of the 2020 campaign due to various injuries.

With four-plus years remaining on the $245MM contract he signed over the 2019-20 offseason, Strasburg isn’t likely to be a realistic trade candidate anytime soon. Getting him back on track and finding anything resembling his pre-2020 form would give the Nationals a much-needed rotation anchor in their efforts to return to contention after this season, however. Washington’s starters have been a big culprit for their dismal start; only the Reds have a worse rotation ERA than the Nats’ 5.58 mark. Erick Fedde and Josiah Gray are the lone Nationals’ starters with an ERA south of 5.00, and both of them have allowed more than four earned runs per nine innings.

Nelson Cruz Day-To-Day With Sprained Ankle

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  • Designated hitter Nelson Cruz sprained his right ankle during an awkward slide into second base during the fourth inning of the Nationals’ 8-2 win over the Brewers today.  Cruz was replaced by a pinch-hitter in his next at-bat, with Nats manager Davey Martinez telling reporters (including The Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty) that Cruz continued to feel discomfort while taking some warm-up swings in the batting cage between innings.  It isn’t yet clear if Cruz will require a trip to the injured list, as Martinez just described the veteran slugger as day-to-day.  Though Cruz collected two hits against Milwaukee today, he is hitting only .204/.283/.296 with four homers through 161 PA.

Carter Kieboom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Nationals infielder Carter Kieboom will miss the entire 2022 season, as he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery next week, manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). The 24-year-old has been on the 60-day injured list since Spring Training because of a UCL sprain in his throwing elbow.

It’ll be a lost critical development year for Kieboom. A former first-round pick, the righty-hitting infielder later developed into one of the sport’s top prospects. He reached the big leagues late in 2019, his age-21 season. The following winter, Baseball America ranked the Georgia native as the most promising player in the Washington farm system and named him the #15 prospect league-wide. The hope was that he’d cement himself as the third baseman of the future after Anthony Rendon departed in free agency, but he’s not yet staked a claim to that job.

Kieboom didn’t hit for any power in 33 games in 2020, finishing the shortened season with a modest .202/.344/.212 slash line. His 13.9% walk rate was strong and reinforced a patient plate approach, but the lack of results on batted balls was jarring. That more or less continued over a larger body of work last year, as he posted a .207/.301/.318 line with six home runs through 249 trips to the dish. Kieboom again drew a fair share of free passes, but he also saw his swinging strike rate jump and posted well below-average exit velocities.

The Nationals’ summer sell-off and retooling year afforded a perfect opportunity to give Kieboom everyday run at the hot corner this season. Washington presumably won’t embrace a multi-year stepback with Juan Soto only controllable through 2024, but the Nats were clearly not positioned to compete this year. Giving 600 plate appearances to a talented but unproven player like Kieboom makes sense for a team in their position, and he’d have probably been the primary third baseman if healthy.

The injury will deprive him of that chance, and it remains to be seen if the Nationals can afford to be so patient in 2023. They’ll presumably be more aggressive in trying to compete next season, and bringing in a more proven option at the hot corner seems plausible. Kieboom, who will collect a full year of MLB pay and service time while recovering, is controllable through 2026 and won’t be arbitration-eligible until the end of next season. The Nationals are hopeful he can be ready for Spring Training.

Nats’ Dave Martinez And Mike Rizzo In Final Guaranteed Contract Year

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Nationals manager Dave Martinez and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo are each in the final guaranteed year of their respective contracts, according to a report from Jesse Dougherty and Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post.

The initial reporting on the 2020 extension for Martinez said that it was a three-year deal, which would cover the seasons through 2023. However, when the team officially announced the extension, they described it merely as a “multi-year” deal. According to this new report, the extension was actually for two years plus a club option for 2023. Asked about the situation, Martinez neither confirmed nor denied the report. “I just want people to know that I love it here and I want to be here,” he said. “I am excited for what we’re building and want to see it through for another championship.”

These details only add to the uncertainty for an organization that’s already immersed in it. The club had an incredible eight-year run from 2012-2019, which included a winning record in each year, five postseason appearances and was capped off by a World Series championship in 2019. Since then, though, the club slumped through a mediocre showing in both 2020 and 2021, the latter of those seasons including a massive sell-off of veteran talent for younger, unproven players.

Furthermore, just as the current season was beginning, a report emerged that the Lerner family are considering selling the club. On the field, the Nats are currently holding a record of 12-26, a winning percentage worse than every team in the majors except for the Reds.

This is the fifth season at the helm for Martinez, who was hired prior to the 2018 campaign. Rizzo has been a part of the club even longer, having been hired as assistant general manager in 2006. It appears that neither is guaranteed to be returning in the same role next year, making the future wide open for the club in many ways. After last year’s fire sale, they have only two players on the books beyond this season. Patrick Corbin’s deal runs through 2024, while Stephen Strasburg’s goes through 2026.

Of course, the big ticking time bomb in the room is Juan Soto, who can be controlled via arbitration through 2024. The Nationals are naturally interested in extending him, but actually doing so might be difficult. Soto’s agent Scott Boras discussed the matter in November. “The first thing that’s going to have to happen is that he knows that he’s working with an ownership that’s going to annually try to compete and win,” Boras said. “And then I think once he knows that, then he’ll be ready to sit down and talk whenever they choose to talk.” It was later reported that Soto and his camp turned down a 13-year, $350 contract offer from the Nats prior to the lockout. A player’s earning power only increases as they approach free agency, meaning that the price tag on locking Soto up long-term will only continue growing over the coming seasons, especially if he continues playing well. Through 38 games this year, he’s hitting .254/.387/.478, 146 wRC+.

That leaves the club with about two years and five months to convince Soto to stay. Between now and then, there’s very little certainty about who else will be on the team, who will be in the manager’s seat, who will be running the front office or even who will own the club.

Nationals Select Carl Edwards Jr.

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The Nationals announced a trio of roster moves, including the selection of Carl Edwards Jr.’s minor league contract to the active roster.  To create space on the 26-man and 40-man rosters, the Nats optioned right-hander Andres Machado to Triple-A and moved right-hander Mason Thompson to the 60-day injured list.

Once Edwards tosses his first pitch for the Nats, it will mark eight MLB seasons for the right-hander, and six different big league teams.  Edwards has seen only sporadic action from 2019-21, tossing 27 1/3 total innings for his five previous teams.  In 2021, Edwards had an 11.12 ERA over 5 2/3 total innings with the Blue Jays and Braves (despite only tossing one-third of an inning for Atlanta, he was still awarded a World Series ring for his contribution to the championship season).

Edwards was a much more prominent member of another title team, tossing 36 regular-season innings and then 6 1/3 postseason innings for the Cubs in 2016.  The righty posted some quality results out of Chicago’s bullpen from 2015-18 before struggling badly over the last three seasons.

Washington signed Edwards to a minor league deal during the offseason, and he has shown signs of a turn-around at Triple-A Rochester.  Edwards has an 0.63 ERA, a 50% groundball rate, a 34% strikeout rate, and an eight percent walk rate over his 14 1/3 innings for the Red Wings.  Considering how the Nationals bullpen has been quite shaky thus far, D.C. has nothing to lose in seeing if Edwards has gotten himself back on track.

Thompson was placed on the 10-day IL exactly one month ago due to right biceps tendinitis.  He had been hoping to start throwing by the end of April, but with no further updates on his progress, it would seem like Thompson will need more time to recover.  Mid-June will now be his earliest possible return date, as the 60-day IL window begins from his initial placement on the 10-day injured list.

Gerardo Parra Retires

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After 12 Major League seasons, Gerardo Parra has decided to retire, as reported by MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko during today’s broadcast.  Parra will move into a new role as a special assistant in the Nationals front office.

Parra (who celebrated his 35th birthday two days ago) had signed a minor league deal with the Nats in Spring Training, but opted against a Triple-A assignment after not making the Opening Day roster.  He’ll now call it a career after 1519 MLB games spread over 12 seasons with the Diamondbacks, Brewers, Orioles, Rockies, Giants, and Nationals, plus 47 games with NPB’s Yomiuri Giants in 2020.  For his big league career, Parra batted .275/.322/.403 with 90 home runs over 5290 plate appearances.

An international signing for the D’Backs in 2004, Parra played his first five-plus MLB seasons in Arizona, establishing himself as one of the game’s best defensive outfielders.  Parra won two Gold Gloves and a Fielding Bible Award during his time with the D’Backs, and also showed some occasional pop at the plate.

This production (particularly against right-handed pitching) helped Parra keep getting chances after his glovework started to decline.  He scored a three-year, $27.5MM free agent deal from Colorado prior to the 2016 season, and while his own performance didn’t quite live up to expectations, Parra at least helped the Rox reach the postseason in both 2017 and 2018.

After signing with the Giants in the 2018-19 offseason, Parra didn’t last long in San Francisco, and caught on with the Nationals in May 2019.  That set the table for probably the most memorable moments of Parra’s career, as he quickly became a Washington fan favorite after adopting “Baby Shark” (his young daughter’s favorite song) as his walk-up music.

More importantly, Parra became a clubhouse leader for a Nats team that went onto win the World Series.  While he only hit a modest .250/.300/.447 over 204 PA for Washington during the regular season, and then made only seven total PA during the playoffs, Parra’s leadership was widely credited as a key reason why the Nationals were able to turn their season around after an ugly start in the first two months.  Parra played in Japan in 2020, and then made one final encore run with the Nats in 2021, playing what would end up being his final 53 Major League games.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Parra on a tremendous career, and we wish him all the best in his new front office role.

Nationals, Franklyn Kilome Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Nationals recently signed right-hander Franklyn Kilome to a minor league contract, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to the team’s Florida complex but will likely head to Triple-A Rochester after spending some time building into game shape.

Kilome is joining his third career organization, all of whom play in the NL East. Signed by the Phillies as an amateur of the Dominican Republic, the 6’6″ hurler developed into one of Philadelphia’s more promising pitching prospects. He drew praise from evaluators for a strong fastball-curveball combination and a projectable frame, but he’s been hampered by control issues throughout his time in pro ball. His stock started to dip as he struggled in Double-A, and Philadelphia sent him to the Mets for veteran infielder Asdrúbal Cabrera at the 2018 trade deadline.

In a seven-start stretch with the Mets’ Double-A affiliate after the trade, Kilome posted the best strikeout and walk marks of his career. Just as it seemed as if he might’ve turned a corner, he underwent Tommy John surgery that October. Kilome spent all of 2019 rehabbing, and he logged the bulk of the 2020 campaign at the alternate training site. He made four MLB appearances with the Mets during the shortened season, allowing 14 runs (including five homers) with 13 strikeouts and nine walks over 11 1/3 innings.

New York designated Kilome for assignment and outrighted him off their 40-man roster last April. He spent the season with Triple-A Syracuse, working to a 3.91 ERA in 46 frames. He started just five of his 21 outings last year, his first season pitching out of the bullpen in the minors. Kilome had a capable run prevention mark in shorter stints, but he only struck out 19.9% of opponents and had an untenable 14.4% walk rate. The Nats are thin in both the rotation and the bullpen, so they could deploy the 26-year-old in either role once he heads to an affiliate.

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