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.
kla0812
This should be interesting…. who would go from the crew???
neonkeon23
corey ray could get this deal going
Stephen 7
They aren’t going to trade Corey Ray for a rental
brewcrew08
Corey Ray is not moved for a rental. My guess it would start around Lutz level
majorflaw
Corey Ray would get this deal done quickly. I’ll be amazed if Rizzo is able to turn Gio into something useful. If the Nats were to acquire Ray it might make Robles expendable.
brewcrew08
a 2 month rental will not turn into Corey Ray. Come on guys.
majorflaw
“a 2 month rental will not turn into Corey Ray. Come on guys.”
Hey, I’m with you. I wouldn’t trade Ray for Gio if I were the Brewers. Just said that, were the Brewers to make that offer, the deal would be consummated posthaste, as Rizzo would want to strike before the Brewers GM sobered up. Of course as a Nats fan I’d make that trade yesterday.
Edub23
Only way Corey Ray gets moved is for Archer.
mikeyst13
Yesterday you wanted Ray to be the centerpiece in a trade for Realmuto and now you want to ship him out for a rental of Gio???? You are just all over the board on trade value here.
augold5
If you look at every brewers post he says ray is a center piece. Just a troll
br3wcr3w
This is a two month rental… shouldn’t cost much
baseball10
Who do the Nats have to trade for them to take Gio?
bdpecore
My guess it would be players closer to contributing now. Domingo Santana plus a controllable arm like Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta or Taylor Williams could be enough since he’s strictly a 2 month rental.
brewcrew08
You just said Freddy Peralta? LOL
mikeyst13
Peralta? You think they are going to get a top 100 prospect for a rental of Gio? Willaims maybe, Woodruff I think Milwaukee balks at, Peralta zero chance.
ray_derek
hahaha, that’s insane, Peralta????? LOL. Although Rizzo believes in this team, he may be dumb enough to say no.
LJB
No way Peralta is dealt unless it involves someone like deGrom. Peralta is doung great and at 22 is too good to let go unless u get sonething GREAT in return.
its_happening
“We’re not trading Harper”
But you’re willing to deal Gio?
What?
stevd417
sounds to me “I believe in this team …. kinda … sortof.”
its_happening
Agreed stevd. They need all hands on-deck if they want to take that division.
Paul Kersey
Nats are a mess. Hey- let’s fire another manager! Hey lets have no plan going forward. Rizzo- the buck stops there.
majorflaw
“Rizzo – the buck stops there.”
Remember where the Nats were when Rizzo took over? They were the doormat of the National League. They weren’t given Harper and Strasburg because MLB liked them, they earned those #1 picks by being the worst team in baseball. Even though they have yet to find postseason success it’s been awhile since the Nats were actually a bad team. Firing Rizzo would be a very dumb move.
lefty58
It sometimes appears that the Nats are run by chimps.
stevd417
sadly there are a few other organizations that feel the same way. some are getting a clue while others are stuck in neutral.
natsgm
The Nationals have historically held things close to the chest pretty well leaving the reporters to speculate non stop. Nats beat are always reporting different things than national reporter as well. All leads to it seeming like a mess more than it is im sure.
Senioreditor
They’ve been held hostage by the allure of Harper. Once he’s gone they’ll build a better organization.
ray_derek
They should start the rebuild today by getting whatever you can for him, Gonzalez, Hellickson and the bullpen. Just start selling.
joew
either one of these guys would be at the top of the pirates rotation. sounds like the front office is trying to raise their value by saying they’re not particularly available.. also as insurance.
If they’re traded they could be like, “The offer was too good to pass up” If they’re not traded they could say, “we never intended on trading them anyway”.
indiansfan44
I think the Nationals want to get into the race for worst run team with Miami and the Mets at this point not the playoff race
slowcurve
If that was he case they’d sell off everyone
baseball10
Its crazy reading what some of these Nats fans think these terrible arms are worth
skrockij89
Hellickson would be a nice pickup for the M’s. Shouldn’t cost too much to get him.
Paul Kersey
Brewers would be crazy to add Gio – the guy is a total mess in the playoffs. If the Brew Crew make the playoffs and Gio is in the rotation- have fun watching him blow leads.
bravesfan
As a braves fan, I world like the nats to do an all out sale. Plz and thank you
baseball365
Wait, Nationals hold back relief arms? They have a bullpen? Insert confused emoji face here…
Auggiex
To let them walk without getting something in return is negligent homicide to this franchise.
stansfield123
Seems like the Nats spent way too much time deliberating. It’s too late now.
Half a day is not enough time to work out a deal for all the players they should be moving. And selling some and keeping others would just be idiotic.
Only move they have left is to try and add Realmuto and go for it.
stansfield123
Sucks for Harper. This was his one chance to be a Yankee for two months.