The Nationals’ will to compete is being tested this trade deadline. After back-to-back losses to the Orioles, the Nats don’t look at all like a contender. They have one of the worst farm systems in baseball, and two cornerstone players in Trea Turner and Juan Soto whom they’ll want to sign long-term in the coming season. Restocking the farm system could go a long way to providing Turner and Soto with the future competitive security they may need to ink long-term deals, writes The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
The most significant deadline question, of course, revolves around Max Scherzer. Mad Max missed his start yesterday with triceps discomfort, but it’s a minor injury and nothing that should derail a potential trade, if there were to be one. A decision has not yet been made about making his next start, per Dougherty.
Joe Ross will come off the injured list without a rehab assignment to start tomorrow’s game against the Phillies, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). Ross hasn’t been talked about much in terms of the trade market, but he’s put up a solid season — 4.02 ERA/4.51 FIP in 87 1/3 innings — as he finally looks to be rounding back into form as the guy who debuted with the Nats back in 2015. He’s making just $1.5MM, and he has one more season of arbitration eligibility. Scherzer is obviously the big fish in Washington, but for teams looking for cheap, controllable help in the rotation, Ross has mid-rotation upside.
Whether Ross would be available or not is unclear. If indeed the Nats decide to sell, Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand would presumably be the two names of interest, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Hudson has been excellent once again this year and could solidify a contender’s pen as he did for the Nats in 2019. The Blue Jays are among the teams to ask about the Nats’ pair of back-end arms, per Jon Morosi of the MLB Network (via Twitter).
Tanner Rainey is beginning a rehab assignment today, tweets Dougherty. Rainey’s had a tough season to date — 6.93 ERA in 24 2/3 innings — and he’s less likely to be dealt than the names above. That said, if Hudson and/or Hand are moved, Rainey would be a prime contender to take on some high leverage duties.
If Scherzer and/or Ross do get moved, the Nats would have to dig deep to find enough starters to fill out their rotation. Stephen Strasburg does not seem any closer to making his return from a neck strain and other various ailments. He will see another specialist this week, per Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com.
This will be a very interesting team to watch at the deadline. Literally the next couple of games will determine how they approach the deadline, and they might even do a combo of buying and selling. It really depends on their perspective and what direction they want the team to move in.
Wow, that was a very in-depth take.
Yep. Also, in other news, ice is literally just frozen water.
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
I dunno.
Maybe Hudson gets them an OK prospect. Ross maybe a lotto ticket. Hand was already passed over for free earlier this year. Scherzer can veto any trade.
It doesn’t look to me like that worst ranked farm system will improve much at the deadline.
Unless they go all crazy and re-tool a bit by trading Turner. Now that would be interesting.
You hit it. They need to trade Turner. He has a year left and will bring the most value. They could make a big trade with the Dodgers and put Turner in center. They could deal Scherzer, Hand and Turner and get at least two prospects who can contribute in the next year or two. I highly doubt Turner will be traded but it is the right thing to do. Letting Strasburg go was the right thing to do but Mike Rizzo kept thinking what he did.Trea Turner will probably get at least 245 for seven years. Lindor got 340 for 10 and is not the player Turner is. Signing Strasburg for seven years will prevent this team from making many moves the next five years.
Trade Turner to the Braves or some AL team not in the East.
Kyle would bring lots of interest. Harrison can be traded. A good organization can do wonders with 40 grade teenager. If you trade Turner how do you replace him? I would rather have him and pay him or take comp pick than pay for one of the free agent ss. Nationals have Juan and are stuck with Corbin Strasburg. Ownership wants to win. So they are contenders in 2022. Bell would fetch something but they could use him next season.
“If you trade Turner how do you replace him?”
By waiting a year and then bringing him back as a FA. That’s how.
So just punt on 2022?
1. They probably won’t do anything in 2022 anyway.
2. Trading Turner alone doesn’t guarantee they won’t win in 2022. Just like how having Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani doesn’t guarantee that the Angels will win.
Does that ever actually happen?
Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs and he resigned with the Yankees in the offseason.
@natxandria…
1. It happens with at least one guy every offseason nowadays.
2. Does a player refusing to sign with a team specifically because they traded him ever actually happen?
Ok I’ll just admit I have no clue what I’m talking about I don’t watch the Nats lol
Time for Rizzo to sell.
I’m a huge Nats fan and Max is one of my favorites of all time, but we need to infuse some prospects into weak minor league system. This season is over, and we can’t let our pending FAs walk without getting something in return. Even if we can’t get top prospects in return, any talent added to our farm system is an improvement.
With two massive contracts for Strasburg and Corbin, producing almost nothing of value, it’s hard to envision signing both Soto and Turner long-term, so it may even be time to consider trading one of them. Both could command a handsome prospect package in return.
The thought of trading a generational talent like Soto makes me feel a little sick, but maybe Turner.
Good thing we gave that 2019 WS Banner to look at, because winning again ain’t hapenning anytime soon.
I’ve enjoyed watching the Nationals play for 6-7 years now. Going into the season I was writing here that what was about to happen to them was sad.
I don’t know about trading Max. What I do know is that he’s earned the right to determine if he wants to be moved, and if so, where. I’d suspect Boras and Lerner have been working that out the past week or two.
As for the rest of the team – it’s pretty bad. Stras always gets hurt, giving him that monster extension after the championship season was a good feeling, but a dumb baseball move. Corbin had some exceptional years, but he’s slowly deteriorating. Their bullpen has always been put together with zig-zag paper and scotch tape. The farmhands promoted the past few years that were marketed as future stars have pretty much been busts – leading with Robles and Kieboom. Most of the roster is over-the-hill veterans that were picked up from other teams.
As much as I’ve loved his work, it might be time for Mr. Rizzo to step down and have the Nationals bring in a younger Baseball Ops person.
Rizzo step down? He won a championship less than 2 years ago. Kyle Josh Josh look like excellent moves. Aquire and developed Soto Turner. Who knows if he wanted to sign Strasburg, could have been ownership. If that was his call then that wasn’t great. But if owners then Rizzo is doing alright. And alright is better than half the gms.
If the Nationals made Soto available, that move alone would restock the farm with prospects. Soto would bring a massive haul. I’d be shocked if that ever happened though.
What are the odds of any of the prospects being even close to Soto’s level? What team is going to unload the top of their farm for a single player?
yeah, not even worth discussing. Soto’s surplus value is too high right now.
It looks like a tough road for sure. Bloated payroll. Young stars needing new contracts soon. Weak farm system.
If Kieboom, Cavalli and Rutledge all work out that would help…. But definitely not a sure thing.
I’m curious to see what Mike will do now. He should have started making moves a week ago. He thought the team would come back. They were only two games better than two years ago at the end of May. Schwarber got hurt and Corbin has sucked and Strasburg will probably miss more than half the season. I don’t know why he has waited so damn long.
They have to sell. Losing to the Birds confirms the decision. I would expect Scherzer, Hand and Hudson to be elsewhere at the end of the week.
They have young pitching coming in a few years. I would think of how they could keep Mad Max and trade Corbin, Schwarber, Hand, Bell, Ross and even Soto. I don’t think they can sign him to an extension and he would bring back the most. It is unpopular to say, but you would get more now, than wait until his walk year or lose him to free agency.
What team do you plan on paying Corbin to pitch for?
Brian Cashman must be so glad he didn’t get Corbin. The Nationals gave him a sixth year and that was the difference.
They should trade Turner before Soto. I don’t know of any team willing to trade for Corbin.
I don’t think Schwarber is healthy enough to be traded for any value. No timeline for his return. Shame he got hurt after getting so hot at the plate.
I know they want to keep Max for the whole team on the cap in the hall of fame thing but what will be best for this team in the future is trading max getting a solid prospect or two and getting ready to try again in a year or two
Hudson to the White Sox. Rizzo and Hahn can figure out a good deal.
The Nationals don’t necessarily have to have a fire sale, but they should be at least looking to retool. This seems to be another team who could fall into the “buyer and seller” mode.
Besides Max they’d actually do well to trade Turner also. He’d bring back the haul they need.
Losing Bryce Harper for nothing really hurt the Nationals. I don’t follow the Nationals much, but was it their expectation that Harper would resign there? Why wasn’t he flipped for prospects?
I think they offered him a contract at least, but Philly gave him more money. I feel like they dodged a bullet because I don’t think Harper alone would make their current team much better, it seems like they have to start rebuilding. But hey, at least they won a World Series.
@Audrey Harper in that lineup makes them the best lineup in the NLE in my opinion, albeit still a flawed team to your point. I don’t know if they necessarily dodged a bullet, and I still think they win the World Series with Harper, but we’ll never know.
I think of it this way, if Harper can’t get the Phillies to a playoff berth, he wouldn’t get the Nats to one either. Also if they had Harper they wouldn’t have pursued Schwarber.
I doubt it. They used the money on Corbin. Also Eaton played a big part as their 2 man throughout the whole season. Robles was good in 2019. I think it was maybe good that he left, not saying he was a poison in the clubhouse, but maybe it was good he left and he was gone and have a new face.
@Audrey, the Nats have better second and third tier talent than the Phillies do. And Harper is an Outfielder with a good bat. He can’t carry an entire team.
Harper was better than Eaton in 2019, and the Nats were still in on Harper after the Corbin signing. They could’ve signed both. They didn’t need to, so they obviously did the right thing, but that team with Harper is even better IMO.
Which is why the Nats were better off not signing him.
Yea. Maybe. We’ll never know. It’s hard to judge the next 5+ years. Right now 2019 is fresh in everyone’s mind, but if tge Nats are stuck in the cellar for awhile, there’s a debate to be had.
Schwarber is having a year very similar to Harper’s and yet the Nats are still struggling. Look, I like Harper too but he’s no Mookie/Acuna.
He definitely is not.
Sorry clarifying that I’m agreeing with your comment about Harper not being Mookie/Acuna.
I am sure signing both of them would have put them over. I think it was the right move for that year. Corbin pitched great out of the bullpen in October and they had Eaton. However, Corbin has been a bust ever since.
The Nats don’t need a fire sale. First off, as the Marlins’ deal for Yelich shows, the supposed building blocks often don’t work out.
The Nats’ scuttled supposed blockbuster with the Astros for Harper would have brought them J.B. Bukauskas and Garrett Stubbs, who aren’t exactly tearing it up.
If the Nats lose again to the Orioles and drop the series with the Phillies, I can understand parting with some guys on expiring deals, but any talk of dealing Turner or Soto is silly.
As bad as the Nats’ farm system has looked, it will look much better next spring, as young bats like Brady House, Daylen Lile and T.J. White join pitchers like Cade Cavalli, Jackson Rutledge and Matt Cronin. Infielder Luis Garcia is on the cusp and former first rounders Seth Romero and Mason Denaburg will be pitching again, which means they might be future mound depth or trade bait.
The Nats had eight winning seasons between 2011 and 2020. Rizzo knows how to retool without tearing it down.
Rutledge is lost in AA. I just don’t know about him. Luis Garcia may be okay. Trading Turner is not silly. He will bring something of value. They probably won’t sign him anyway. I don’t see them doing much next year even with Turner. The season was in the toilet when Schwarber went down. Without him, they had to rely too much on Turner and Soto. Still too early to trade Soto imo.
Yeah they control Juan Soto for 3 more years even with no extension
I believe that nats should sell and start building for next season and the future. They should trade:
– Max
– Hand
– Hudson
– Harrison
– Robles
We have a lot of holes:
– Catcher
– 3B
– LF
– 2B
– SP
– Bullpen
We can trade Max to Stlouis or Houston for near ready prospects that can contribute next year. Might be able to get a decent player for Robles due to his potential an youth. Hud and Hand might get you some role players that can get you through this season. By having this loosing season you will have a better draft position next year, translating to better injection of prospects to the farm. Fire the pitching coach and bring someone that can Fix Corbing.
If reason let Max walk without get anything in return, he should be let go!
I believe that nats should sell and start building for next season and the future. They should trade:
– Max
– Hand
– Hudson
– Harrison
– Robles
We have a lot of holes:
– Catcher
– 3B
– LF
– 2B
– SP
– Bullpen
We can trade Max to Stlouis or Houston for near ready prospects that can contribute next year. Might be able to get a decent player for Robles due to his potential an youth. Hud and Hand might get you some role players that can get you through this season. By having this loosing season you will have a better draft position next year, translating to better injection of prospects to the farm. Fire the pitching coach and bring someone that can Fix Corbing.
If reason let Max walk without get anything in return, he should be let go!
He won’t go to St. Louis. They are out of it.
i do quite like the idea of dealing for Ross..
Scherzer has neck impingement now and gonna be out a while.. there goes trading him for a haul.. suck for Nats
This is why you should not wait until right before the deadline to trade someone. Max should have been traded a week ago. I thought it was his tricep. I hope he doesn’t have the same problem as S.S.
Sir, the Nats don’t really have a history of exyending premier position players. If they do anything, they’ll trade Turner and sign some washed up 40+ starter.