Washington Nationals trade options for closer
The Washington Nationals have seen eight pitchers finish a game for them this season. Where can they find a closer to define their bullpen?
The Washington Nationals have seemingly been in a perpetual need for bullpen help in their recent run of success. Their future solution at closer, Drew Storen, struggled when the team displaced him in the role in spite of success, and the team has been seeking ever since.
In point, they traded for Mark Melancon last year at the trade deadline, trading away one of their more electric young relievers in Felipe Rivero. This followed 2015, when they traded for Jonathan Papelbon at the trade deadline, creating nearly as many issues as solutions at the back of the bullpen.
The Nationals spend all offseason in heavy pursuit of the three primary relief names on the market – Melancon, Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman. They ended up scrambling to grab Matt Albers and Joe Nathan in the free agent market along with trading for Enny Romero from the Tampa Bay Rays to lengthen the bullpen.
In-house options
The Washington Nationals went through a long battle in spring for the closer spot, and came out of it without a definitive guy. Blake Treinen got the first shot at the role, and he’s posted a 7.71 ERA on the season and is struggling to control the ball.
Shawn Kelley was the odds-on favorite to win the job with his experience and success in his background, but he has been injured and missed time as well as struggling himself to a 6.57 ERA, though he’s posting much better peripheral numbers with 2.5 K/BB and 10.9 K/9.
The other candidate in spring for the job was young fireballer Koda Glover, who had been tremendous across three minor league levels in 2016 before making his major league debut last season. Glover has thrown well so far this season, but he seems to have difficulty gaining the favor of veteran manager Dusty Baker.
The guy who has recently picked up some saves has been Matt Albers, who is pitching tremendously so far with a 1.15 ERA over 16 appearances, though a sub-par strikeout rate and a FIP almost two runs higher than his ERA says perhaps he’s due to see some struggles himself soon.
The Nationals do have reliever Austin Adams tearing up AAA Syracuse this season, but after overcoming a pretty horrific shoulder injury and fighting his way back to make the Cleveland Indians team last season, Adams is now out with an undisclosed injury, so he won’t be called up any time soon. Adams has posted a 1.42 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 19 innings for Syracuse, with a 17/31 BB/K ratio.
With that look in house, let’s start the look around the majors to see what could be available…