Washington Nationals Relieve Tony Sipp, Designate Veteran Lefty For Assignment

The Washington Nationals designated Tony Sipp for assignment today, the final corresponding move to complete their trade deadline acquisitions.

The Washington Nationals announced that they had designated veteran lefty Tony Sipp for assignment on Friday. The move clears the way for Daniel Hudson to be added to the 25-man roster.

The deadline has come and gone. For the Nats, that means yet another new-look bullpen. In case you missed it, the Nats switched up the bullpen’s third line. RHP Javy Guerra, RHP Michael Blazek, and Sipp left the ice. Hudson, RHP Hunter Strickland, and LHP Roenis Elias jumped on.

With a full 40-man roster, the Nats were in a one-in, one-out situation. So when Rizzo went on his shopping spree, splurging on Strickland while in the checkout aisle with Elias, the sobering news came to the Nationals clubhouse that three lockers had to be cleaned out.

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Guerra and Blazek were natural choices to hit the waiver wire. Blazek was little more than an extra man (4 appearances for 5 low-leverage innings), and Guerra had struggled of late as manager Dave Martinez took to only using him in mop-up situations.

There were a number of justifiable candidates for the third DFA. Kyle Barraclough is pitching in Double-A after racking a 6.66 ERA (6.57 FIP) over his first 33 games as a National. Matt Grace oscillates between warming every day and not pitching at all for weeks, the latter for good reason given his 5.93 ERA (4.95 FIP) in 45 games. Kyle McGowin is 27-years-old with a career 8.27 ERA.

There are also several position players the Nats could have reasonably sent packing: Wilmer Difo and Michael A. Taylor chief among the candidates.

But ultimately, this decision came down not to the 40-man, but the number of seats available on the 25-man roster. With Jonny Venters moving to the 60-day injured list, the Nats actually have one spot free on their 40-man roster (though it’s likely reserved for Jeremy Hellickson whenever he’s healthy).

It’s not totally clear that Rizzo upgraded the bullpen on deadline day, but once Rizzo came home with Hudson, Elias, and Strickland, someone else had to go.

The 36-year-old Sipp gets the axe after pitching to a 4.71 ERA in mostly short stints across 36 appearances. His strikeout numbers haven’t been what they once were, and he allowed more hard contact that you’d like, but protecting his usage, Sipp had settled in. Since April 15th, he’d thrown 17 innings with a 2.56 ERA across 27 appearances.

But he’s gone now, no longer responsible for protecting a lead ahead of Sean Doolittle. No longer scapegoated when it doesn’t get there. He’s been relieved.