Baseball’s trading deadline is Tuesday at 6 p.m. — in theory. In practice, teams have been making moves all month, and the Washington Nationals’ recent slide (9-18 since June 23 with six of those losses coming to San Diego) has the team in the sellers’ club as opposed to being a buyer.
They’ve already moved reliever Hunter Harvey, and this past weekend, the Nats dealt slugger Jesse Winker to the New York Mets for pitching prospect Tyler Stuart (the six-foot-nine right-hander is 3-7 with an ERA of 3.96 over 17 starts for AA Binghamton).
This year’s offseason “bargain bin” of players has been more bust (Eddie Rosario and Nick Senzel) than boom (Winker).
Tough questions will surround keeping closer Kyle Finnegan and right fielder Lane Thomas, because even though each would receive solid prospects in return it’s easy to see that both would be primary contributors to the team’s 2025 hopes.
And even though one is building for the future, the “future” is a lot sooner this year than it has been in season’s past.
Digesting the Division: Philadelphia (65-40) owns the best record in all of baseball but dropped two of three games to Cleveland in a potential World Series preview (Guardians own the best record in the American League).
Atlanta (56-48) faced the New York Mets (55-50) in a four-game series and after dropping the first two games at Citi Field, the Braves stormed back by scoring 17 runs over the last two games to secure a split and stay ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card race.
Washington (49-57) remains on the Wild Card fringe (six and a half games out of a playoff spot) but has six teams to leap over in the postseason chase. Miami (39-67) is not one of them and is already gearing up for 2030.
O’s Woes: Baltimore (62-43) dropped two of three in Miami before getting swept by losing two of three to San Diego at Camden Yards. But they still lead the New York Yankees in the AL East while making two major moves.
The swap of outfielder Austin Hays to Philadelphia for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Cristian Pache bolsters the bullpen while sending right-hander Jackson Baumeister plus utility man Mac Horvath and outfielder Matthew Etzel for pitcher Zach Elfin, who led the AL with 16 wins last year.
Diamonds Direct Diamond King: Juan Yepez may have seen his hitting streak end at 15, but the first baseman hit .375 with eight RBI.
Last Week’s Heroes: Lane Thomas batted .350 while posting six walks while Harold Ramirez hit .714 with three RBI in limited action. Luis Garcia added five RBI. Jake Irvin had the best outing for a starter, striking out five while allowing two runs over 5.1 innings. Jose Ferrer threw 3.1 scoreless innings over three outings while Tanner Rainey tossed three scoreless frames over three games.
Last Week’s Humbled: Jordan Weems allowed five runs in one inning while Mitchell Parker allowed six runs over three frames and MacKenzie Gore surrendered six runs over five innings. Jacob Young hit .200 while Trey Lipscomb batted .143 and C.J. Abrams went .087 at the plate.
Game to Watch: Patrick Corbin (2-10, 5.26 ERA) pitches against his former team one more time Tuesday in Arizona. And while the lefthander is having a far from ideal season, he has pitched well coming out of the All Star break: 1-1 with an ERA of 2.76 while posting 13 strikeouts over 13 innings.
He also struck out seven over five innings in a Nats’ win over the Diamondbacks last month. Will recent history repeat?
Game to Miss: The Nats welcome NL Central-leading Milwaukee to D.C. this weekend, with rookie Mitchell Parker starting the series finale. The left-hander’s just happy to turn the calendar page after posting a 9.18 ERA in July. The Brewers counter with Colin Rea (9-3, 3.60) who struck out seven Nats over 5.2 innings July 14. History has a way of if not repeating, at least rhyming.
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