Nationals Designate José Tena For Assignment

The Nationals announced a series of roster moves today. Infielder José Tena has been designated for assignment. Left-hander PJ Poulin, Richard Lovelady and Ken Waldichuk have cleared waivers. Poulin and Lovelady are now free agents. Waldichuk has been assigned to Triple-A Rochester though he has the right to elect free agency as well. Pitchers Paxton Schultz and Mitchell Parker have been claimed off waivers, Schultz by the Reds and Parker by the Braves. Those claims will be covered in more details in the links provided. Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic reported the Tena news prior to the official announcement.

Roster maintenance is a key thing for all clubs this week. The injured list goes away at 4 pm Central today. November 17 is the deadline to add players who would otherwise be eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Those dual pressures will squeeze many guys to DFA limbo or the waiver wire or both.

Tena, 26 in March, was acquired from the Guardians in the 2024 deadline deal which sent Lane Thomas to Cleveland. Between those two clubs, Tena has appeared in 227 games and stepped to the plate 659 times, producing a lackluster .240/.303/.358 line. He provides defensive versatility, with experience at the three infield spots to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners, but he hasn’t been given especially strong grades anywhere.

The lack of big league results has pushed Tena to a fringe roster position. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. The Nats kept him on the roster through 2026 but only in a part-time role. He got into 115 games but was only sent to the plate 288 times. Now that he has been designated for assignment, they will have five days to either trade him or put him on waivers.

Lovelady, 31, was already off the roster. He was designated for assignment yesterday when the Nats acquired infielder Nate Furman from the Giants. The Nats were clearly not planning on tendering Lovelady a contract in arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $1.7MM salary next year.

In the season that just finished, Lovelady tossed 35 innings between the Mets and Nats with a decent 4.11 earned run average but less inspiring numbers under the hood. His 44% ground ball rate was a bit better than average but his 18% strikeout rate and 14% walk rate were both a few ticks worse than par. A fortunate 79% strand rate seemed to help him keep runs off the board. His 5.59 FIP and 5.07 SIERA were less optimistic.

The Nats decided to move on rather than give the lefty a raise. Since he has at least three years of service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. He has exercised that right.

Poulin, 30, was claimed off waivers from the Tigers last year. He had no major league experience at that time. Since that claim, he has thrown 61 1/3 innings with the Nationals with a 3.08 ERA. But like with Lovelady, there are reasons to be skeptical. Poulin’s 44.8% ground ball rate is decent but he has subpar strikeout and walk rates of 19.8% and 12.9%, respectively. His .262 batting average on balls in play and 82.7% strand rate are both to the fortunate side. His 4.50 FIP and 4.78 SIERA don’t feel the ERA is sustainable.

It seems the league agrees with that pessimism as 29 clubs just passed on the change to grab him from the waiver wire, even though he has options remaining. He has at least seven years of minor league experience, which will send him to the open market with this transaction.

Waldichuk, 29 in January, was a prospect of note a few years ago. His stock was diminished by some struggles, in addition to a Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2024 and a chunk of his 2025. He bounced around the waiver wire ahead of the 2026 season and started the campaign with the Nats. Unfortunately, he injured himself in just his fifth appearance of the season and required yet another Tommy John surgery. He spent the majority of this season on the injured list.

Since Waldichuk has at least three years of service time, he has the right to reject this outright assignment and elect free agency. He may do so but the Nats didn’t say he would, so perhaps he’ll waive that right. If he decides to say, maybe that’s because he’s slated to be rehabbing through the first half of 2027 regardless. He could do that in a non-roster capacity with the Nats. He wouldn’t have access to club facilities during the lockout but could access those resources before and after the shutdown.