Nationals Trade Longtime Closer Kyle Finnegan to Tigers in Deadline Deal

The Washington Nationals have made a significant move on the day of the trade deadline

As first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Nationals have traded Kyle Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers. Grant Paulsen of MLB Network Radio later reported the return for Washington is right-handed pitching prospects Josh Randall and RJ Sales, neither of whom are extremely high-profile prospects despite Randall ranking 15th in the Tigers' pipeline.

On a one-year deal and with numbers that have started to decline, the Nationals were not left with a ton of leverage on the trade market for Finnegan.

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The 33-year-old has posted a 4.38 ERA and 1.282 WHIP in 40 appearances this season, recording 20 saves thus far.

He was coming off arguably the best performance of his career though in his lone All-Star appearance in 2024, pitching to a 3.68 ERA over 65 appearances with just 24 walks on the year.

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Finnegan has been with Washington for his entire big league career since 2020. Over the course of his time in the nation's capital, he made 331 appearances for the team and collected 108 saves.

Randall has a 3.92 ERA in 17 starts this season largely in Single-A, and Sales has a very impressive 2.71 ERA and 1.116 over 16 appearances also in Single-A.

With a career 3.66 ERA, Nationals fans will remember Finnegan as a solid and reliable closer who they could always count on to come into games and get it done.

Finnegan will be missed in Washington, however, he now has the chance to join a contending team and contribute to their bullpen heavily down the stretch.

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