Washington Nationals Bullpen Situation Provides Opportunity for Shake-up

The Washington Nationals will hit spring training in a couple of weeks. In fact, pitchers and catchers report to the team’s West Palm Beach, Fla., facility on Feb. 12.

The Nats should feel proud of where they are, especially in terms of developing position player talent. The lean years after the World Series, the Juan Soto trade, the high draft picks are starting to pay off.

Washington has the No. 1 overall pick in July. The Nationals hope it’s the last time they select that high for a while.

But those good vibrations when one gets to the bullpen. Sure, the starting rotation has plenty of questions. But there are also potential answers.

The bullpen? Well, that’s another story.

The news in November was Washington non-tendering their closer, Kyle Finnegan, who had saved 88 games in his Nats career and was coming off an All-Star season. The Nationals did the same to Tanner Rainey.

Then, Robert Garcia was the price to pay to acquire first baseman Nathaniel Lowe from the Texas Rangers. Lowe helps with some of the offensive issues the Nats have, especially power at the plate. But Texas is eyeing Garcia as a potential closer and Washington traded that away.

With less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report, the bullpen depth chart on the team’s MLB.com site is dramatically thin at the MLB level. Five players are listed.

Jose A. Ferrer is the presumed in-house candidate to replace Finnegan. The Nats imported Jorge López in free agency, who is now better known for tossing his glove into the stands with the Mets last season and then being designated for assignment. By the way, López only has 31 career saves.

But that’s the leader-in-the-clubhouse with this group, which includes Derek Law, Eduardo Salazar and Rule 5 draft pick Evan Reifert.

That’s right — the Nationals have five relievers listed on their Major League depth chart as of this writing. For reference, each team has a 26-man roster. Teams carry 13 pitchers. Five are usually starters and the other eight are relievers.

At this stage in the game, Washington is looking for more answers than it should be. They could come in the form or prospects or non-roster invitees, where the Nats have nine pitchers listed.

Three have experience with Washington in the Majors or minors, including Joan Adon, who was DFA’ed last month in a roster move, survived waivers and was then outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. There is also Konnor Pilkington and Tyler Stuart. Top 100 prospect Jarlin Susana has also been invited to Major League spring training.

Are there enough answers there to give the Nats a respectable bullpen? Washington better hope so.

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