Hoping to Find Bottom in DC

The Washington Nationals have been wracked by injuries, poor performance and the total failure of their bullpen to span the seventh and eighth innings. Like in one of those old submarine movies, the Nationals are looking for the bottom and a chance to regroup.

The rumor mill has it that Mike Rizzo has finally been persuaded that he needs late inning relief and more specifically has been linked to Aroldis Chapman. The only thing the Nationals can trade are middle infielders, more specifically Ian Desmond. Danny Espinosa has found the power stroke that made him successful in his first three seasons in the National League and Washington has Yunel Escobar signed through 2016, so the obvious trade chip is Desmond who has won Silver Slugger Awards at shortstop for the past three seasons.  He should command a decent return even as a one-year rental.

Desmond is a Florida native and makes his home in the Tampa Bay area and he would certainly be an upgrade over Asdrubal Cabrera as the Rays remain competitive with the Yankees as of this writing.  They will get Matt Moore back before the end on June to solidify their rotation, so a run at the Yankees is certainly still possible. 2015 closer Jake McGee has stepped back into the role after coming back from injury and Kevin Jepsen and Brad Boxberger filled ably for him during his absence. Could the Rays afford to part with Jepsen who is on a one-year deal for Desmond? Worse trades have been made.

No one knows whether the acquisition of a solid bullpen arm will cure all that ails the Nationals and get them back into the thick of the action. Torpedoes Away!!  Their once vaunted started rotation has struggled over the past month.  One could argue that the pressure to pitch consistently into the late innings so that the starter can literally hand the ball to Drew Storen has been more than they could manage consistently. Does having more support out of the pen give the starters a cushion?  Is that why they call it “relief?”   It is a bet the Nationals are going to have to either take or just fold the whole mess entirely.

Joe Ross , acquired from the San Diego Padres along with Trea Turner, pitched eight innings of two-run ball yesterday to show the rest of the guys how it is done. No doubt the rookie hurler did not intend to shame Scherzer, Zimmermann and company into better outings, but he posted the best game of any Washington starter since Gio Gonzalez was outpitched by Jake Arrieta of the Cubs on June 4.  Trea Turner–player to be named later–will move over to a Washington minor league affiliate this weekend and together the two may become part of one of the great trades in Washington baseball history.

Ross throws a 96 mph fastball that moves but it is his hard curve that has become his strike out pitch and hitters swing over the top of it consistently.  He has a nice easy motion as can be seen in the picture taken at his last start for Harrisburg against Bowie.  He was a first round draft pick in 2011 , going a dozen picks after Gerritt Cole, Sonny Gray and Jose Fernandez–among others. Ross is still only 22 years old and it is a lot to ask of a youngster to play such a pivotal role in the Nationals 2015 season, but he could make a notable difference.

Ross is filling the slot left vacant when Stephen Strasburg went to the DL with a strained trapezius muscle. He is due back soon and a return to form by Strasburg would be enough to get the Nationals up off the bottom in a hurry. But if Strasburg returns and Ross pitches well enough that the Nats cannot send him back down to Harrisburg, they have the luxury of putting Tanner Roark back in the bullpen where he could help fill the 7th and 8th inning void. Inserting Tanner Roark into more high-leverage situations rather than using him willy-nilly as Matt Williams has done for most of the season, would perhaps help right the ship.

If the Nationals do not reach their potential it will not be Bryce Harper’s fault.  He has carried the Washington offense with some help from Denard Span, Danny Espinosa and Yunel Escobar. Getting the offense firing again will require more from Anthony Rendon who has only been back from injury for little more than a week. Ryan Zimmerman is out with Plantar Fasciatis and he joins the other veteran hitter in the lineup–Jayson Werth–as questionable until later this summer. The lackluster offense has only served to put more pressure on the pitching staff to produce and taking some of the heat off them in the coming summer months could only produce better results as well.

The bottom line is that it will be up to Mike Rizzo to solve the equation and find the catalyst that gets the best pitching staff in baseball throwing the way they should. Whether it is the addition of Joaquin Benoit, Kevin Jepsen or a player to be named, the Nationals cannot afford to pay big for bullpen help.  Their minor league system is on life support as things stand currently–sporting one of the lower overall winning percentages of any Major League team’s affiliates. The Nationals need to trade FOR talent, not speculate on bullpen arms and risk the future to do so.

It remains to be seen whether the Nationals have the character to get up off the canvas and fight their way out of the situation in which they find themselves. So far there has been a dearth of spark overall and the once “sure thing” Nationals look like a long shot bet at best.