Washington Nationals
Building Bullpens for April & October
Have you been watching the Wild Card round of the playoffs? The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies in their two games have combined for three blown-saves. Two of which led to losses for each team. You just can’t make this up. The Atlanta Braves had one of the best bullpens in April, but it appears the armchair managers didn’t like the decision yesterday in a 3-1 game to go to lefty Dylan Lee to face lefties Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. They both homered and the 3-1 lead disappeared in less than a two minute warning. Just two days ago, some were calling Walt Weiss the frontrunner for the Manager of the Year award. A day later, he is being called a “dope” and other 4-letter words on social media. That is how quickly sentiment changes in sports. What have you done for me lately? When offseason acquisitions start for the Washington Nationals, rebuilding the bullpen (again) might start with a bulldozer. With October aspirations per pitcher Cade Cavalli, you better build your April bullpen to carry you into October. Nothing is worse than a blown-save that costs you a game. Sometimes the issue with relief pitchers has nothing to do with their arm, repertoire, movement or velocity. Rather the issue is channeling their heartbeat, their breathing, and the amygdala in their brain. Yes, the amygdala. It is small and almond-shaped, and deep inside the human brain’s limbic system that controls nervousness, and fear during stressful situations. Signs of uneven…
Grading the 2026 Nationals, part 3: coaches and front office
We’re wrapping up our report card feature ( part 1, part 2) on the 2026 Washington Nationals with grades for the brass. I’ve chosen to grade the coaching staff and front office in “units” rather than singling out individuals, because it’s difficult to know who to credit (or blame) specifically. Again, these grades reflect my personal opinion only, and they don’t actually mean anything. At any rate, let’s finish this series off, starting with the Nationals’ fearless manager… Blake Butera: A- One of the biggest questions of the year for the Nats would be whether a 33-year-old rookie manager, with no experience either playing or coaching above the high minors, could effectively manage a major league clubhouse and skipper a major league team. Butera, who turned 34 in August, answered that question with a resounding “yes”. This year certainly had its challenges, but the Nats wildly outperformed. The Nats were surprise wildcard contenders, with a record above.500 until late July, when the team hit a bad skid that didn’t really stabilize until after a brutal roadtrip in early September. What might have been an A+ grade for Butera takes a hit on account of the team’s August freefall. There were also times when Butera seemed to lack feel, sticking to platoon matchups even when it meant benching a top performer or plugging an ineffective player into a key spot. These are understandable as artifacts of inexperience, and they ought to improve in 2027 as Butera, his coaches, and his players…
Grading the 2026 Nationals, part 2: position players
And we’re back with the second part of our report card series on the 2026 Washington Nationals! The same caveats listed in part 1 apply here, too: This is just for fun, players are in fact being graded on a curve, and we’re using the same grading system you would see in an American high school. Here we go, leading off with one of the Nats’ best players of the year… CJ Abrams: A- By just about any measure, Abrams had a phenomenal season. He handily led the Nats in rWAR; was one of just two players in baseball with at least 30 doubles, 30 homers, 30 stolen bases, and 100 RBI; and just might pocket some downballot MVP votes this fall. He led a surprising offensive resurgence for a team that had ranked near the bottom of most offensive categories in recent seasons. There ought to be, and likely will be, serious chatter around a long-term extension for Abrams this winter. The biggest reason this isn’t a straight A grade, or even an A+, is Abrams’ defense, and the consequences thereof. Abrams was the worst regular shortstop in MLB this year, and the Nats announced in mid-August that he would in fact transition to second base moving forward. While the team initially said Abrams was on board, it soon became clear Abrams was not really on board with this, and he proceeded to take almost a week off with what the Nats apparently thought was a minor injury and…
Grading the 2026 Nationals, part 1: pitchers
Pencils down! The 2026 regular season is over, and it’s time for the Washington Nationals to get their report card. Let’s preface this with some boilerplate: These grades are just for fun. They reflect my own opinion, are not necessarily shared by every contributor or administrator of Nats.Talk or the DC Sports.Talk family, and have no fabulous prizes attached to them. These grades are, at least to a degree, on a curve relative to expectations. An unheralded player who had a breakout season is likely going to get a higher grade than a solid player who had a solid season. A former top prospect who had a disappointing season might get a lower grade than an organizational player who also didn’t do much this year. These grades are based on the American grading system: F is the worst, D is below passable, C is a passing grade, B is good, A is excellent. I’ve sparingly applied plus and minus chromatics to certain letter grades where I feel it’s warranted. Certain players who barely played this year due to injury will receive incomplete grades (INC) for lack of a decent sample size — through no fault of their own — to judge their output. With that out of the way, let’s begin. Andrew Alvarez: A Some early wobbles aside, Alvarez was everything the Nats could have hoped for this season. The rookie was easily the team’s second-best starter this second half, a capable Robin to Cade Cavalli ‘s Batman. While advanced…
Revenues Spending
There is a circular co-dependency between revenues and spending in sports. Some would ask, what comes first in a chicken and the egg scenario? The simplistic answer is you spend with the hopes that revenues increase enough to cover the new levels of spending, and as a result, winning increases. And you curtail spending when winning turns to losing. It is a vicious cycle. There are several areas for revenue growth. And in the coming months, the largest revenue growth could come from TV parity whereby all local and national TV money would be split equally amongst all of the MLB teams in a 1/30th split. Currently, only the national TV contracts with MLB are split equally between the teams, and the local RSN revenue is kept by the teams. Also part of the current CBA calculation is the local RSN revenue is subject to the revenue sharing model. And that model needs to changed in the new CBA. The Washington Nationals are exempt from receiving revenue sharing. The four largest parts of the revenue model are: Attendance, Parking, F&B, Merch, etc. TV money — local RSN and national MLB split via TV contracts (with Fox, TBS, and the new 2026–2028 package consisting of ESPN, NBC/Peacock, and Netflix) generate roughly $1.8 billion annually with $60 million to each team. The Nationals RSN money with Nationals.TV is thought to be under $40 million. Stadium naming rights and corporate sponsorships. While the Nationals have corporate sponsorships from Terra that reportedly has expired…
Building blocks for the future from 77 wins!
After Paul Toboni was hired by the Washington Nationals, the newly minted President of Baseball Operations declared at his introductory press conference that he wanted his baseball team to be the “Envy of [his] sport.” At the time, many felt that was just a young guy talking BS. Toboni has presided over one of the swiftest overhauls the sport has ever seen on his way to trying to achieve that goal. He has turned heads in baseball, a sport steeped in tradition, that is slow to change. The changes take time. Toboni accelerated the clock. At his introductory presser, Toboni also talked about the “visible scoreboard” is how you should be judged. His team just finished with 77 wins, four from a.500 season. On his Wednesday radio show, he talked about one regret was the bullpen losses and the blown-save record (43). Toboni pondered that if they could have won half of the 24 losses in those blown-save games (12), the Nats could have been in the postseason. In the final count, they would have finished with 89 wins — and guess what, that would have tied the Nats for the second Wild Card. Again, you cannot change the past — you can learn from the past to impact the future. Toboni talked about building the strong foundation then putting in the doors and windows once the foundation was ready. A great builder’s analogy that is very true in business. When you inherit a Bottom-10 farm system in what Toboni…
Postgamer: Nats finish 2026 with their 77th win!
The Washington Nationals finished on a hot streak en route to winning 10 of their final 14 games to finish the season. Just over two weeks ago, the team was stuck at 67 wins and now got to 77 wins — just 4-wins from a.500 season. Those 77 wins were an 11 game and a 16.7 percent improvement from last year. This final game had some wonderful finishes as Andres Chaparro cranked two home runs to get him to an.894 OPS as he led MLB since the All-Star break. While Chaparro didn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify, he passed James Wood (.891) for tops on the active roster. CJ Abrams added to his team leading RBI total at 106 and had that 30+/30+/30 season for his speed and power as part of a group of just 13 players in MLB history to have those numbers in a season. Reliever Erik Tolman who made his MLB debut on Aug. 22 after a minor league career history of catastrophic injuries is a success story. He showed his perseverance on the way to make it to MLB — and today he recorded his 5th save. DJ Herz started today’s game as he makes his way back from his TJ surgery in 2025. And the bullpen threw 6.0 scoreless today. Great ERA finishes by Will Dion (3.62), Riley Cornelio (3.68), Jack Sinclair (2.45), and Tolman (2.93). The season started with a lot of criticism and ageism about the hirings of Paul Toboni and…
Game #162: “THANK YOU FANS”
The Washington Nationals have really created a new sense of what could be great in the future of Nats baseball. With ownership creating two new positions, one for the baseball operations side and another on the business side, they hired Paul Toboni and Jason Sinnarajah respectively as division presidents. Those hires of Toboni and Sinnarajah set the organization on a new course. The message waiting for arriving fans is a message of thanks. “THANK YOU FANS” is emblazoned on the scoreboard. Later, selected fans will receive game worn jerseys from today’s game in the team’s annual tradition for charity. Signature: 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 " data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?fit=1024%2C822&ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?resize=1024%2C822&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-91873" style="aspect-ratio:1.2457594127134197;width:467px;height:auto" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?resize=1024%2C822&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?resize=300%2C241&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?resize=768%2C617&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/nats.talkdcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Jason-Sinnarajah-Paul-Toboni-2026-by-Intrepid.jpg?w=1136&ssl=1 1136w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /> Yes, it is inclement weather as this nor’easter has been wreaking havoc on the east coast for days. Today’s game was supposed to start at 3:05 pm as all final games of the season were set for the exact same time to give no team in the playoff hunt an advantage. Well, the Mets and Nats are not playoff bound — and based on the weather forecasts, MLB moved the game time up just like they did yesterday. For those paying attention, the Mets had playoff aspirations to start the season and clinched last place in the NL East on Friday when the Nats beat them. The NL East standings are set: Atlanta Braves Philadelphia Phillies Miami Marlins Washington Nationals New York Mets What those standings show in part, that…
Great season Rochester! Hold your heads high!
LAS VEGAS, NV — If you stayed up to 10:30 p.m. local (1:30 a.m. ET), you saw Triple-A Rochester lose the championship game in the most “Nats” way ever with a blown-save that turned into a bullpen loss. Familiar names, attached to the blown-save ( Eddy Yean) and the loss ( Clayton Beeter), were a shame because Rochester pitched EIGHT innings of zeroes, and kind of nine if you count the no-out mess that Matt Krook had to clean-up in the 10th inning that Beeter left behind. Let’s give it to Rochester for an amazing season where they had the best record in all of Triple-A baseball at 90-58 plus their wins in the postseason. In fact, Rochester was the home team due to having the best record — and could have had a walk-off with a clutch hit in the 9th inning with that runner-in-scoring position (RISP) and just one out. That wasn’t meant to be. Rochester scored one of their two runs in regulation via a Liover Peguero homer. They had nine hits, and held the other team to just eight. Rochester’s other run in regulation scored via a Leandro Pineda RISP hit. Other than that clutch hit, Rochester was 1-7 in RISP spots (an infield hit). In extra innings, the only run that scored was via a Riley Adams double play ball in the 5-3 loss. Let’s face it, Rochester was facing a stacked affiliate of the L.A. Dodgers. They boast some real star power that we…
Rochester goes for the Triple-A championship; Early gets promoted from Triple-A!
As expected, LHP Connelly Early was promoted from Triple-A Rochester to the Washington Nationals today. Early could have started today for Rochester in the Triple-A championship. But the team wanted to see Early in his debut game for the Nats — and he didn’t disappoint. Early threw 3.0 scoreless innings giving up just one hit, no walks, and had one strikeout. He lowered his ERA on the season to 3.33 in his 18 MLB games (17 with Boston) this season. Rochester is showing that Jack Cebert will be their starter in their Triple-A Championship game tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada between the Oklahoma City Comets (Dodgers) and the Red Wings at Las Vegas Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 pm ET and televised on MLB Network. Here is what the Dodgers Comets lineup will look like: Oklahoma City Comets: 1. Zach Ehrhard — RF 2. Josue De Paula — LF 3. James Tibbs III — 1B 4. Mike Sirota — DH 5. Alek Thomas — CF 6. Ryan Fitzgerald — 3B 7. Noah Miller — SS 8. Hyeseong Kim — 2B 9. Ben Rortvedt — C SP – Emmet Sheehan — RHP Rochester Red Wings: 1. Seaver King — SS 2. Trey Lipscomb — LF 3. Cayden Wallace — 3B 4. Riley Adams — DH 5. Leandro Pineda — RF 6. Andrew Pinckney — CF 7. Max Romero — C 8. Liover Peguero — 1B 9. Cortland Lawson — 2B SP – Jack Cebert — RHP This start is…
Game #161 Nats will finish ahead of the Mets in 2026!
The Washington Nationals needed one win in this series against the Mets this weekend to guarantee they would finish ahead of the Mets in the standings, and the Nats wasted no time in getting that win on Friday night. With the Marlins winning their game tonight, the NL East standings are set: Atlanta Braves Philadelphia Phillies Miami Marlins Washington Nationals New York Mets Another note is today’s game was moved up to beat the storms headed to the DC area in the late afternoon. First pitch shifts from 4:05 p.m. to 12:35 p.m. The Nats will have Connelly Early as their opener with Jake Irvin as their bulk reliever. The pitching plan for tomorrow is that DJ Herz will start in the season finale on Sunday. With just two games remaining in the season with today’s game and tomorrow’s game, we do get a cool doubleheader with the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings playing in a winner-take-all one game championship for the entire Triple-A at 10:05 p.m. ET first pitch in Las Vegas. Officially, Early was activated off the 60-day IL, with Luis Perales optioned to Triple-A, and Chase Hampton DFA’d to clear roster space for him. Can Perales make it to Las Vegas for tonight to meet up with Triple-A Rochester for their championship game? The Nats enter this game with 76 wins on the books, and have already improved 15.2 percent in year-over-year for wins above the 66 total wins from the 2025 season. Each extra win from here…
Postgamer: Nats clinch 4th place with 76th win! Josiah Gray 1st save!
Nats win! Nats win! Win №76 clinched 4th place for the Washington Nationals. Josiah Gray also recorded his first save in a Nats 7-6 win over the New York Mets. ❝When you get that type of ovation when you come into the game, obviously it says a lot about what you’ve done on the mound. But also, there’s more to it than that. I think the fans appreciate good players and also good people, and that’s what JoJo is.❞ — manager Blake Butera on Josiah Gray A crowd of 28,639 filled in Nationals Park for a game of NL East teams. The loser would be perilously close or guaranteed last place in the division. With the Nats winning, they pushed the Mets into the cellar of the NL East. This also becomes a referendum on spending and all of those who think payroll is a guarantee. It’s always about how you spend it. Nats fans were treated to a spectacular 73° evening with fireworks after the game, and a nail-biting Curly W. While it wasn’t a well-played game by either side, the Nats made fewer mistakes. Unfortunately Andrew Alvarez had his worst start of the season and was pulled at 4⅔ innings after he yielded five earnies. Still a great season for Alvarez who finishes with a 3.43 ERA on the season. The bullpen was excellent. Gus Varland pitched 1⅓ perfect innings, and Yovanny Cruz was electric in his perfectly inning. Jack Sinclair gave up two hits but one of…