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Manager Blake Butera removes reliever Mitchell Parker from a game against the Phillies last week. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nAt the beginning of the season, if someone had told them the Nationals would be 43-42 after 85 games, most fans would\u2019ve rejoiced.<\/p>\n
Given that background and the knowledge that the lineup has produced the most runs in the majors through Sunday \u2014 even ahead of the big-money Dodgers \u2014 wouldn\u2019t that be reason for celebration? For the first time since 2019, there is legitimate hope for a fan base that sat dormant as the team embarked on an aimless rebuild.<\/p>\n
But instead of jubilation there\u2019s a feeling the Nationals have left wins on the table. If the bullpen were just average, the team could be farther over .500. But those are the ebbs and flows of the season.<\/p>\n
There was even trepidation from the fans during Sunday\u2019s series-ending 6-4 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards after Mitchell Parker allowed a two-run homer in the seventh that cut the lead to two. <\/p>\n
But the team has belief in its relievers. Right-hander Zack Littell \u2014 who threw five innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts and two walks Sunday \u2014 said the Nationals didn\u2019t need a big team meeting or something similar to move past the Phillies series.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re OK,\u2019\u201d Littell said. \u201cThese guys are going to come and play. It\u2019s just baseball. I think that sometimes that gets lost, especially with a younger group, but stuff happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bullpen, especially the bullpen, is going to be hot. The bullpen is going to be cold. It sucks that it happened three days in a row against a team that we could have beat four games or so, but it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in Saturday\u2019s 4-3 win, the bullpen almost cost the team the game after a sterling performance from Foster Griffin. Orlando Ribalta surrended the lead when he allowed two eighth-inning runs that tied the game at 3. <\/p>\n
With a 4-3 lead in the 10th inning, right-hander Justin Lawrence loaded the bases but escaped to record the save to snap the four-game losing streak.<\/p>\n
Last week against the Nationals, the Phillies became the first team to hit go-ahead homers in the ninth inning of three consecutive games. Before that, Washington led by eight runs in the eighth inning against the Giants and lost on a walk-off grand slam by rookie Bryce Eldridge.<\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t many levers for manager Blake Butera to pull that he hasn\u2019t tried already. He used four pitchers (Richard Lovelady, Gus Varland, Ribalta and Brad Lord) in the ninth inning of the three late-game collapses against Philadelphia, and all failed.<\/p>\n
Manager Blake Butera removes reliever Mitchell Parker from a game against the Phillies last week. (Jamie Sabau\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Entering Sunday, Nationals relievers had the lowest strikeout rate (18.1%) and 13th-highest walk rate (10%) in the big leagues. Lacking big-time velocity requires them to be precise in their command.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve given every guy in the bullpen an opportunity to finish the game for us,\u201d Butera said after Wednesday\u2019s collapse. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna keep trying to find that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, it was left-hander PJ Poulin who assumed the challenge. He pitched two scoreless innings, walking one and allowing zero hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went out there as cool as can be, didn\u2019t show any signs of nerves or being afraid or anything like that,\u201d Butera said. \u201cHe went and attacked hitters and did an outstanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team needs more relievers to show they want the ball in high-leverage spots. The Nationals lead the majors in blown saves and have the third-worst bullpen ERA (5.03).<\/p>\n
\u200bThe lack of pitching depth in the upper levels of the minors only exacerbates the issue.<\/p>\n
Varland was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after he allowed the go-ahead, two-run homer to former National Bryce Harper on Thursday night. Right-hander Zak Kent was recalled to replace him and pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and one walk Friday. But, with a fastball that sits at 92.4 mph, it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019s the answer to one of the late-inning spots.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s the dilemma. This is the first year of Paul Toboni\u2019s regime as president of baseball operations. He showed his priorities during the offseason when he entertained trade offers for CJ Abrams and pulled the trigger on a significant prospect haul for left-hander McKenzie Gore. <\/p>\n
The prospects he acquired are in the infancy of their professional careers and years from impacting the majors.<\/p>\n
But the Nationals are in the playoff hunt. It\u2019s an interesting conundrum for Toboni, and he will have to ask himself many questions. Is it worth it to take wins from the future (trading prospects) to potentially add wins to the present?<\/p>\n
![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DN6VN5ATKRBUZKZVSQCNDM425Q.jpg\")
Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni could face decisions at the MLB trade deadline. (Nick Wass\/AP)<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the matter of the asking price at the deadline. It\u2019s unlikely Toboni would deal from his top tier of prospects, so what level of prospect would it take to bring back a reliever who could add value? That\u2019s an answer that will likely become clearer as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches.<\/p>\n
Relievers are notoriously volatile. Surveying the majors paints that picture even more clearly due to the sheer number of teams dealing with high-priced relievers who are faltering. So what\u2019s the fix? What can the team do?<\/p>\n
The Nationals already emphasized count leverage and filling the zone with strikes, but the relievers have to execute. The team will have to continue cycling through options until it finds a modicum of stability. <\/p>\n
Waiver claims such as Lawrence, who recorded the save in Saturday\u2019s win, could become the norm. Lawrence is the classic high-risk flier that a rebuilding team should be taking a chance on. He has big-time velocity from a low slot angle.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that bullpen stabilization is what stands between the Nationals continuing their surprising success and sputtering back toward the bottom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a little bit of a tough stretch, but that\u2019s why we got 162 [games],\u201d Poulin said. \u201c[We] just got to grind through it, keep our heads up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the beginning of the season, if someone had told them the Nationals would be 43-42 after 85…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":767922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[8475,64,63,4034,591,38796,85],"class_list":["post-767921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-american-league","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-national-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/767922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}