{"id":386921,"date":"2026-01-04T07:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T07:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/386921\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T07:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T07:27:07","slug":"the-nationals-closer-options-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/386921\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nationals’ Closer Options – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The swap of Jose A. Ferrer<\/a> for Harry Ford<\/a> brought<\/a> the Nationals their potential catcher of the future. It also left an already-thin bullpen without a clear closer for the upcoming season. The rebuilding club is unlikely to pursue an impact reliever in free agency. If they make a move, it\u2019ll likely be finding a cheap veteran with closing experience in the hopes of flipping them at the trade deadline after a few months of decent production.<\/p>\n

The Nationals ranked dead last in bullpen ERA by a significant margin in 2025. The team was 0.4 runs worse than the next-closest team (Colorado). Washington has been able to rely on Kyle Finnegan<\/a> for the past few seasons. The righty threaded the needle of being capable of holding down the job, while not being talented enough to leave via trade or free agency. He fell back into the Nats\u2019 lap in late February after garnering minimal interest on the open market. Washington moved him to Detroit at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The Finnegan trade led to the emergence of Ferrer, who earned 11 saves over the final two months of the season. The hard-throwing lefty\u2019s overall numbers weren\u2019t amazing, but a 3.24 SIERA and a 3.43 xFIP suggested the best was yet to come. Ferrer will now join Seattle\u2019s elite bullpen.<\/p>\n

Washington has a new general manager and a first-time skipper. It\u2019s the perfect time to unearth a stud reliever out of a rag-tag mix of arms. So who could the closer-in-waiting be?<\/p>\n

Cole Henry<\/a><\/p>\n

After multiple years as one of the organization\u2019s top pitching prospects, Henry moved to a relief role in 2025. Persistent injury issues kept the 2020 second-round pick from putting it all together as a starter. Henry opened the season in the minors, but was quickly promoted to the big-league club. He slowly worked his way into a high-leverage role. The righty finished the season with 10 holds, which ranked behind only Ferrer. He also notched a pair of saves.<\/p>\n

Henry has the fastball to be a closer. The 26-year-old\u2019s four-seamer sits in the mid-90s with well-above-average arm-side movement. The pitch held hitters to a .191 batting average and recorded a +4 Run Value. Henry\u2019s curveball is a decent complement, with its solid whiff rate and tight shape. As a former starter, Henry unsurprisingly used a deep pitch mix, but his sinker, cutter, and changeup were unremarkable. The key will be narrowing down an arsenal he can throw for strikes. Henry had a 13.3% walk rate, which ranked in the second percentile. He posted a miserable 85 Location+.<\/p>\n

Clayton Beeter<\/a><\/p>\n

If the season started today, Beeter would likely draw the 9th-inning assignment. He finished just behind Henry with nine holds and also chipped in a save. Beeter closed the season with a save and five holds over his final seven appearances. Interim manager Miguel Cairo<\/a> leaned on him when Ferrer faltered down the stretch. He\u2019s another former starter who recently made the move to the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Beeter has the strikeout numbers of an elite reliever. After multiple minor league seasons with a strikeout rate above 35%, he\u2019s continued to punch out hitters in the majors. Beeter has a 31.9% strikeout rate across 29 MLB innings over the past two years. It\u2019s a straightforward repertoire, just an upper-90s fastball and a hard slider. Beeter\u2019s slider had a massive 49.1% whiff rate last season. It was responsible for 29 of his 33 strikeouts. Beeter had a 2.97 xFIP with the Nats, so his 2.49 ERA seems somewhat legit. If there\u2019s an internal option who could rack up 15 saves and be on the move in late July, it\u2019s probably Beeter.<\/p>\n

PJ Poulin<\/a> or Konnor Pilkington<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington only has two left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster, so while Poulin and Pilkington are locked into MLB roles, neither is likely to be reserved for the 9th inning. A free agent addition of the southpaw variety would probably be the only way for one of them to step into the gig. If that happens, there\u2019s a route toward Poulin or Pilkington vying for the job.<\/p>\n

Poulin would be a non-traditional pick, even as lefties go. His heater barely cracks 90 mph, and he walks too many hitters for a soft-tosser. But, he did compile a 2.10 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A in Detroit\u2019s system in 2024. He had multiple stops with big strikeout numbers, including a 33.7% strikeout rate with Triple-A Toledo before getting claimed by the Nats.<\/p>\n

Pilkington\u2019s velocity jumped up in the Nats\u2019 bullpen compared to his days as a starter with the Guardians. He was sitting above 94 mph as a reliever this past year. Pilkington missed bats at an above-average rate, but walked too many and was barreled too frequently.<\/p>\n

Marquis Grissom Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Grissom has steadily worked his way up Washington\u2019s system, reaching Triple-A this past season. While he stumbled with Rochester, there\u2019s enough of a minor league track record to believe Grissom could make an impact with the big-league club. He posted a 2.21 ERA across two minor league levels in 2024. That earned Grissom an invite to MLB Spring Training in 2025. He also played in the Futures Game this past year, where he went up against his dad (who was managing the AL team). Grissom has totaled 27 saves in the minors over the past three seasons. The fact that he isn\u2019t on the 40-man roster hurts his chances, but the club doesn\u2019t have many obvious impact relievers in the minors.<\/p>\n

Brad Lord<\/a><\/p>\n

A team bereft of reliable starters outside of MacKenzie Gore<\/a> probably can\u2019t afford to keep Lord in the bullpen, though his stuff is enticing there. Lord scooped up seven holds in a hybrid role last season. He was sitting at 96 mph at times as a reliever. Lord put together a two-month stretch from mid-May to mid-July with a 2.70 ERA and a 23.5% strikeout rate over 26 relief appearances. He doesn\u2019t have a clear answer for lefties (which will be a problem as a starter), but the fastball\/sinker\/slider combo could play with the velocity bump out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The swap of Jose A. Ferrer for Harry Ford brought the Nationals their potential catcher of the future.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[4714,185090,363,51087,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-386921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-clayton-beeter","9":"tag-cole-henry","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-pj-poulin","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}