For a team that insists Friday's trade deadline is a last resort, the Washington Nationals have been somewhat of a fixture in the rumor mill.
Names like those of the Oakland Athletics' Ben Zobrist and the Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki have had fluctuating levels of association with Washington for months now. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported in early June that the Nationals tested the waters with Zobrist and CBS Sports' Jon Heyman suggested in May that Washington would be a heavily featured in any Tulowitzki-shopping efforts by Colorado.
But with the deadline less than a week away, we'll push a season's worth of rumors to the back burner and focus on the latest information regarding the Nationals' potential transactions. And the application of that criteria reveals that Washington is dead serious about bolstering the bullpen.
While the Nationals' relievers' 3.39 ERA is good for 13th in baseball, there are also only three bullpens in MLB that have pitched fewer innings than Washington's unit. That's thanks in part to the durability of the Nats' starters, but the stat can also be attributed to manager Matt Williams' lack of confidence in a bullpen with a revolving door.
The Washington reliever with the most innings pitched this season, Blake Treinen, is currently a Triple-A Syracuse Chief, thanks to 4.39 ERA. He's one of five pitchers the Nationals have optioned to the minor leagues just this month. That's on top of Aaron Barrett's activation from the disabled list and David Carpenter's trip to it.
But with Drew Storen and his 1.73 ERA and 29 saves serving as the only constant out of the 'pen and Washington hitching its wagon to its starting pitchers for seven innings and beyond, the Nationals aren't in desperation mode. But for those same reasons, a reliable setup man has the potential to drastically improve this team.
With that information serving as the primer, the following are the two names that make up the buzz around Washington at the start of trade-deadline week.
LHP Aroldis Chapman
The name of the Cincinnatti Reds' flamethrower first appeared in association with the Nationals back in June, when Fox Sports' Jon Morosi reported on trade discussions between the two sides.
But last week is when it started to look like this trade had legs. In a series of tweets, Rosenthal offered the framework and a sense of legitimacy for a deal that could send Chapman to Washington.
As expected, Washington will have to offer up someone from its surplus of pitching prospects in order to pry Chapman away from the Reds. But, contingent on what school of thought you're enrolled in, Fedde could be easier to part with than some of the Nationals other young arms.
This being Fedde's first professional season after missing all of last year recovering from Tommy John, it will be a while before he makes it to the major league level. According to MLB Pipeline, he can't be expected to reach The Show until 2018.
But the Nationals could conceivably require the services of a couple of their highly touted prospects before that date. Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister are both free agents after this season, so it could be in Washington's best interest to hold onto its young pitchers who are closer to major league ready in order to compensate for any losses the team could face on that front.
Based on the criteria provided by MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, the Nationals satisfy at least one of Jonathan Papelbon's requirements in a trade destination.
"Papelbon has a limited no-trade clause, but he has said repeatedly it will not be an issue if he is traded to a contender." Zolecki writes, "He also has said he will not leave the Phillies to be a setup man."
While Washington can certainly be qualified as a contender, it would be difficult to uproot Storen from his role as the team's closer during the career season he's put together so far. Regardless, the Nationals and the Philadephia Phillies have both shown interest in a Papelbon trade according to Morosi.
Reports like Zolecki's indicate that Washington is one of three teams in the mix for Pabelbon's services, with the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays also in on the conversation.
The Cubs seemingly have the advantage in terms of availability bias. They just wrapped up a three-game set in Chicago, where Heyman reports the Phillies closer talked with Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein, the latter of whom was Papelbon's general manager during his time with the Boston Red Sox.
Papelbon also had the whole game Saturday to take in the sights at Wrigley Field while his buddy Cole Hamels took care of all the Phillies' pitching needs.
With Papeblon's demand to close games and several other suitors serving as roadblocks in Washington's pursuit of the Philadelphia reliever, a trade for Chapman seems like the more likely scenario at this point.
But it's officially deadline week, so it would also be unwise to assume general manager Mike Rizzo won't flip the script on all of us and pull off a trade that never even advanced to the rumor stage.
from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/1GTdSxA
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