The Washington Nationals are one of the most surprising teams in Major League Baseball through the first three months of the season, sitting just a game below .500 after losing 91 and 107 games in each of the last two years.
When the Nationals sent star Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in the summer of 2022, they expected to struggle for some time, but behind two of the players acquired for Soto – CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore – Washington is ahead of schedule.
Abrams has been on a tear for the last month, and he's also got a great approach to the post-Juan Soto era, per Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune:
“It was an opportunity when we came over here. This is our team now. We’re doing our thing.”
The 23-year-old Abrams has a 1.034 OPS through the first 16 games in June and is the Nationals’ leader in homers (12), RBIs (39), runs (45), slugging (.496) and OPS (.817).
Additionally, 25-year-old starting pitcher Gore enters Tuesday’s start leading the Nationals in wins (6) and strikeouts (98).
“We have a really good group of guys and we want to win for each other,” Gore said – also per Sanders. “I think that’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had. It’s still early. It’s June. We have a lot of games left … but it’s been fun being part of this group and watching these guys get better.”
The two players return with the Nationals to take on their former team, the San Diego Padres, this week.
Will the Nationals be sellers at the trade deadline?
With the July 30 trade deadline slowly approaching, there is a chance that teams hovering around the .500 mark could still decide to sell off some of their pieces in case they fall off the playoff race. For the Nationals, three players are reportedly already catching the eye of some contending teams in the event that they become a selling team. Those players are relievers Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan, plus right fielder Lane Thomas.
It's not clear whether or not the Nationals are going to sell. They are still playing the waiting game as they look to see where they sit in the standings as they draw closer to the trade deadline. At the moment, Washington sits just half-a-game out of a National League Wild Card spot.
The Nationals' bullpen has been stellar so far this season. Hunter Harvey, in particular, has been one of the best relievers in the league. His strikeout rate of 28.6 percent against a walk percentage of 6.5 makes him worthy of the 2.84 ERA he's sporting, while Kyle Finnegan is finding a way to keep runners from crossing the plate, as he's currently boasting an even more pristine 2.23 ERA.
It's easy to see why Harvey and Finnegan are generating some interest on the market. The two pitchers are only making $2.325 and $5.1 million for this season, respectively, which makes their acquisition palatable from a financial standpoint. Additionally, the two pitchers are under team control for next season as well.
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