2025 Off-season breakout: Bullpen Addition / Subtraction

[imref]

I hate to break up the argument here, but, serious question, who would replace Finnegan as closer? Who on the current roster would you want in that role? Currently, three relievers on the 40-man who aren't Finnegan are making arbitration. If you are shopping Finnegan, is that a signal you are signing someone from FA? I'm not advocating either way here, just asking questions.

Brzykcy? Rainey? Ferrer? Jack Sinclair (if he survives the rule 5 draft?)

Obviously, if the team intends to compete next year we'd have to find a closer elsewhere if we trade Finnegan. But if next year is just another "incremental step" year, then we could get by with internal options or closer by committee.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Call me a Finnegan moderate. He's an ERA beats his FIP guy every year, especially the last 2, so natch that fWAR might have it in for him a bit. 2022 probably was his best year in terms of run prevention, Ks, and BBs, when he only closed after the trade deadline. He gets ground balls well above average, his launch angle is low, so he's not killed by hard hit rate and HRs. He's just going to occasionally give up the crushing homer. I prefer him with clean innings when the homer is less likely to kill you, and he needs to limit his walks.

Slate is right about 1st half / 2d half last year. 1st half, he was a legit all star. 2nd half, overwhelmingly poor performance. You can't dress up an 11/18 BB/K ratio in 23 innings and say that's good for a guy who gets into trouble when he walks people. ERA jumped from 2.45 to 5.79. Opponents went from .190 / .255 / .340 to .337 / .404 / .490. Think about that .894 OPS in the second half. Damage would have been worse but for a slight drop in FB% and HR/FB.

Assuming that 2nd half was an aberration, he can close and rack up effective outings when used right on a bad team. I just don't see him as a fireman in the middle of innings with men on. Trading him now probably is at a depressed price. Maybe you roll the dice and hope he rebuilds value for next year's deadline, but he may end up closer to Jacob Barnes than a top 10 closer notwithstanding his save count.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I hate to break up the argument here, but, serious question, who would replace Finnegan as closer? Who on the current roster would you want in that role? Currently, three relievers on the 40-man who aren't Finnegan are making arbitration. If you are shopping Finnegan, is that a signal you are signing someone from FA? I'm not advocating either way here, just asking questions.

IMO, Ferrer most likely, initially in a committee with Law. Those two are your back end, barring a signing or two. Salazar had nice results and throws hard, and if Robert Garcia ever threw close to what his peripheral stats say he's capable of,  he'd be terrific. Bullpen clearly needs an upgrade if they are trying to be in the hunt for a wild card slot at the start of the year. I'd love Kirby Yates with Finnegan as the 8th inning guy and Ferrer and Law as the primary 6th and 7th guys. Pushes Garcia, Brzykcy, and Salazar into lower leverage initially.

[imref]

Rutledge moving to the bullpen is a decent probability as well.

[Natsinpwc]

They will have to find a new closer in 2026 anyway.  Might as well start the auditions now. 

[HalfSmokes]

I hate to break up the argument here, but, serious question, who would replace Finnegan as closer? Who on the current roster would you want in that role? Currently, three relievers on the 40-man who aren't Finnegan are making arbitration. If you are shopping Finnegan, is that a signal you are signing someone from FA? I'm not advocating either way here, just asking questions.

You only need a closer if you intend to win

[Senatorswin]

Finnegan had five blown saves in 2024.

Hader had 4.

I'm not comparing because there is no comparison. You're the one claiming that Finnegan is better than Hader.

And Hader is not the best closer in the game.

Hader had 34 saves. Finnegan had 38. You're the one who originally said he couldn't compare to Hader.

Finnegan was third in the league in saves with 38 on a 71 win team. He has stayed healthy. The second half he had some blowup games. If he is on the team next year and has a good first half hopefully they'll be in a buy position and there should be no talk of trading him. The lets trade him at the deadline days need to be in the past.

[Slateman]

Hader had 34 saves. Finnegan had 38. You're the one who originally said he couldn't compare to Hader.

Finnegan was third in the league in saves with 38 on a 71 win team. He has stayed healthy. The second half he had some blowup games. If he is on the team next year and has a good first half hopefully they'll be in a buy position and there should be no talk of trading him. The lets trade him at the deadline days need to be in the past.

Hader converted a greater percentage of his save opportunities than Finnegan. Its not Hader's fault that his team blew out a bunch of teams and he didn't get the chance to pitch the last inning of the game with a lead of three runs or less.

If Rizzo is shopping Finnegan now, then ownership has zero intentions of putting in a competitive offseason. He is being shopped because he has the highest salary on the active roster and Rizzo just doesn't want to spend the money on an 8million dollar reliever. Finnegan is middle relief on a competitive team. No one in baseball views him as anything more. If they did, they would have offered a competitive trade package at last year's deadline.

Should have traded him at the 2023 deadline . . .

[Senatorswin]

Hader converted a greater percentage of his save opportunities than Finnegan. Its not Hader's fault that his team blew out a bunch of teams and he didn't get the chance to pitch the last inning of the game with a lead of three runs or less.

If Rizzo is shopping Finnegan now, then ownership has zero intentions of putting in a competitive offseason. He is being shopped because he has the highest salary on the active roster and Rizzo just doesn't want to spend the money on an 8million dollar reliever. Finnegan is middle relief on a competitive team. No one in baseball views him as anything more. If they did, they would have offered a competitive trade package at last year's deadline.

Should have traded him at the 2023 deadline . . .

Their save percentage was virtually the same. The difference is not even worth mentioning. 8 million dollars is not much for a guy who had the third highest saves in MLB on a bad team. To say he's no more than a middle reliever is laughable. When you say no one in baseball views him as anything more is something you just made up and is ridiculous.

[Slateman]

Their save percentage was virtually the same. The difference is not even worth mentioning. 8 million dollars is not much for a guy who had the third highest saves in MLB on a bad team. To say he's no more than a middle reliever is laughable. When you say no one in baseball views him as anything more is something you just made up and is ridiculous.

If anyone viewed him as anything more, he would have been dealt at the deadline. His current value is at an all time low. Rizzo is trying to trade him to free up payroll.

[Slateman]

IMO, Ferrer most likely, initially in a committee with Law. Those two are your back end, barring a signing or two. Salazar had nice results and throws hard, and if Robert Garcia ever threw close to what his peripheral stats say he's capable of,  he'd be terrific. Bullpen clearly needs an upgrade if they are trying to be in the hunt for a wild card slot at the start of the year. I'd love Kirby Yates with Finnegan as the 8th inning guy and Ferrer and Law as the primary 6th and 7th guys. Pushes Garcia, Brzykcy, and Salazar into lower leverage initially.

They give it to Law or Rainey, based on being veterans. Honestly, I'd love to see Law do it.

[Senatorswin]

If anyone viewed him as anything more, he would have been dealt at the deadline. His current value is at an all time low. Rizzo is trying to trade him to free up payroll.

You don't know what the Nats were asking for him. He was an all-star in 2024. There could be a lot of reasons he wasn't dealt including they wanted to keep him because they dealt Hunter and didn't want to deplete the whole back-end of the bullpen at the same time. Another is because he is under contract in 2025 and they will need a closer if they're going to make a wild card move. An all-star is not a middle reliever. He did have some blow-up games the second half of the season so his value may not be as high as it was at mid-season but he's still been a solid closer for the Nats many teams would like to have.

[Slateman]

They wouldn't shop him now if they needed him for a wild card move.

[Senatorswin]

They wouldn't shop him now if they needed him for a wild card move.

It doesn't hurt to see what's offered and reports like that come out all the time. Who knows to what extent or what the truth is.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

IMO, Ferrer most likely, initially in a committee with Law. Those two are your back end, barring a signing or two. Salazar had nice results and throws hard, and if Robert Garcia ever threw close to what his peripheral stats say he's capable of,  he'd be terrific. Bullpen clearly needs an upgrade if they are trying to be in the hunt for a wild card slot at the start of the year. I'd love Kirby Yates with Finnegan as the 8th inning guy and Ferrer and Law as the primary 6th and 7th guys. Pushes Garcia, Brzykcy, and Salazar into lower leverage initially.

should have had Rainey in the mix for some role, too. It'd be nice if he could consistently throw 95 again. It seemed in the 2nd half that he would come in and throw 93 or less for his first batter or two, then ramp up to 94-95 for a bit. If he's throwing 95 or so, then he could be in the mix for "bullpen A" guy who gets you to the set up guys.