Should We Buy or Should We Sell Now - Trade Deadline 2026

[JCA-CrystalCity]

This is not the year.  Sell for MiLB arms.

Congrats on your first post. Feel free to weigh in when you want.

Up at the top of the Clubhouse under one of the stickied threads, there's a "welcome new members" thread. Feel free to post about how you came to be a Nats fan.

[varoadking]

This is not the year.  Sell for MiLB arms.

Good first post...welcome...and I agree wholeheartedly...

[imref]

Toboni tells the Junkies he can take on additional salary if it makes sense.

[Slateman]

Toboni tells the Junkies he can take on additional salary if it makes sense.

How much additional salary though?

[zimm_da_kid]

How much additional salary though?

$10

[imref]

Morosi says the Nats are not shopping Abrams.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Morosi says the Nats are not shopping Abrams.

that said, it's different from not listening to offers on him.

[imref]

that said, it's different from not listening to offers on him.

sure, you always listen to offers. But nice to see that the team hasn't thrown in the towel on this season yet.

[PowerBoater69]

Toboni is on the move.

@NationalsComms
The Nationals have acquired RHP Kyle Nicolas from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for INF Randal Diaz.

The Nationals have optioned Nicolas to Triple-A Rochester.

First ever Nats and Os trade. Breaking the ice for when we raid their pitching staff.

[Smithian]

Ask me in a few weeks.

I'm a week away from being two weeks away from having a serious position on buy vs sell.

[GataNats]

Zero reason to sell this season.  We are in contention, we cant better our draft spot, and the things we have to sell won’t help us at all.   

[welch]

"Thread the needle". Get a respectable, though not star, relief pitcher.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

It's always easier to go from lousy to average than from average to excellent. There are lots of average arms out there who can be available for prospects that don't blow up the Nats system.

[nfotiu]

It seems like picking up relievers that we can keep for 2-3 years would make sense at this point.   Or do relief pitchers not even last that long these days?

[IdahoNat]

I want both a legit set-up man and closer this trade deadline, and if possible another starter. I'd also like Lord and Alvarez be moved to the rotation permanently this season and give their long-man roles to Kent and Perales down in AAA. It's a bit risky to rely on rookie pitchers in those roles, but we need the best rotation possible at this point in the season. And if not, they could always try out Mikolas as the long-man too.

[PowerBoater69]

Bowden wrote that "the market will be flooded with relievers", that's a comfort.

[IdahoNat]

I wouldn't mind somehow bringing back Finnegan from the Tigers.

[welch]

Spencer Nussbaum answered questions this week about the Nats trade deadline. Here is his answer to a question about who the Nats can afford, both in players to be traded and in (looking at the Lerners) salary.

Who are some intriguing bullpen options the Nationals could go after? — Joshua S.

Jim Bowden presented a handful of names this week, most of whom are low-cost options with a lot of control and not much experience: Colorado Rockies righty Seth Halvorsen, San Francisco Giants righty Keaton Winn and Los Angeles Angels righties Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman.

Bowden also floated Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who has two years of control, though the $14 million club option for 2027 makes one wonder whether the Nationals would view him as more of a one-year rental. Kyle Finnegan (two years, $17.65 million) intrigues me, too.

Ultimately, Bachman is my favorite from the list: Lots of whiff, lots of control, lots of stuff, some late-inning experience. Generally speaking, I like the idea of their targeting names from that first group, since it would keep the contention window open for a while, and relievers are volatile. It would also be wise to engage with teams that would agree to a strength-for-strength trade. For example, if a team with plentiful pitching depth, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners or New York Yankees, were open to trading a Triple-A arm and wanted someone in return whom Washington is more bearish on, I could see the two sides engaging. The limited number of true sellers complicates things.

That said, I have to imagine a lot of you would prefer the team to acquire a shutdown or shutdown-ish arm with experience this season and then figureut the rest later. I don’t entirely agree, but the frustration is fair — the Nationals have the worst ERA from the eighth inning on this year. Maybe Detroit Tigers righty Drew Anderson or Kansas City Royals lefty Matt Strahm fits that mold.

Is the bullpen fixable at the trade deadline? What would it take to get multiple bullpen pieces like the (Sean) Doolittle and (Ryan) Madson trade of several years ago? — Ray M.

Not in one month. Can they get someone who will shore up the ninth at a reasonable cost? I wouldn’t put the odds over 50 percent, but I would not rule it out — and I wouldn’t have even entertained it two months ago. Going after multiple proven bullpen players is much harder, and perhaps unwise, given they don’t want to dip too much into the farm system.

Finnegan makes $9.5 million this year, so pro-rate that, and $9.5 million next. The Tigers had a good looking team starting the year, but they are sinking. They seem to lack a CF and RF. Maybe offer Christian Franklin and one of the pitchers they traded for Finnegan last season?

[GburgNatsFan]

So... does it feel like we're sellers now?

[IdahoNat]

So... does it feel like we're sellers now?

No

[Slateman]

Yea, we are. You cant rebuild an entire bullpen at the deadline. No one is worth a crap in the pen and there's no one in the minors to call up.

[readonly]

Yea, we are. You cant rebuild an entire bullpen at the deadline. No one is worth a crap in the pen and there's no one in the minors to call up.

just 2 good pieces would make a huge difference

[IdahoNat]

The way I see it, we have a half dozen or so hitting prospects, with maybe 3/4 spots available for future starters if there are minimal changes to the lineup (I'm not counting Ford either, as I think it's presumptive he will eventually be at least the backup catcher). They can afford to trade a couple of our IF prospects, it's just a matter of hedging their bets on the right players to keep. Only players I would keep off the table are Willits and Sykora.

[blue911]

just 2 good pieces would make a huge difference

The’d be burned out and over exposed within 6 weeks. This team is two starters and three relievers away from even being close to a playoff caliber unit. This requires money to fix.

[IdahoNat]

The’d be burned out and over exposed within 6 weeks. This team is two starters and three relievers away from even being close to a playoff caliber unit. This requires money to fix.

You can easily meet that number in some combination of trades, minor league call-ups, and players returning from injury.