Trevor Gott relinquishes the ball after giving up five runs without recording an out.
This past Saturday, the Washington Nationals led the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 10-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Up to that point, the game had gone exactly according to plan. Max Scherzer had spun six shutout innings on ten strikeouts. All-Star snub Anthony Rendon had driven in six runs on two home runs, including a grand slam in the seventh inning that looked to seal the deal for the Nationals. Dusty Baker trotted out newcomer Austin Adams, one of the organization's better relief prospects, to see whether he could be part of the answer to their bullpen woes. It was a move that I had personally been rooting for since it became clear that the relievers for the Nationals were a weakness that was becoming more and more exposed by the day (as a team, they have converted only twenty-two of their thirty-six save opportunities). Though Adams had his share of control problems in the minors (185 walks in 254.1 career innings), scouts raved about his mid-90s fastball and his slider which was ranked as one of the best in the minor leagues. The potential for success is clearly there; a power fastball/slider combo is one of the most commonly seen recipes for success at the major league level. Even if he walked a batter here or there, surely anything would be better than what we've seen from Sammy Solis and company as of late (Solis' final appearance vs. the Atlanta Braves had left a particularly sour taste in my mouth for the young lefty).
Even Matt Albers, the lone bright spot in the Nats bullpen, has had his share of struggles this season.
Unfortunately, Adams' debut went about as poorly as it possibly could. While you can't fault him for the result of his first batter who reached base via an error, the outcome of the next four at-bats lay squarely on the shoulders of the young reliever: a walk, a hit-by-pitch to load the bases, a walk to drive in a run, and a hard hit line drive to left field that mercifully put Adams' out of his misery and resulted in Dusty Baker bringing in Óliver Pérez. As icing on the cake, Adams even launched a fastball over Adam Duvall's head for a wild pitch. There was clearly no intent in that pitch. Whether it was the bright lights of Great American Ball Park or the cheers of the 36,462 fans in attendance, it was clear that nerves got the best of Austin Adams on his major league debut.
In relief of Adams, Pérez, working quickly and confidently, managed to escape the inning without allowing any more damage. With a 10-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth, Dusty brought in Trevor Gott to get in some work and the righty promptly gave up five consecutive hits, capped off by a three-run home run by the wonderfully named Scooter Gennett. In the span of three outs, a 10-0 snooze-fest had shrunk to a 10-7 nail biter. While Matt Grace was able to come in and record the game's final three outs, it must've become clear to the higher-ups in the organization that the internal options simply weren't good enough to fix this team's issues in the bullpen. In a win-now move, the Nationals traded former closer/now mop-up duty reliever Blake Treinen as well as minor leaguers Jesus Luzardo and Sheldon Neuse to the Oakland Athletics for Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle.
Sean Doolittle, one of two relievers brought in from the A's, will take on a prominent role in the Nats bullpen.
Ryan Madson has posted a 2.06 ERA for the cellar-dweller Oakland A's while holding opponents to a .188 batting average. Those numbers would put him second on the team only to Matt Albers, who has outperformed even the wildest expectations for the portly right hander from Houston, Texas. Former University of Virginia Cavalier Sean Doolittle has posted a 3.38 ERA across 21.1 innings along with 31 strikeouts. Against lefties, Doolittle has yet to allow a hit or a walk this season. That being said, Doolittle will be expected to be much more than just a lefty-specialist in the Nat's bullpen. Blake Treinen began the year as the closer for the Nationals, but has struggled to maintain any form of consistency over the course of the season. Jesus Luzardo, a nineteen year old lefty from Lima, Peru taken in the third round of the 2016 draft, has posted a 1.32 ERA in three starts in the Gulf Coast League. Sheldon Neuse was a second round pick in that same 2016 draft and he has put up 9 home runs and 51 RBI for Class A Hagerstown. According to scouts, there is some disagreement as to what Neuse may end up being: some scouts have him projected as an everyday third baseman, others say that he won't be able to hit consistently enough to get past the Double-A level. Nevertheless, the Nationals needed to improve their bullpen and they managed to do so without sacrificing Victor Robles, Erick Fedde, or Juan Soto, the organization's top three prospects according to Baseball America's rankings.
Blake Treinen will be returning to the A's team that drafted him in the 7th round of the 2011 draft.
At the years beginning, the Nationals bullpen, while lacking an established closer, boasted the names of several relievers who had seen success at the major league level. Joe Blanton had recreated himself after a long career as a starter and had posted a 2.48 ERA across 80.0 innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016. Shawn Kelley had filled in at closer for the Nats at times last season and had posted a ridiculous 80 strikeouts in only 58.0 innings pitched. Óliver Pérez was a dependable lefty-on-lefty match up option and Blake Treinen was coming off his best year to date at both the major and minor league level. The track records of success may have been short for some, but the ingredients were there for this to be, at minimum, an above-average bullpen. Injuries and inconsistency wreaked havoc, however, and it has become resoundingly clear that changes needed to be made. The additions of Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson will likely give you sixty to seventy-five innings of good (sometimes great) relief pitching. Perhaps more importantly, it will enable Shawn Kelley and Koda Glover to ease into higher leverage situations when they both return from injury. Óliver Pérez can stay in the bullpen as a lefty specialist. Matt Albers won't have to pitch in seemingly every single game in which the Nationals hold a lead of less than five runs. The effect of this trade won't only be felt when Ryan Madson or Sean Doolittle takes the mound; it will be felt whenever any Nationals reliever takes the short trot from the bullpen to the mound moving forward.
All statistics are courtesy of baseballreference.com and all pictures are courtesy of MLB.com.
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