A little bit over a week ago, Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN put out an article naming their Top 50 trade deadline candidates. With the Washington Nationals barreling towards being sellers yet again at this month's trade deadline, there might be a few players on the team now that could be wearing new uniforms in a month from now.
Some of the names on the list include Alex Bregman, Jarren Duran, and Sandy Alcantara, as there is the potential that some big-time names are on the move this season. While the Nationals certainly won't be looking at adding any significant big league talent, what pieces did Passan and McDaniel identify as potential values for other teams?
According to their article, the two most notable names that were listed by ESPN's duo included a pair of righties in starter Michael Soroka, and reliever Kyle Finnegan. These two have long been the most likely options to be traded away, with both of them on expiring deals, and they both have been performing very well so far this season.
While Finnegan has had a couple of nightmare outings, as any closer does from time to time, he has been a lot better this season than he was last year, when he was also expected to be dealt. The Nats' closer is 18/23 in save opportunities this year, and has a 2.53 ERA and 1.125 WHIP this season. His most telling stat is that he has an impressive 3.37 FIP, which is much lower than his 4.25 FIP of last season. A contending team always needs late-inning bullpen help, and Finnegan should be a lock to be dealt as he will be a free agent again after this season.
The other trade chip is one that might have been a bit of a surprise earlier this season, but is a guy that has performed very well recently. Righty Michael Soroka owns a 4.70 ERA and 1.028 WHIP, and has struck out 64 batters in 59.1 innings so far this season. His underlying numbers show that he has pitched much better than his surface numbers would indicate, and he might be one of the more underrated pickups that a contending team could make. He has a 3.05 xERA, which is obviously significantly lower than his current mark
For what it's worth, Passan and McDaniel had Finnegan listed as their #41 candidate to be available, while they had Soroka listed as their #43 trade chip. As rumors begin to circulate and teams start to narrow down who they want, we should have more intel available, but for now, keep an eye on Finnegan and Soroka as well as other names like Josh Bell, Nathaniel Lowe, and perhaps even Luis Garcia Jr. as potentially available trade chips.
Who should trade for Kyle Finnegan and Michael Soroka? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.