Washington Nationals: Five more players who could be traded in August

Kelvin Herrera – Relief Pitcher

Potential Fits: St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies

Kelvin Herrera was the sole Washington Nationals major trade acquisition in 2018. Now they may look to move him on in a waiver trade as August draws to a close.

In acquiring Herrera, the Nationals parted with Blake Perkins, Kelvin Gutierrez, and Yohanse Morel. But since then, the relievers value has certainly decreased a lot.

Not only is there only about six weeks left on his contract compared to about 14, he’s pitched poorly for the Nats. He has a 4.50 ERA, most of which has come from being bugged by the home run ball. He’s given up four bombs in just 18 innings for his new team.

It’s fair to wonder whether part of this was down to injury, given that he’s only just come back from the DL and looked good on Tuesday after his DL stint. A buying team may also look at his lengthy track record for the Royals in which he carried a 2.86 ERA entering this season.

Playoff contenders can never have enough bullpen arms heading into October, so there could be a lot of interest. But we’ve picked out two teams in particular that look like they need a high-leverage arm.

As we saw on Tuesday night, the Phillies bullpen aside from Seranthony Dominguez has been incredibly unreliable. If they can get Herrera as a high-reward, low-risk move to fill in the eighth inning they will be very happy.

The Nats also managed to take advantage of a sketchy Cardinals bullpen when they were in St. Louis. Originally, the Cards had hoped Greg Holland would be a big piece in their bullpen, but he’s now a National.