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

Greg Holland – Relief Pitcher

Potential Fits: Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians

After a largely dominant career, the Washington Nationals may look to part with recent acquisition Greg Holland. He could still draw some interest from other teams as a solid reliever with postseason experience.

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On the season, he has an unsightly 6.53 ERA, but with the Nationals he’s seemingly reborn. In 5.1 innings he’s yet to give up an earned run, walking two and striking out six.

While he may not be his old dominant self just yet, he’s certainly making strides in the right direction. While it may take another couple of appearances for other teams to be convinced, there should be a fair amount of interest in Holland.

Given the fact that he’s only on the veteran minimum, he would almost certainly get claimed by a team rather than passing through waivers completely. The question will be which teams will put in a claim.

Once again, the Phillies could be in on another bullpen are to help bridge to gap to their closer. If he can continue his recent turnaround then he’d be an eighth-inning arm. Or he could even be a single inning reliever in the ninth, allowing Dominguez to go multiple innings before him.

To the shock of many, the Indians bullpen hasn’t lived up to its hype on the whole. With Brad Hand and Cody Allen now locking up the backend, Holland can come in just be a seventh inning, or tied game guy which will take the pressure of a little bit.

The Washington Nationals are having their first fire sale of pieces since moving D.C. in 2005. It’s an unprecedented situation, so we’ll have to see how this plays out.