Washington Nationals: Three Possible Trade Targets

Earlier this week we examined four Washington Nationals who could be traded. Today we look at three possible Washington trade targets.

On May 23 after a 4-6 loss to the New York Mets, the Washington Nationals’ season seemed, for all intents and purposes, over. Washington had just gotten swept by the division rival Mets, in a series where their bullpen imploded three of the four games.

In the series finale, Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez was ejected from the game in the eighth inning, and many questioned if that would be the last time we see him as the Washington manager. The Nationals sat ten games back in the N.L. East, and were just two games ahead of the lowly Miami Marlins for the worst record in all of Major League Baseball.

Things looked bleak in our nation’s capital, about as bad as they have since 2010. The team was finished, the manager was going to be fired, and all the hope had been sucked out of the Nationals’ 2019 season. But then, something funny happened.

Since that dreadful Thursday in May the Nationals have won eight of their last ten games, and have moved to just 6.5 games back in the National League East and six back in the National League Wild Card race. In this ten game span, Washington has outscored their opponents  68 to 44.

In the last ten games, the Nationals’ offense has gotten fully healthy and started to fire on all cylinders. Tanner Rainey and Wander Suero have become the late-inning relievers Washington was desperately looking for all season long, and Dave Martinez has improved in his management of the bullpen as a whole.

Ten games have completely changed the spectrum of the Nationals’ 2019 season, and now the question is, could Washington decide to buy instead of sell to improve their team? We are a long way from the July trading deadline, but here are three possible trade targets if the Nationals are buyers this season.