Washington Nationals: 3 things to change after Phillies series

Eliminate roles in the bullpen.

We first mentioned this after Brad Hand’s first meltdown on the year in game two of the Yankees series. He has melted down twice more in the handful of days since then. Why the defined roles? In game two against the Yankees Daniel Hudson should have closed. In game three, after 29 pitches the day before, Hand should not have been called upon to keep a 2-2 tie in the 9th inning. Just because he is the “closer” doesn’t mean he has to come into situations closers usually do.

Will Harris is working himself back into pitching form and joins Hand and Hudson as a trio of closers who can be called upon based on matchups. Austin Voth has been the most dominant pitcher out of the bullpen of late. Why is he only being used in mop up duty? With Wander Suero emerging from the Injured List and being Davey’s go-to man for everything, he should be called upon for any occasion, not just high leverage ones.

After a rocky start to the season, the Nationals starting rotation has settled some and is pitching deeper in games. More pitchers are well rested and when fresh should be used in spots they where they will help the team the most. The Tampa Bay Rays work this system very well and it earned them a trip to the World Series a year ago. Time for the Nationals to copy suit.