Washington Nationals post-trade deadline lineups to be interesting

We knew this was going to happen. All fire sales lead to rebuilds, which lead to makeshift lineups. Didn’t really sink in until we saw the lineup on paper. How are the Washington Nationals going to score runs?

Remember early in the season when the Nationals were having trouble pushing runs across the plate? During the first month of play, the Nationals scored two or fewer runs, nine times. That’s when they had a lineup featuring Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Yan Gomes.

The day-two, post trade-deadline lineup may have to get creative to score.

The Nationals will pencil in a lot of youth and fringe players for the remainder of the year.

After defeating the Chicago Cubs (the Cubs fielded a AAA lineup after having a fire sale of their own) in game one after sending half their hitters away, the Nats will run out another mishmash group. This was expected.

However, a look at the lineup is a little sobering.

Trial by fire I suppose. Time to find out if Victor Robles can handle the leadoff duties. His .203 batting average doesn’t inspire us much at this point. Yadiel Hernandez at the cleanup spot. Hernandez has 117 career at-bats, and he well may be the stalwart in the four-slot when Josh Bell isn’t playing.

Protecting Hernandez is Luis Garcia, who has all of 160 career at-bats in the big leagues. His power display in the minors this year, along with his long ball in game one post-deadline, do give us hope for the future.

Tres Barerra has been hitting well this year, though his Major League experience consists of 53 at-bats. We are well aware of Carter Kieboom’s struggles, and he is a .183 career hitter.

Adrian Sanchez is seeing his first time in the Majors since 2019, and has just 166 plate appearances spread over three years.

This is what rebuilds look like, for a reason as well. The young players need seasoning. The fringe players need repetitions. Both need to prove they are a part of the future. We can get used to seeing lineups like this the rest of the year. Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride (one which hopefully leads to beautiful places).