The Washington Nationals wrapped up a series on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers with a score of 3-2. After dropping the first 2 games of the series at home, the Nationals desperately wanted to avoid a sweep, and despite some unconventional usage of their pitchers, were able to get the win.
As the Nationals head into their next series against the Minnesota Twins, they likely are going to be trying to figure out how best to arrange and organize their rotation and bullpen, as the team has continued to still see some struggles. With one of his latest moves, Paul Toboni continued a recent trend of his.
Despite the organization seeing a lot of positive progress overall, Toboni has been criticized by fans for not spending a lot of real money on the team's bullpen, and the club has definitely paid the price for that. While guys like Ken Waldichuk and Clayton Beeter have dealt with injuries in their own right, others like Cionel Perez have struggled, and now have been met with a new fate.
Perez was DFA'd by the Nationals over the weekend after struggling mightily to begin the season, most notably when he was tipping pitches in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, in wake of Perez being let go, the Nationals decided to bolster their organization pitching depth while they wait on the lefty to either accept his assignment or declare free agency.
That move to bolster their depth was to sign righty Shawn Dubin to a minor league contract, allowing him to likely get set up at AAA Rochester before potentially joining the Nationals' roster later on. In 64 career games in the majors, the 30-year-old Dubin has a 4.81 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, while owning a 88:40 K:BB ratio in 88.0 innings.
Those are not quite the numbers you would love to see, but Toboni seems as if he is wanting to just keep throwing darts at the board and seeing what sticks with regard to his bullpen. Hopefully, Dubin, who pitched for the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles previously in the majors, can be a guy that realizes some untapped potential in the Nationals' pitching lab with all of their new coaches. For now, we just have to wait and see.
What do you think of the Nationals adding much-needed bullpen depth with the signing of Shawn Dubin? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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