The Washington Nationals made a significant change to their bullpen on Thursday afternoon, as the team signed veteran lefty reliever Andrew Chafin to a 1-year deal, according to Ken Rosenthal. This is significant for a number of reasons, but perhaps none bigger than what the corresponding move was to make room for him on the 40-man and big league roster.
After what felt like an eternity due to how painful his appearances were on a consistent basis, the Nationals officially designated struggling reliever Colin Poche for assignment. Thank God. Our site here had continued to write about how badly changes needed to be made in the bullpen, and luckily, with Chafin opting out of his minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers today, the Nationals jumped on him quickly to make the lefty reliever swap complete.
Many people who follow baseball are likely familiar with Chafin, who has a very iconic look as he features the long and curly mullet and the signature mustache to go along with it. Outside of having an elite baseball look with the hair and facial hair combo, Chafin is a guy who has carved out a very solid career for himself as a reliever, with 11 years of service time at the big league level while playing for a number of different teams.
He has spent time most notably with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but has also had multi-year tenures with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, while also spending time with the Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and Milwaukee Brewers. While he has yet to appear in the big leagues this season, he had a 3.51 ERA in 62 appearances with the Tigers and Rangers last season to go along with a subpar 1.473 WHIP, a higher mark than his 1.275 career number.
At the very least, Chafin is a guy who probably shouldn't be relied upon for high-leverage situations late in games, but can easily fill the role that Poche had as a middle inning reliever that can serve as a bridge to get to the late innings. Being able to see a lefty come out of the bullpen that isn't Colin Poche will be extremely refreshing, as watching Poche was absolutely brutal at times.
After an offseason in which Nationals GM Mike Rizzo didn't invest a ton of resources in his bullpen, he now seemingly has reached a breaking point, as his team still boasts the worst bullpen ERA in the league by a wide margin, and closer Kyle Finnegan needing some help from other arms. Hopefully for his sake, he was able to right a wrong from the winter, and Chafin can step up and be a solid reliever that is capable of allowing less damage than Poche did.
What do you think of the Andrew Chafin signing? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.