After watching the Washington Nationals bullpen lose the team yet another game on Wednesday afternoon against the Cleveland Guardians, many fans were likely wondering whether or not the team could be looking to bring in any sort of bullpen reinforcements. The team's bullpen is currently on pace to literally be the worst bullpen in MLB history, and it doesn't seem as if the answer to solving the problem is crystal clear.
While there might not be any immediate answers to help the club out now outside of bringing in guys like Andrew Chafin, who had just opted out of his contract, the Nationals are definitely aware that they have a bullpen issue. On Tuesday night, it was announced that the team had signed a pair of veteran arms to minor league deals, in an attempt to bolster the organization's bullpen depth.
The first name, Adrian Sampson, has appeared in parts of 5 seasons at the big league level, totaling 72 appearances with 44 starts. He has shifted primarily to being a reliever over the past few seasons, but has not appeared at the big league level since 2022 with the Chicago Cubs. The 33-year-old righty made his big league debut back in 2016 with the Seattle Mariners, and has a 4.43 ERA and 1.350 WHIP for his career.
Back in 2022, he had a 3.11 ERA and 1.227 WHIP, and accounted for 2.3 WAR according to Baseball Reference. Since that season, he has been unable to get back to the big league level, and made 27 starts for AAA Round Rock, the highest affiliate of the Texas Rangers organization. He will likely be down in Rochester, and could serve either in the rotation or in the bullpen for the Red Wings, and it remains to be seen if he will be a factor for the big league club.
The other signing, 30-year-old righty Parker Dunshee, only has 1 appearance at the big league level, when he came out of the bullpen for the Atlanta Braves last season and allowed 5 earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work. He struck out 3 batters and walked 2, and his career big league line has him good for a 19.29 ERA.
Basically, he should fit right into the team's bullpen equation among the band of misfits, if given the chance. He pitched in the Mexican League this season and his numbers were not pretty, so this seems like a real dart throw at this stage of his career if even the Red Wings are able to salvage any value from him.
While us Nationals fans are counting the days until another bullpen move is made outside of optioning Eduardo Salazar, which happened along with Michael Soroka being reinstated on Wednesday, our only hope is that the guys in the bullpen right now can figure it out. Potential reinforcements like Zach Brzykcy might not be much of a help either, and this team might be in big trouble until arms like Marquis Grissom Jr. or others are ready to be called up.
What do you think of the latest Nationals signings? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/washington-nationals