The Washington Nationals have continued their extremely busy times early on Thursday afternoon by proceeding as planned with their sell-off of expiring assets. The team has now been involved in 4 total trades dating back to this past weekend, and are still expected to be open for business ahead of this afternoon's deadline.
After trades made in the last 24 hours including sending relievers Luis Garcia and Andrew Chafin to the Los Angeles Angels and then sending righty Michael Soroka to the Chicago Cubs last night, the Nationals chose to send a former All-Star to one of the top contenders in the league.
This came in the form of righty Kyle Finnegan, an All-Star closer for the Nationals in 2024 who has been even better in 2025 judging by his underlying numbers. After somehow not being able to find a trade partner last year at this time, the Nationals and interim GM Mike DeBartolo would not make the same mistake twice, sending Finnegan to the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers are going for it this year, and with their recent struggles as a whole, perhaps getting another arm with late-inning and high-leverage experience will be able to help them make another postseason run deep into October. It is unclear whether or not Finnegan will be the closer for the Tigers, but he figures to be a factor in their late-inning plans regardless of his exact role.
Coming back to the Nationals in the deal is a pair of pitching prospects, Josh Randall and RJ Sales, who are both in earlier levels of the minor leagues. Randall is ranked as the #15 prospect in the Tigers' system, and was a 3rd round pick by Detroit in the 2024 MLB Draft. He as been a starting pitcher who posted decent numbers in Low-A, with a 5-5 record, 4.18 ERA, and 1.34 WHIP, and was recently moved up to High-A West Michigan.
According to MLB Pipeline, Josh Randall has a 55-grade on his fastball and slider, and a 40-grade changeup and 45-grade on his control. He is a big righty, standing at 6'4" and 240 pounds, and has been able to hit up to 98 MPH. Randall also features a heavy sinker that sits around 94-95 MPH, and there is some legitimate reliever risk with him if he is unable to develop his changeup further.
The other prospect coming back is RJ Sales, who is not ranked in the Tigers' Top 30 prospects, but has impressed in the FCL with the Tigers, pitching to a 4-3 record, 2.71 ERA, and 1.116 WHIP in 15 starts. A 10th-round pick by Detroit in the 2024 Draft as well, it will be interesting to see where the 22-year-old starts out once he comes over to the Nationals' organization.
What do you think of the Nationals' return for Kyle Finnegan? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.