While the Nationals have effectively punted on the season by selling at the Trade Deadline, there is still important baseball left to be played as many questions still need to be answered heading into the offseason and next season, when the team hopes to contend. Patrick Corbin's insane contract finally comes off the books this winter, sparking some optimistism (however much) that the Nationals will finally be players in Free Agency once again.
But to know what you need in Free Agency, you first have to know what you have already. In order to do that, you need to use the rest of the season as an audition for players to prove they deserve a shot to stick around next season. For players like Juan Yepez, that audition is going well thus far. For others, not so much.
Here are three players who likely won't make it through August on the Nationals' roster:
Trey Lipscomb
This one is unfortunate as like many, I was a big supporter of Trey Lipscomb after his scorching performance in Spring Training. Despite that great start, Lipscomb is now effectively in his second audition with the club and neither time has gone all that well.
Lipscomb is currently hitting .207 through 205 plate appearances on the season with a poor .515 OPS. I was a big fan of the Nationals giving Lipscomb another shot by cutting ties with Nick Senzel earlier in the season, but Lipscomb has just not bee able to put it together at the plate and frequently drives the ball straight into the ground. He has dropped in the lineup even behind Jacob Young, who was as sharpied into the 9 hole as one could possibly be.
I don't think the Nationals should give up on Lipscomb by any means, but he clearly is not ready to be a big leaguer. With their newfound depth at Third Base in the Minors, Lipscomb may get some work elsewhere around the diamond, which he is more than capable of doing, but he needs to be in the Minors nevertheless.
I don't think the team wants to call up top Third Base prospect Brady House just yet, so it would likely be Ildemaro Vargas for the rest of the season, which is not exciting but it might be best for all parties involved.
Joan Adon
I will preface this by saying I could see Adon staying around if the Nationals need to or decide to shut down any of their young arms in the rotation due to an innings limit, which is likely for all four of Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz. The Nationals could also opt for a six man rotation like they utilized down the stretch last season.
Adon has had a couple of good moments over the years, but generally has been very below average. Now functioning as a reliever, Adon has not been able to replicate the same success at the Major Leagues as he was able to out of the bullpen in the Minors.
If things don't change soon, the Nationals might be better served seeing what they have in some of their AAA relievers like Joe La Sorsa or Tim Cate.
Harold Ramirez
The Nationals have seemingly been much more active with their in-season flyers than they have in recent seasons, and Harold Ramirez was a worthwhile shot, but it is safe to say that it just is not working.
Ramirez is effectively a DH only at this point and is performing just as poorly, if not worse, than their Opening Day DH Joey Meneses, who was optioned to AAA Rochester.
I am certainly not advocating for Meneses to return (I hope that never happens), but with Joey Gallo approaching his return (also gross, but oh well), Ramirez might find himself without a roster spot, especially given the offensive surge Alex Call is going through at the moment.
While Ramirez has a respectable .263 average, he only has a .609 OPS. If you are going to be a Designated Hitter, especially an everyday one, then you need more big time hits.
Similar to their AAA arms, the Nationals could also opt to see what they have in some of their AAA bats like Stone Garrett or newly acquired players such as Andres Chaparro or Jose Tena.