The trade deadline came and went yesterday and with MLB no longer allowing any sort of post-deadline waiver trade shenanigans that’s it for major changes to the Nats roster until the offseason. While the Nationals did not trade MacKenzie Gore they did make plenty of other trades that are worth at least a little exploration. The trades, in chronological order:
In terms of outgoing players the Nats did a great job trading nearly everyone they should’ve with only Josh Bell still hanging around as a veteran with an expiring contract. With his recent surge and 111 DRC+ they probably should have been able to find a new home for Bell, but it’s so hard to figure out how much playoff teams really need a pure DH/pinch hitter.
One trend that stood out to me is that the Nats managed to trade four players they had signed basically for free, including one (Garcia) who signed two weeks ago. Chafin was similarly an in-season pickup this year, while Finnegan was initially signed straight from the Minors in 2020 before being resigned this March, and Call was claimed off of waivers way back in 2021. Only Rosario and Soroka fit the classic mold of a player who signed a one-year deal with a bad team in the offseason to get a bigger role before being traded to be a depth piece on a contender. If only Rizzo was as good at player development as he was at finding random free agents to sign. That the Nats got anything back at all for four guys they picked up off the street is a win.
In terms of the players the Nats got back this is a nice injection of much needed depth to the farm system, mostly on the pitching side. That’s not to say any of these guys play any significant time in the majors, although Beeter and Eder already have some experience there. Both pitchers have appearances in 2024 and 2025 but combined only have 27.2 innings pitched in 14 MLB games.
Neither has been particularly good, but with the state of the Nats bullpen will likely make an appearance. Beeter probably has the better chance as he has a good fastball and a great swinging strike rate (90th percentile in AAA) and good chase rate (78th percentile). Eder has reduced his walk rate from a ghastly 16 percent to a merely below average 5.7 percent, but that’s come at the cost of increased contact (84.8 percent in strike zone contact). He’s struggled in recovering from a 2022 Tommy John surgery and likely does not have the stuff to stick in the Majors.
Franklin is the other one who has a chance to show up soon as he’s already in AAA, however considering the glut of young outfielders the Nats have already forced Call out, it’s no guarantee he can find a spot. His AAA numbers are deserving of a shot with good power (87th percentile 90th percentile exit velocity) and good swing decisions (89th percentile SEAGER). His complete inability to pull the ball (13th percentile) means he’ll fit right in with the other Nats hitters, but also that despite the great exit velocity his power potential is limited. With a reportedly decent glove, if he can figure out how to maintain his excellent 16 percent walk rate in the Majors, Franklin has a chance to beat out the likes of Jacob Young, Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III for a bench spot next year.
The rest of the group are some nice development picks of guys with some individual skills but not a lot put together yet. Every player in this group is 23 and under and only Brown has advanced past A-ball. There’s not a lot to say beyond that with each of these players a good distance from any major league impact.
The only thing I’ll add is Swan is a great example of the slightly underslot draft picks the Dodgers make instead of the Nationals’ strategy of taking college seniors that I talked about in my draft breakdown. Swan is a big (6’6” 240), athletic (mainly shortstop in high school), guy who switched to pitching at a small school (Middle Tennessee State) and while he did not have results that catch the eye he has some excellent stuff with a 97-99 MPH fastball and two potential plus breaking balls in a slider and changeup. He’s a development project with no guarantee of amounting to anything, but with his stuff he has a much better chance than any senior sign.
Overall, the Nats have done about as well as you can expect here. I don’t think there are any massive trends you can extract from this group of players to get an idea of changes Mike DeBartolo has planned. The Nats split pretty evenly between AAA and A players and brought in a wide spectrum of approaches on the pitching side. However, with how the Nats have been going the last few years, doing the job they were supposed to do is still a great accomplishment.
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