As we discussed at length this season, the Washington Nationals bullpen was a disaster. The unit’s 5.59 ERA was the worst in all of baseball by a sizable gap. There are some nice pieces like Jose A. Ferrer, PJ Poulin and Clayton Beeter, but this bullpen is in need of a makeover. Here is what they need to do to make it a successful one.
Last offseason, Mike Rizzo was in a pretty similar position. While the 2024 bullpen was much better than the 2025 unit, Rizzo needed to make a lot of changes. A lot of the key pieces of the bullpen were leaving the team. Rizzo gave himself even more work to do when he traded reliable lefty Robert Garcia to the Rangers for Nathaniel Lowe.
To rebuild the bullpen, Rizzo rolled the dice on a lot of volatile players. Guys like Lucas Sims, Colin Poche and Jorge Lopez had tantalizing upside, but as we found out, the floor was low. Sims had nasty stuff and put together a couple nice years in Cincinnati, but he always had issues throwing strikes. His lack of strike-throwing was ugly and after a disastrous stint, Sims was released in early May.
Colin Poche is another guy who had plenty of success, but he was also destroyed by a lack of strikes. His issues were harder to anticipate, but when the Rays give up on a guy, you have to be wary. Speaking of the Rays, the Nats selected Evan Reifert from them in the Rule 5 draft. Reifert didn’t even make it out of Spring Training due to strike-throwing issues.
Jorge Lopez threw strikes, but was a head case with declining velocity. After Lopez’s dramatic exit from the Mets, there were red flags, but Rizzo chose to ignore them. That came back to haunt him. Poche, Sims and Lopez cost a combined $7 million. The Nats would have been better off setting that money on fire because at least that could keep you warm.
So how do the Nats avoid making the same mistakes this year? With the lack of quality options, the Nats are going to need to use the free agent market to find some arms. What should they be looking for?
Two things that cost them last year was a lack of strike throwing and volatility. They need to find steady, reliable options. There is one guy who is a free agent who might be the steadiest reliever in all of baseball. That would be Tyler Rogers.
In my opinion, Rogers should be the reliever on the expensive side of things the Nationals should sign. He is a durable, productive strike-throwing machine. Since 2021, Rogers has averaged an insane 75 appearances per season and has had an ERA of 2.71 in that time. He has also only walked 1.6 batters per 9 innings in that time despite his insane submarine motion.
This season, he only walked 2.3% of hitters, which ranked in the 100th percentile. While Rogers will be 35 in December, his pitching style should age well. He relies on his extreme deception and command rather than velocity. These submariners can sometimes even pitch into their 40’s. A two or three year deal for Rogers would be good business for the Nats.
Another thing the Nationals need more of in their bullpen is versatility. All of the pitchers Rizzo signed last off-season were one inning guys. If you are watching the playoffs, you would know that the multi-inning reliever is getting increasingly valuable. The Nationals do not really have a pitcher like that, or at least one that is good.
Guys like Shinnosuke Ogasawara and Andry Lara just leaked runs in a long man role once Brad Lord moved to the rotation. If Lord stays in the rotation, they will need a long man. There are two guys who intrigue me for this role, Jakob Junis and Steven Matz.
Jakob Junis is not the biggest name, but he has been a steady relief arm the past three seasons. Each year he has produced a sub-4 ERA and tossed at least 66 innings. He is not the flashiest option, but he gets the job done.
As a former starter, he is capable of going multiple innings, but can also be serviceable as a leverage arm. His main weapons are a wipeout slider to righties and a great changeup to lefties. However, his fastball is not very good so he has to hide it with sequencing.
Junis is not a super high upside arm, but due to his command and secondary pitches, he has a high floor. Right now, that is exactly what the Nats need. Steven Matz is another example of a command first multi-inning relief arm they could look at. He had a very good season and walked less than 4% of hitters. Matz also has plenty of starting experience.
So what are the lessons from this bullpen disaster? For me the biggest lesson is that you need to have a higher floor in the bullpen. Relievers are inherently volatile, but there are still safer ones. After last season, the Nats just need to find a way back to respectability. That would be a step in the right direction.
Getting steady, strike-throwing arms would be a good way to get the bullpen to middle of the pack. That is all I am asking for in 2026. As time goes on and Toboni brings his vision of a player development monster to light, the farm should be churning out arms. For now though, the Nats just need to find guys to raise the floor.