The news got buried in the aftermath of the MacKenzie Gore trade, but the Nationals also made another waiver claim Thursday and in a corresponding move designated Riley Adams for assignment.
The Nats claimed reliever Gus Varland from the Diamondbacks, bringing aboard a 29-year-old right-hander with a 4.82 ERA in 42 career major league games with the Brewers, Dodgers and White Sox. All of those appearances came from 2023-24; Varland spent the majority of the 2025 season on the injured list recovering from a lat strain, able to pitch in only eight minor league games.
Needing to clear a 40-man roster spot for Varland, the Nationals designated Adams, a move that traditionally leads to a departure from the organization but likely won’t in this particular case because of a quirk of the catcher’s contract.
Adams, who has played 251 games for the Nats since his July 2021 acquisition from the Blue Jays for closer Brad Hand, agreed last month to a split contract that guaranteed him $1 million if he was on the major league roster and $500,000 if he accepted an outright assignment to the minors.
We’re seeing now why the Nationals made that offer, and why Adams agreed to it. With Harry Ford expected to join Keibert Ruiz behind the plate, Adams was probably going to be the odd man out. And because he’s out of options, he couldn’t have been sent to Triple-A without first clearing waivers.
Now that he has been DFA’d, other clubs could choose to claim Adams (but would have to pick up his full $1 million salary). Because he has more than three years of service time, he has the right to refuse an outright assignment to the minors and become a free agent. But at this point, it’s unlikely Adams would receive a major league offer from another club. And any minor league contract offered almost certainly wouldn’t guarantee him $500,000.
So, it most likely behooves Adams to accept the outright assignment, come off the 40-man roster and report to Rochester, where he’ll make a salary much higher than the typical Triple-A player gets and still theoretically have a chance to make it back to D.C. if anything happens to Ford or Ruiz.
* The Nationals announced the signings of four players to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp in recent days, including two former members of the organization.
Reliever Trevor Gott and catcher Tres Barrera return to the Nats after bouncing around baseball since their departures.
Gott, 33, made 33 appearances in D.C. from 2016-18, finishing with a 7.39 ERA. He has since pitched for the Giants, Brewers, Mariners and Mets, owner of a career 4.65 ERA in 255 MLB games. He spent the 2025 season with Seattle’s Triple-A club.
Barrera, 31, played in 51 games with the Nationals from 2019-22, batting .231 with a .317 on-base percentage and .623 OPS. He went on to briefly catch for the Cardinals in 2023 before playing in Mexico in 2024 and in the Rays’ farm system last year.
The Nats also announced the signings of left-hander Zach Penrod and right-hander Bryce Montes de Oca. Penrod, 28, appeared in seven games for the Red Sox in 2024 and pitched for both Boston and Los Angeles’ Triple-A affiliates last season. Montes de Oca, 29, made three appearances for the Mets in 2022 (including his MLB debut against the Nationals) and missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery.