Any discussion of the Nationals’ top offseason needs has to begin with proven hitter to anchor the heart of the lineup (preferably a power-hitting first baseman) and a proven starting pitcher to take some pressure off the club’s promising young arms.

Don’t overlook the need for more bullpen help, though, because this team could certainly use it.

The Nats’ relief corps ranked last in the majors this season in both ERA (5.59) and WHIP (1.522). That’s not a distinction anyone wants to claim, certainly not the new administration that has taken over baseball operations.

The strange aspect of this particular situation? The Nationals actually have several intriguing young relievers who performed well this season. They just don’t have enough to fill out the entire bullpen.

New president of baseball operations Paul Toboni could do a lot worse than a core trio of Jose A. Ferrer, Cole Henry and Clayton Beeter. Throw in PJ Poulin and perhaps Brad Lord (if he’s not in the rotation), and that’s five possible arms to build around.

Not long after Mike Rizzo was fired but long before Paul Toboni took over baseball operations, the Nationals made a flurry of significant transactions this summer. When it came time for baseball’s annual trade deadline, it was Mike DeBartolo calling the shots as interim general manager, entrusted to make several moves of consequence only weeks after being put in charge of the organization during a time of unexpected upheaval.

DeBartolo wound up making five deals before the July 31 deadline. Those included the departures of six veterans and the acquisitions of 10 prospects. Only one of those returning players has appeared in a Nats uniform in the big leagues so far, but a number of the others could move into the picture soon enough.

It’ll be up to Toboni to decide who gets a shot, and when they’ll get that shot. But for now, it’s worth revisiting the trades DeBartolo made and evaluating what the Nationals emerged with from those deals. …

AMED ROSARIO TO YANKEES FOR CLAYTON BEETER, BROWM MARTINEZ
DeBartolo’s first trade came five days before the deadline, with the veteran infielder dealt to the Bronx for one big-league-ready reliever and one 19-year-old outfielder who has a long way to go. Rosario batted .303 (10-for-33) with a .788 OPS in 16 games for the Yankees. Beeter went to Triple-A Rochester for a week before getting called up to D.C., where he quickly ascended into a prime role in the bullpen. With a devastating slider, he delivered a 2.49 ERA, 1.015 WHIP and 32 strikeouts in only 21 2/3 innings. The only downside: He walked 14 batters, unable to command his fastball enough. Martinez, meanwhile, is still waiting to make his organizational debut, whether in the Dominican Republic (where he played the last two seasons with the Yankees) or in West Palm Beach with the Florida Complex League rookie squad.

ANDREW CHAFIN, LUIS GARCIA TO ANGELS FOR SAM BROWN, JAKE EDER
DeBartolo packaged two veteran relievers picked up midseason to an Angels team that was barely on the fringes of a pennant race and came away with a 24-year-old corner outfielder/first baseman and a 27-year-old lefty with a little bit of MLB experience. Chafin and Garcia were both good but were far from enough to lift the Angels out of last place in the AL West. Brown, meanwhile, slashed a solid .307/.384/.472 with 13 extra-base hits and 17 RBIs in 35 games with Double-A Harrisburg. Eder, who made eight relief appearances for Los Angeles this season, started one game for Harrisburg (two scoreless innings) and two games for Rochester (seven runs in five innings) following the trade. He’s currently on the 40-man roster, will be in big league camp and could work his way into the mix with a decent start to his 2026 campaign at Triple-A.

PLAYER REVIEW: CLAYTON BEETER

Age on Opening Day 2026: 27

How acquired: Traded with Browm Martinez from Yankees for Amed Rosario, July 2025

MLB service time: 129 days

2025 salary: $763,325

ATLANTA – The Nationals had just one game remaining on the road portion of the 2025 schedule. With a victory this afternoon, not only would they end this six-game losing streak to the Braves, but they would also finish with a road record that is one game better than last year’s.

Things have rarely been easy for the Nats this year. But with an overall solid pitching performance and three home runs from some big sluggers, this was as easy of a victory they’ve had in a while.

Andrew Alvarez had a solid start through 4 ⅓ innings, Josh Bell and James Wood combined for three homers, and the Nats held on for a 4-3 win over their division rivals in front of an announced crowd of 32,898 at Truist Park.

“It was nice to get a .500 road trip," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "That was awesome to take two out of three against the Mets and 1-2 here. It was awesome. The guys fight. We put some barrels on the ball. Good pitching from the bullpen, from the starting pitcher. So it was a team win.”

Alvarez entered his fifth major league start looking to bounce back from his first tough outing last week in New York, when he gave up six runs (four earned) over 3 ⅓ innings against the Mets.

As the bottom of the fifth came to a close at windy, gray Nationals Park late this afternoon, the home team finally had reason to feel encouraged for the first time in this four-games-in-48-hours series against the Braves. Brad Lord had tossed five scoreless innings to continue his September resurgence. The lineup had figured out Atlanta starter Hurston Waldrep at last, scoring three runs in rapid fire to take the lead and snap a 15-inning scoreless streak.

And then Miguel Cairo sent Lord back to the mound for the top of the sixth, a curious decision in the moment that only looked worse when the rookie right-hander gave up hits to two of the three batters he faced before getting pulled.

Not that the bullpen performed any better. Clayton Beeter really turned the top of the sixth into a mess, the Braves ultimately scoring four runs before tacking on two more against newly promoted reliever Sauryn Lao and three more off Shinnosuke Ogasawara to hand the Nats a thoroughly frustrating 9-4 loss that completed a miserable three days at the park.

When this series opened Monday evening, the Nationals trailed the Braves by four games at the bottom of the National League East standings, still with a shot at catching them for fourth place before season’s end. Four straight losses to Atlanta, however, dashed any hope of that and left the Nats at 62-91, matching their loss total from each of the previous two years with nine games still to be played.

"It's never easy to lose," rookie right fielder Dylan Crews said. "We want to win every single day, trust me. We want to go out there and win every single time we walk out onto that field. But we've got to fix some things. We've got to command the strike zone a lot better, from both sides. We do that, a lot of good things happen."

The call came down to the bullpen as the bottom of the eighth was about to get underway Sunday afternoon. The Nationals and Pirates were tied 3-3, but Clayton Beeter was informed he should start warming up, because if his teammates scored that inning, he was going to be pitching the ninth.

Yes, in a save situation for the first time in his career. And how did the 26-year-old rookie handle that news?

“It felt pretty much the same,” he insisted. “Obviously, I knew what it was. But I felt confident that I was going to go out there and keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Which is precisely what Beeter did do. Though he put two runners on base with two outs, the right-hander responded by striking out Pittsburgh’s Bryan Reynolds to end the game, preserve a 4-3 victory and lock up his first career save.

How was it that Beeter found himself in this unlikely situation?

They waited it out all morning and early afternoon, the game tied since the end of the second inning, just looking for some kind of break to take the lead for good.

And when that break came in the form of another misplay in center field by Oneil Cruz, the Nationals took full advantage and then rode a makeshift bullpen to a 4-3 victory over the Pirates.

Daylen Lile provided the long-awaited club hit with a one-out double to left-center in the bottom of the eighth. And when Cruz (who already let one hit scoot under his glove earlier this weekend) did it again, James Wood (who started the rally with a walk) was able to race all the way home from first with the go-ahead run.

"At first, I was just thinking double. I thought it was going to be second and third," said Lile, who finished 2-for-2 with two walks, the rookie raising his OPS to .796. "And as soon as I saw it get past Cruz, I just kicked it into second gear, get to third base, and I saw James score."

Clayton Beeter, pressed into surprise closer service, then finished it off in the top of the ninth, overcoming a two-out walk and subsequent single to earn the first save of his career, capping an impressive game for the Nationals bullpen.

CHICAGO – At some point last month, Cole Henry said, the members of baseball’s worst bullpen came to an important realization.

Nobody outside the Nationals believed that group was capable of being good. Perhaps that might even have been true for some people within the organization. And given the unit’s lack of experience – 25-year-old Jose A. Ferrer was the only reliever on the staff with more than a year of big league service time – there was nothing for anybody to lose at that point.

“Just looking around, we’re kind of all in the same situation,” Henry said. “Ferrer has the most time out of all of us. It’s kind of like, we’re all in this together. Let’s make something out of it and see if we can finish the year strong.”

You won’t believe what’s happened since. Over the last three weeks, the best bullpen in the major leagues has belonged to the Washington Nationals. Yes, the Nationals.

The pertinent starting point is Aug. 20, when four relievers combined to toss 3 2/3 scoreless innings and preserve a 5-4 win over the Mets. Prior to that game, the Nationals bullpen ranked dead-last in the majors in ERA (5.82) and WHIP (1.549). In 17 games since, that group ranks first in the majors in both categories, delivering a sparkling 1.97 ERA and 1.005 WHIP.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The five-run top of the first – not to mention the extra runs scored in the third and fourth innings – should have been enough to make Miguel Cairo’s afternoon easy. But as Jake Irvin labored himself to keep that big lead intact, it became apparent the Nationals’ interim manager was going to have to play every pitching card he had available to him in an attempt to win today’s series finale against the Royals.

And then it was still going to require some more late offense to pull this one off.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Nats did find a way to escape Kauffman Stadium with an 8-7 victory, one made possible by Daylen Lile’s game-winning single in the top of the ninth and five relievers combining to allow just one run over five innings.

"They've been ready, they've been settling down. They're doing an excellent job," said Cairo of a relief corps that has been turned over several times this season and currently includes seven rookies alongside 25-year-old closer Jose A. Ferrer. "Today, it was a team effort: Offense, pitching. That's what we're asking."

Lile’s clutch hit came a few minutes after the Royals tied the game against unlikely setup man Clayton Beeter. Luis García Jr. ignited the rally with a one-out double off Kansas City’s Carlos Estévez, then took third on Josh Bell’s flyout to center. Two batters later, Lile got to a 2-1 changeup from Estévez and lined the ball to right field for the go-ahead single.

As the hits kept on coming, one after another, MacKenzie Gore stood on the mound with a look on his face that suggested anger, frustration and bewilderment all wrapped up in one.

The Nationals ace, an All-Star just a few weeks ago, the majors’ strikeout leader just a month ago, had faced six Athletics batters to open tonight’s game. Five of them had scored, all five of them having recorded base hits, two of them home runs.

Before having a chance to come up to bat themselves, the Nats already were well on their way to a 16-7 loss, yet another in a string of unsightly, lopsided August losses that have somehow made the disasters that were June and July look tame in comparison.

The Nationals have lost six in a row, the combined score of those games a jaw-dropping 70-26. They've lost the first four games of this homestand 54-20, and that doesn't tell the full story because 11 of the runs they've scored have come in the ninth inning of games that were already well out of hand.

"This is embarrassing," Gore said. "We shouldn't just try to act like nothing happened here. What has happened this homestand is not acceptable, no matter what happened last week. We're all better than this. This is embarrassing. We've got to not let it affect everybody. We've got to be able to come together as a group and get better. What happened this homestand, it's hard to watch."

The revolving door that has been the 2025 Nationals bullpen picked up two new passengers today when the club added Clayton Beeter and PJ Poulin to the major league roster, two recent acquisitions who are going to get a chance to contribute to a relief corps that needs all the help it can get.

After trading veterans Kyle Finnegan, Andrew Chafin and Luis Garcia prior to last week’s deadline, the Nats were left with a highly inexperienced bullpen with only one member who had pitched in more than 45 big league games in his career (Jose A. Ferrer). That group was promptly battered around by the Brewers, surrendering 22 runs (19 earned) on 30 hits and nine walks across 14 1/3 innings during their weekend sweep, leading to the demotions of Ryan Loutos and Zach Brzykcy to Triple-A Rochester.

Enter Beeter (one of two prospects acquired from the Yankees for Amed Rosario) and Poulin (claimed off waivers from the Tigers on Sunday).

“I believe we need a lefty, and we just claimed (Poulin) off waivers,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “Beeter, he throws hard, good slider. And I’m looking forward to seeing how he matches up with big league hitters.”

Beeter, 26, has a little bit of major league experience, appearing in five games for the Yankees across the last two seasons. A second-round pick in 2020 from Texas Tech, he spent most of his minor league career as a starter before moving to the bullpen this season. In 18 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after time on the injured list with a shoulder impingement, he produced a 3.10 ERA, striking out 33 batters in only 20 1/3 innings (albeit with 16 walks issued in that same time frame).

The Nationals’ weekend series against the Brewers could not have gone any worse. Perhaps the arrival of the homeless Athletics this week will help turn things around. The A’s – who are playing in Sacramento for three seasons but are officially not allowed to be called by any city name for reasons unclear – come to town playing decent baseball, having gone 14-13 since July 1. And they’ve got one of the hottest hitters in baseball in rookie Nick Kurtz (1.420 OPS over his last 25 games).

So this is no cakewalk for MacKenzie Gore, who needs a bounceback performance after three straight shaky starts that included either six runs allowed or six batters walked. The left-hander has seen his ERA jump to 3.80, and his strikeout rate is down as well. Now that the tension of the trade deadline is behind him, the lefty needs to get himself locked in and finish out the season strong before it falls apart on him.

The Nationals have a couple of new arms in the bullpen tonight: They officially called up right-hander Clayton Beeter and left-hander PJ Poulin, optioning both Ryan Loutos and Zach Brzykcy to Triple-A Rochester. Don’t be surprised if one or both of the new guys is used in a high-leverage spot tonight if the situation arises.

ATHLETICS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 7 mph out to left field

ATHLETICS
C Shea Langeliers
1B Nick Kurtz
DH Brent Rooker
CF JJ Bleday
RF Colby Thomas
SS Darell Hernaiz
LF Tyler Soderstrom
3B Gio Urshela
2B Max Schuemann

MINNEAPOLIS – The first of several likely dominoes to fall before Thursday’s trade deadline came down late tonight when the Nationals dealt infielder Amed Rosario to the Yankees for 26-year-old right-hander Clayton Beeter and 18-year-old outfielder Browm Martinez.

The trade, which was officially announced shortly after the Nats’ 9-3 victory over the Twins, sends Rosario to a perennial contender for the stretch run in exchange for two younger players. It’s the first trade completed by interim general manager Mike DeBartolo.

“When I heard where I was going, I kind of didn’t believe it,” Rosario, who spent the first four years of his career in New York playing for the Mets, said via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. “I don’t know what happened in that moment. … At some point, I kind of knew I was going to get traded. But I didn’t know it was going to be today.”

Beeter, rated as the Yankees’ 20th best prospect by MLB Pipeline, has five games of big league experience over the last two seasons but was immediately optioned to Triple-A Rochester after the trade was announced. A second round pick of the Dodgers in 2020 who was sent to New York two years later for Joey Gallo, Beeter has been a starter through most of his minor league career but was pitching out of the bullpen this season. Over 323 2/3 total minor league innings, he has a 3.64 ERA, 1.319 WHIP and 13 strikeouts per nine innings. The red flag: He has walked 5.1 batters per nine innings.

Martinez only signed his first professional contract last year and has played in the Dominican Summer League since. The right-handed-hitting outfielder has played 56 total games over parts of two seasons, batting .320 with a .426 on-base percentage, three homers, 35 RBIs and 34 stolen bases.