Nats sign lefty Chafin, cut Poche; Cairo filling in for Martinez tonight

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals made their first significant bullpen change of the season this evening, signing veteran left-hander Andrew Chafin to a major league deal and designating Colin Poche for assignment.

Chafin, 34, has 601 games of big league experience with six different clubs, the first 380 of them with the Diamondbacks. Owner of a 3.42 ERA, 1.275 WHIP and 20 career saves, he had a 3.51 ERA in 62 games with the Tigers and Rangers last season.

Chafin opened this season with Detroit's Triple-A club in Toledo, posting a 2.13 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings before opting out of his minor league contract and becoming a free agent. He's scheduled to join the Nats in Cincinnati on Friday.

Poche made the Opening Day roster out of spring training based on his solid track record with the Rays, but the 31-year-old struggled from the outset and never found a groove despite a number of opportunities. In 13 total appearances, Poche had an 11.42 ERA, issuing 12 walks in only 8 2/3 innings. He also allowed 8-of-12 inherited runners to score.

Chafin will join Jose A. Ferrer as the two left-handers in a Nationals bullpen that enters the day ranked last in the majors with a 7.41 ERA and 1.77 WHIP. The team will be a man down for tonight's game, with only seven available relievers.

* Davey Martinez is away from the Nationals today to attend the funeral of his longtime agent, leaving bench coach Miguel Cairo to manage the team’s series finale against the Phillies.

Martinez is spending the day in Chicago, attending the funeral of Scott Pucino, who represented him during both his playing and managerial career. Pucino, who worked alongside Alan Nero at CSMG Sports for decades before the group was acquired by Octagon, died Monday at 71.

Martinez is set to rejoin the Nats on Friday for the opener of their weekend series against the Reds. In the meantime, Cairo gets his second chance to manage the team this season, having already filled in for its April 17 game against the Pirates when Martinez was suspended along with reliever Jorge Lopez for allegedly throwing at Andrew McCutchen.

Cairo, the 50-year-old former major league infielder, is no stranger to the role. He managed the final 34 games of the White Sox’s season in 2022 after Tony La Russa took a leave of absence, going 18-16. He joined the Nationals in 2024 as Martinez’s bench coach, serving as his right-hand man since.

Cairo will call the shots throughout tonight’s game, but Martinez helped him map out a plan before leaving town.

“Last night, we went through the lineup. He’s the manager, and he does the lineup,” Cairo said. “We’ve got good coaches, and we’re going to plan the pitching, the offense and everything, and just go from there. We need to win today, and let’s go – like Davey says – 1-0.”

* Michael Soroka will make another rehab start before the Nationals decide if he’s ready to return from the injured list.

Soroka, who has been out since straining his right biceps during his March 31 season debut, will start Friday for Triple-A Rochester. That will be his third rehab start, following a pair of outings for Double-A Harrisburg, most recently Sunday.

Though he has felt healthy, Soroka has not thrown more than 78 pitches yet on rehab. The Nats will hope to get him closer to the 90-pitch mark Friday, also hoping he completes at least five innings before they activate him off the 15-day IL.

Once Soroka returns, the Nationals will have to decide whose spot in the rotation he takes. The most likely solution would be to move Brad Lord to the bullpen, where he opened the season. The rookie right-hander makes his fifth career start tonight, having pitched well but having yet to complete five innings.

* Batting practice pitcher James Frisbie is “in good spirits and doing OK,” according to a club spokesman this afternoon.

Frisbie collapsed near the mound at Citizens Bank Park before throwing a BP pitch to Keibert Ruiz on Wednesday afternoon, with members of both teams’ training staffs as well as ballpark paramedics rushing to tend to him. He was strapped to a backboard, driven off the field and taken to a local hospital.

Martinez said after the game doctors had run a battery of tests on Frisbie but did not know the results of those tests, saying only that the 52-year-old coaching support staffer was “coherent and feeling better.”

It’s unclear when Frisbie, who is in his third season with the Nationals, will rejoin the team.