The Washington Nationals, one game under .500 and seven games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, swapped three players on their major league roster for two in the minors and one on the disabled list. Per Nationals beat writer William Ladson, we know what happened with four players.
-Reliever Henry Rodriguez has been designated for assignment.
-Reliever Zack Duke has been designated for assignment.
-Anthony Rendon has been called up from AAA.
-Ian Krol has also been called up from AAA.
And finally, per Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, Danny Espinosa's locker has been cleaned out, and Jayson Werth is at Nationals Park. Kilgore is reporting that Espinosa has been placed on the DL. Surgery on his wrist seemed like an option, but Espinosa was attempting to play through the injury.
Werth is in Washington's lineup tonight and is batting second, while Rendon is active and on the bench. Steve Lombardozzi is playing second base and hitting seventh for the Nationals, who begin a three game set with the Mets tonight.
The moves all make sense and are necessary, though their placement on the same day is a bit curious. Rodriguez and Duke were the two worst members of the Nationals' bullpen this season, with Rodriguez walking more hitters than he struck out in 18 innings and posting a 4.00 ERA, while Duke struck out just 11 hitters in 20 2/3 innings and pitched to an ugly 8.71 ERA for the season. Krol was acquired from the A's in this winter's Michael Morse/John Jaso trade, and had an 0.69 ERA for AA Harrisburg, striking out 29 hitters in 26 innings.
Rendon and Werth are more familiar faces, and ones that will provide a boost for Washington's offense. Rendon played eight games in the majors earlier this season when Ryan Zimmerman was on the DL, and hit .240/.367/.280 in 30 plate appearances. For AA Harrisburg this season, Rendon hit .319/.461/.603 with six homers in 33 games. He was promoted to AAA Syracuse over the weekend and played just three games at the level, hitting .182/.357/.253. He'll likely end up replacing Espinosa at second base (despite playing most of this year as a third baseman, he played second while with Syracuse), and should be an upgrade over the putrid .152/.193/.272 line Espinosa provided for the team this season.
Finally, there's the activation of Werth from the disabled list. Werth played just one game in the majors in May while dealing with a hamstring strain. With Bryce Harper heading to the DL with a knee injury, Washington needed a solid bat in their outfield to flank Denard Span in center. Werth hit just .260/.308/.400 in 27 games this season, but that's a massive upgrade over the .151/.200/.269 line of Tyler Moore and the .161/.215/.264 line of Roger Bernadina this season. But the point is really moot with Harper still out, because one of those two (probably Bernadina getting most of the playing time) will likely still be in the lineup on a daily basis until his return.
This isn't some sort of groundbreaking series of moves from the Nationals that scream "PANIC!". In fact, all of the personnel moves make sense and improve the club. Washington has a six game homestand against the beatable Mets and Twins before heading on a nine game road trip to Denver, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, three teams that can give them headaches at the very least. Meanwhile, the Braves are finishing off a series with the Pirates before heading to the west coast for four with the struggling Dodgers and three with the scuffling Padres, then heading home for three with the Giants and a rare five game series (thanks to a doubleheader) with the Mets.
The Nationals could really use a solid stretch of wins over the next two weeks before the Braves leave them in the dust. Atlanta has only been two games above .500 since their white hot 12-1 start, but they've had not one, but two ten game road trips over that period of time. After taking two out of three from Washington this past weekend, and seven of ten this season, Washington can't afford to lose any more ground, and needs to make the NL East a race, quickly.
