The trade deadline came and went and the Nationals traded Brandon Kintzler and added not one Major Leaguer — no star catcher was added which was the number one need identified rather the Nats competition in the NL East added and it was the Phillies who acquired that star catcher, Wilson Ramos, and you have to wonder if they did that to block the Nationals from their biggest need. It was underwhelming to say the least to the Nationals do nothing to strengthen the team since they decided not to trade pending free agents. In fact, Kintzler was under team control for next year.
The most shocking news was all the rumors that swirled about Bryce Harper. There were some salacious Twitter comments that seemed to have been greatly exaggerated based on what we were told by a source, and Mike Rizzo supposedly was never soliciting teams to try to trade him. Rizzo was just answering the phone calls he received and never was “blown away” by offers he received which he had said last Wednesday that any offer had to be “spectacular.”
“Rizzo reassured me earlier yesterday that I wasn’t going anywhere,” Harper said. “So I was very happy about that and that I’m still inside this clubhouse. It shows how much faith they have in this team. From higher-up all the way down to us.”
Maybe the key is earlier yesterday Bryce was reassured he was not getting traded. Who knows what the real truth is with trade rumors, but here we are with basically the same team as last week sans Kintzler.
The Nationals have recalled reliever Wander Suero from Triple-A Syracuse and optioned INF Matt Reynolds to Triple-A Syracuse.
Tonight starts a quick two-game series with the Mets with Tanner Roark going up against the Mets lefty Steven Matz. Anthony Rendon has returned to the team after the birth of his child and an extra day beyond the three-day paternity leave for family leave.
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2; MLB.TV app out-of-network
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
