There's been a surprising amount of chatter about the Washington Nationals not being sellers at this season's trade deadline. Sorry to say this, but that would be a huge mistake.
This team has overachieved at times, and that's cause to be very excited about the 2025 season and beyond. CJ Abrams has taken a big step forward. James Wood looks like a combination of young Josh Bell and Elly De La Cruz. And Dylan Crews is coming to join the party. But they're simply not ready to contend for a playoff spot.
After Friday night's brutal loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, a game the Nats led 5-0 before gradually imploding, Washington sits 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. Even if they were counting on making a playoff push this season, two of the hitters they were likely counting on, Eddie Rosario and Joey Meneses, are now off the active roster. So now that the Nationals have missed their chance to trade those two, they'd better hurry up and start trading the rest of their valuable veterans.
The trade market is a selling team's dream this season. The Nationals can get hugely inflated value for players that weren't going to be a big part of their future and use it to supplement a core that can compete for future championships. And that starts with them making the following moves:
Trade OF Jesse Winker to Royals
Jesse Winker has been light years better than any reasonable person could have hoped. After two straight injury-riddled, unproductive seasons, he got off to a hot start, but then understandably cooled off. But wouldn't you know it, Winker got hot once again, and now he's one of the best bats that any contending team could reasonably hope to trade for.
The perfect trade partner here would be the Seattle Mariners, but unfortunately, Winker already played a season there, and it went disastrously wrong. So we'll send him to the second-most offensively challenged club looking for corner outfielders, the Kansas City Royals.
Winker would be a huge addition for the Royals, as he's a lefty bat to pair with Vinnie Pasquantino in the middle of the order built around Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. He'd get plenty of designated hitting duties without a clear DH on the roster, mitigating his lackluster defense. And though Kauffman Stadium isn't known as a great hitter's park, it's actually a lefty paradise this season, with the fifth-highest park factor for left-handed batters,
And sure, the Royals farm system isn't flush with talent, but Winker having the season he is allows Washington to either grab a low-end top ten organizational farmhand or two to three lower-ranked prospects. Those types of prospects can be productive big-leaguers in short order–look at the Boston Red Sox's Wilyer Abreu for a perfect example. Abreu was acquired at the 2022 deadline and in 2024, he's raking at the top of Boston's lineup.
Trade OF Lane Thomas to Braves
Trading Jesse Winker is a necessity. But trading Lane Thomas is a luxury that the Nationals currently have all the power to do. Thomas is 28, has a season and a half of team control remaining on his current deal, and has a well-rounded profile that could help just about any contending club on both sides of the ball.
The Atlanta Braves stand out among potential trade partners. They've been desperate for an outfield bat ever since Ronald Acuña Jr. got hurt and Thomas would slot in perfectly as the everyday right fielder. The only possible argument one could make against the move is that Washington wouldn't like seeing Thomas play against them 13 times next season, but when you have better outfielders to make room for, that's the way baseball has to go.
In return, the Nationals should take a run at the Braves' top two shortstop prospects, Nacho Alvarez Jr. and Luis Guanipa. For one, it's obvious the Braves also have an issue at shortstop with Orlando Arcia struggling, so that takes one potential future fix off the table. And two, Abrams has quietly been a brutal defender at short and may need a position change in a season or two.
Trade relievers Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey anywhere
Tough look to try and trade both of these relievers when they both gave up back-breaking runs in Friday night's game. But contending teams can never have enough bullpen help, while rebuilding teams should never hang on to relievers because they have the shortest shelf lives in the sport. That means Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey both have to go.
Finnegan is having the better season and can handle closer duties, so he is the real prize of the pair. Teams like the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks, who both lost ninth inning leads on Friday night as well, should both be calling general manager Mike Rizzo as soon as possible to check in on Finnegan. Even if he wouldn't replace either Clay Holmes or Paul Sewald, he'd make their jobs a lot easier.
Harvey, meanwhile, is more of a project. He's been hit harder than you'd like to see this season, and his breaking stuff hasn't proven that effective. But he has 97th percentile fastball velocity and high chase and whiff rates. An enterprising pitching coach, such as the Red Sox's Andrew Bailey, could get a lot of success out of an arm as electric as Harvey's.
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