#washington-nationals

#washington-nationals

"It takes two to tango but [the Lerners] aren't ready to sell," he said at CNBC Sport and Boardroom's "Game Plan" event on Tuesday, maintaining he still has a good relationship with the Lerner family, owners of the Nationals.

Murakami is a star for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. Throughout eight seasons in Japan, he has a .945 on-base plus slugging percentage and 262 home runs. Murakami has also become prominent thanks to his performance in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Murakami, notably, hit a two-run walk-off double against Mexico to send the Japanese team to the finals.

As alluded to, the Nationals made their choices for September call-ups last weekend, and brought up lefty Andrew Alvarez and infielder Nasim Nuñez, who combined to make a huge impact on the sweep of the Marlins. Alvarez joined catcher CJ Stubbs as the second Nationals battery in team history to make their MLB debuts simultaneously, and accomplished some team history in the process.

The Nationals announced Friday that infielder/outfielder Darren Baker, whom they had designated for assignment earlier in the week, went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. He'll remain with the organization but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old Baker made his major league debut with Washington last September and went 7-for-14 with two doubles and five singles.

It is no secret that the Nationals are in a rebuild. Luckily for them, a head start is already underway with many young prospects already with the major league team. Some are already established, while others came up more recently. Three of them, in fact, are thriving as of recent, and they are not named James Wood. The key to the final two months was to see success in the youth, and it is happening.

Alfaro, a CAA client, is signing a major league contract, Golden adds. The 32-year-old Alfaro hasn't appeared in the majors since 2023. He appeared in 82 games and tallied 326 plate appearances with the Brewers' Nashville affiliate in 2025, hitting .244/.285/.430 with 15 home runs and a dozen steals. Alfaro walked in only 3.4% of his plate appearances with Milwaukee's Triple-A club and also fanned at an alarming 36.5% clip.

This wasn't how the Nationals hoped their rebuild would play out. When now-former GM Mike Rizzo traded Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers back in 2021, the hope was that dismantling a stacked roster could lead to an accelerated turnaround. In the span of just over a calendar year, Washington traded Scherzer, Turner and , in addition to short-term veterans like Kyle Schwarber, , , , Daniel Hudson, Josh Harrison, , Jeimer Candelario, Dylan Floro and Hunter Harvey.

In four games, Willits is hitting .429/.529/.958 with three RBIs and two walks. In 14 at-bats, the switch-hitting shortstop has struck out just once. In the field, Eli has shown range with a diving play to his left and a strong arm, throwing a batter out after fielding a ball deep to his right. His left-handed swing is very smooth, while his right-handed swing is more compact and to the point.

On the bright side, the Nationals' bullpen turned in another phenomenal performance, putting up a load of zeroes after start Jake Irvin failed to make it through the third inning. Irvin has seen the wheels completely fall off in the second half of this season, as he now owns a 5.40 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, and it's pretty hard to argue that him and fellow struggling starter Mitchell Parker give this team any sort of chance to win every fifth day.

I'm excited and ready to get to work,

There are two general strategies Washington could employ. The first is to continue the process of rebuilding; the second would be to make a concerted effort to start winning again for the first time in years. They don't necessarily have to sell out for one strategy or the other, but they should at least have an idea of what the general direction of their organization is.

Chaparro should have a great opportunity to soak up a lot of the vacated playing time after Nathaniel Lowe was DFA'd last week.

The Nationals announced today that left-hander Poulin has been added to the active roster and will be making his major league debut soon.

The Nationals traded starting pitcher Michael Soroka to the Chicago Cubs for two prospects as they navigated the trade deadline and aimed for minor league depth.