One of the Washington Nationals rattled off all the great stuff that has been going on with the team the past couple of months. Anthony Rendon has played like an MVP candidate. Juan Soto did what so many very young players struggle to do by shaking off a sophomore slump, and he has been savage. Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin have pitched great. Washington has been playing at a 110-win pace over the past third of the season.
Then he paused. "You figure we'll get a couple of bullpen arms," he added.
Yes, the Nationals' bullpen, which has not been good, generally, and cost them a game and a would-be sweep Thursday. Washington had fought back from two multiple-run deficits and carried a 7-5 advantage into the eighth inning, but Colorado scored a run in the eighth against Tony Sipp and then plated two against Fernando Rodney in the ninth.
Nationals relievers have collectively improved since a horrific first month, and closer Sean Doolittle has continued to be effective, posting a 2.72 ERA and 23 saves. But the setup corps is the most glaring weakness for a team that might be the greatest threat to the Dodgers' National League preeminence.
This is not a new problem for Mike Rizzo, the general manager of the Nationals. In most years of this decade, he has had to plug a major bullpen problem after the All-Star break, landing the likes of Jonathan Papelbon and Mark Melancon. Rival executives fully expect that Rizzo will add relievers before 4 p.m. ET on July 31, because Rizzo is really good at getting deals done.
"He'll talk through a deal with you," a rival evaluator said this year. "He'll get on the phone and argue both sides of it -- why a [proposal] might make sense for him and why it might work for you. He's not one of these guys who's going to pitch an insulting idea."
He's not really part of Generation Text. Some of the younger general managers prefer to exchange the bulk of their ideas via text or emails, but Rizzo prefers to talk directly to his peers after the initial interest is laid out. "He's old school," said the evaluator, "and some of the old-school guys, like Billy [Beane] and Rizz, are good at finishing deals."
The evaluator recalled an exchange of ideas he once had with a rival GM over the phone, and as a result of general brainstorming that was going on during the proposal, another minor roster need was mentioned -- and the evaluator suggested throwing an ancillary player from his own roster into the trade to bridge their differences. That finished the deal.
"You need that kind of communication sometimes," he said.
The Nationals have churned out a lot of prospects in recent years, Soto, Victor Robles and Lucas Giolito (swapped to the White Sox in a deal for Adam Eaton) among them. The perception from some other teams is that Washington's system is relatively thin at the top.
But the cost of relievers tends to drop in the last days before the trade deadline, with a volume of options possible and some sellers looking to dump contracts and some salary.
Washington's preference is to add a left-hander to its bullpen, but other teams believe Rizzo will take upgrades in whatever way he can get them. Among the many market options: the Tigers' Shane Greene, the Jays' Ken Giles and Daniel Hudson, the White Sox's Alex Colome, the Giants' Reyes Moronta, the Diamondbacks' Greg Holland, the Pirates' Francisco Liriano, the Rangers' Chris Martin and Jesse Chavez, the Royals' Ian Kennedy and Jake Diekman and the Mariners' Cory Gearrin.