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MLB Network insider Jon Heyman wrote early this afternoon, with the 4:00 PM EDT MLB Trade deadline approaching, that the Washington Nationals are still looking to trade for relief help.
“Nats are looking for 2 pen pieces, including [one] left-hander,” Heyman reported on Twitter, noting that, as previously reported, Detroit Tigers’ right-handed closer, “Shane Greene is on their radar,” and would, “... obviously be the righty (if they get him),” though just how serious a possibility that is at this point, is unclear.
What appears to be clear, at least according to one report out there, is that Greene, who has a 1.18 ERA, a 3.70 FIP, 2.84 BB/9, and 10.18 K/9 with 22 saves on the season, is there if someone makes the right offer to the Tigers...
Surest player to be traded today? Name that comes up most often is #Tigers closer Shane Greene. “They are trading him,” 1 rival exec said.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 31, 2019
USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale offered the following information on the Nats’ approach as the deadline gets closer in a Tweet this morning as well:
The Washington #Nats, scary as any team in #MLB if they reach the postseason with their rotation, hope to come away with two relievers today. They have their eye on everyone in the #SFGiants deep bullpen, as well as Shane Greene of the #Tigers and Andrew Chafin of the #Dbacks
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 31, 2019
Jon Morosi of the MLB Network mentioned one of the San Francisco Giants who might be of interest for the Nationals the other day, writing on Twitter that Drew Pomeranz could be one of their targets:
Sources: #SFGiants, #Nats have discussed Drew Pomeranz, who has thrown 4-1/3 scoreless IP since moving to the bullpen. @Ken_Rosenthal was first to report trade activity on Pomeranz yesterday. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 30, 2019
But the Nationals are bound to do SOMETHING, right? According to GM Mike Rizzo there is a lot of talk going on in the last 24-48 hours.
“We’ve been close to a couple deals that have not come to fruition as of yet,” Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN’s Sports Junkies this morning, “but we continue to talk and a lot of times — there’s a deadline for a reason, a lot of people wait till the deadline to make their decisions.”
He does, however, expect that the Nationals will make some additions before 4:00 PM.
“We certainly would like to — we recognize where we need to improve,” Rizzo said.
“We need to upgrade our bullpen. That could be in the middle relief role, it could be in the set-up role, it could be in the closer role, we don’t know. We’d like to upgrade our bullpen, but the same could be said for about 16 other teams and the demand way outweighs the supply right now. Asks are outrageous right now, both monetarily and player-wise, and you know me guys, we’re not afraid to make a trade and we’re not afraid to make a deal, but we’re not going to make a bad trade just to make a trade. Our team understands where we’re at, they know we want to win, they know the front office and ownership has put a lot of resources into this thing. We’re going to be aggressive, but we’re not going to be dangerously aggressive.”
Less than three hours to go as we type this at 1:11 PM EDT...