Washington Nationals news & notes: Davey Martinez on filling Daniel Hudson’s role; the decision to bring Andres Machado up, and sending Yadiel Hernández down...

Huddy’s Role:

There were a series of roster moves before the Nationals’ doubleheader with the Giants on Saturday, but the biggest one the club announced was the decision to place veteran right-hander Daniel Hudson on the 10-Day IL with inflammation in his right elbow.

“We put Huddy on the IL,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He has right elbow inflammation. He had an MRI yesterday, and he’s just got some inflammation in there, so knowing his history we wanted to give him some time off, and hopefully that inflammation goes down and he’ll be right back to help us pitch.”

The 34-year-old Hudson, who underwent Tommy John surgery twice in 2012-13, said he is not too concerned about the latest issue, considering what he’s dealt with in the past.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

“Just some inflammation back there,” Hudson explained. “It just feels a little swollen. I think the elbow joint is kind of — it’s not like a knee, there’s really not the places for that fluid, for that inflammation to hide. It just feels tight, it’s not anything that feels painful, obviously I’ve had some pretty catastrophic elbow injuries, and I don’t feel anything similar to what I was feeling. It’s just all in the back in the triceps area, there’s nothing in forearm, nothing in the elbow joint, it’s just all in the triceps, and that’s why there was really not much concern for me, it’s just — it is what it is and we’ll go from there and try to get it all out of there.”

The big question, of course, is who’s going to step into the late-inning role Hudson has filled in the bullpen the last few seasons?

“We got to look at [Tanner] Rainey and hope that Rainey bounces back,” Martinez said. “He closed out the game the other day, he looked good. We’ll look at [Kyle] Finnegan and we’ll start playing a little bit more matchups in that role. So I feel like we have the guys down there that can help us. We have this kid [Andres] Machado that’s going to be the 27th man, that’s actually done really well at Triple-A.”

“He can be a possibility as well. He’s pitched in the back end in Triple-A. He had big league experience before.

“So we’ll see how he fares up here if we get a chance to put him in the game.”

I’m Sorry, Andres Who?:

We’re guessing that some of you are wondering who Andres Machado is. His contract was selected this morning, and the Nationals optioned him and then selected him as their 27th man for Saturday’s doubleheader.

Signed as an amateur free agent by the Kansas City Royals in 2010, Machado made his MLB debut with the club in 2017, with two appearances, but he hasn’t pitched in a major league game since. He signed a minor league deal with the Nationals this winter, and before he got called up, the right-hander had a 0.96 ERA in 9 ¹⁄₃ innings with two walks and 12 Ks in seven outings at Triple-A Rochester.

“He had a sub-1.00 ERA, he went to go pitch for Team Venezuela, we just got him back, so it will be nice to see — if we get him a chance to pitch today, it will be nice to see what he can do,” Martinez said. “He’s a right-handed [pitcher], throws hard, has good movement on his fastball, has a good slider, so I’m interested to see how he does here if we can get him into a game.”

Machado didn’t get into a game, and after the nightcap of the doubleheader, he was sent back to Triple-A Rochester.

Not Yadi! But It Make Sense We Guess:

Yadiel Hernández was a victim of the numbers game when the Nationals made their roster moves on Saturday morning.

“We optioned Yadi out because we need some extra pitching,” Martinez said.

“So he’s optioned down to Triple-A, so he’s going to go get down there and play every day, get some at bats.”

Playing sparingly in the majors this season, Hernández, who impressed while filling in for an injured Juan Soto earlier this season, and stuck around when Soto returned, was 18 for 69 in 42 games (11 starts) and 76 plate appearances, over which he hit a double and two home runs, walking five times and striking out in 20 PAs.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Now he’ll go down to Triple-A and get some regular at bats and reps in the outfield.

“I talked to him this morning,” Martinez said. “I brought him in and told him exactly what we’re going to do and the big part of that too is he hasn’t had steady at bats. He’s been pinch hitting, and I want to get him some at bats again, get him 4-5 at bats a game, get him in the outfield and let him play some left field, right field, and get him back going again and we’ll see what happens in a couple weeks.”