National insecurity
Murph dealt to Cubs, Adams to Cards as fire sale begins
The Nationals have entered the final stage of grief for their dead season. Accepting the turnaround they kept waiting for isn’t going to happen, the back-to-back NL East champs began their fire sale Tuesday by trading away Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams. Beginning a process they refused to undertake last month before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the Nationals sent Murphy to the Cubs for prospect Andruw Monasterio and a player to be named later or cash considerations, and Adams to the Cardinals for cash considerations. “These are tough decisions,” general manager Mike Rizzo said at a press conference at Nationals Park. “We took a chance at the first trade deadline and held tight with the belief that that was our best way to compete, kept almost our entire roster intact. I still think today, we have the talent base on this team to play competitive games at the end of the season, realizing I know what the standings say and what the calendar says.” Bryce Harper, in the final months of his contract, was also reportedly claimed on revocable waivers by the Dodgers, but the Nationals pulled him back. Rizzo declined to say how close a potential deal got, only saying it would have had to be “a deal that makes sense to trade one of the elite players in the game.” “I had no fear of being traded,” Harper said, according to the Washington Post. The Nationals entered Tuesday with a record of 62-63, 7 ¹/2 games out of first place in the NL East with both the Braves and Phillies ahead of them. The club was also 6 ¹/2 games back of the final NL wild-card spot, but with five teams ahead of them.
Rizzo explained the waiver moves allow the Nationals “financial flexibility” heading into 2019, open room for young players to get MLB experience and add to their prospect talent in the minor leagues.
In perhaps their last run at October with Harper on their roster, the Nationals entered the season expecting to contend for a World Series. But they could never get going between injuries, underperformance and reports recently emerging about a toxic clubhouse under first-year manager Dave Martinez, who replaced Dusty Baker.
After missing the beginning of the season rehabbing offseason knee surgery, Murphy has been swinging a hot bat of late. The ex-Met entered Tuesday batting .364 with a .960 OPS over his last 34 games and will join a Cubs team he dominated in the Mets’ 2015 NLCS sweep.
“I’m going to be honest with you: I didn’t think I was going to be claimed,” Murphy said, according to MASN. “I thought I was going to slide through.”
The Nationals were .500 and only 5 ¹ /2 games out of first place in the NL East on July 31, when they decided to not sell off their pending free agents. Less than a month later, still stuck in mediocrity, their plans changed.
“It’s been frustrating because we go through spurts and periods of playing good baseball,” Rizzo said. “We keep hearing about this window that we have that is closing that I could never understand with the talent base we have, with the youth that is being infused into this ball club, with the veteran presence we have.”