The Nationals, for the second straight day, designated a struggling reliever for assignment, with Erasmo Ramírez suffering that fate this afternoon in the wake of a particularly ragged appearance during Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks, and Cory Abbott recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take his spot.

Ramírez joined fellow right-hander Andrés Machado, who was designated for assignment Tuesday, in getting dropped from the active roster. Machado officially cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Rochester today. Because he had already been through that process over the winter, he had the option to declare himself a free agent but instead chose to remain in the organization.

Ramírez will face a similar decision in the next few days. The 33-year-old got the news after retiring only two of the six batters he faced in the top of the sixth Tuesday night, having hit the first batter he faced on the first pitch he threw, nearly hitting the next batter on his next pitch and then committing a balk when he turned to make a pickoff attempt to first base but never threw the ball because nobody was covering.

That outing left Ramírez with an unsightly 6.33 ERA and 1.556 WHIP in 23 games this season, a dramatic drop in effectiveness from the previous year. In 60 games in 2022, Ramírez produced a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP, earning the team’s Pitcher of the Year Award for his performance.

“It’s tough. Erasmo meant a lot to this team, and to me,” manager Davey Martinez said. “This guy worked really hard to get back to the big leagues and had an unbelievable year last year. This year, he just couldn’t find himself.”

For the second straight game, Davey Martinez pulled a struggling starter in the middle innings and entrusted a struggling reliever to keep a close game against a quality opponent close.

And for the second straight game, that struggling reliever not only couldn’t keep the game close, he couldn’t even keep it close enough for his Nationals teammates to have a realistic shot at coming back by night’s end.

Jake Irvin was tonight’s fading starter, and Erasmo Ramirez was tonight’s struggling reliever. They bore a striking resemblance to Trevor Williams and Andrés Machado from two days prior in a loss to the Phillies. In this case, the opponent was the Diamondbacks, who took full advantage of the Nats’ pitching woes during a 10-5 victory that further underscored some major problems for the home club.

"Walks," an unusually and visibly aggravated Martinez lamented. "We're walking too many guys. Hitting batters. Falling behind. Pitching 2-0, 1-0, 3-1. You're not going to win very many games like that. We've got to clean that up."

The Nationals have now lost six of their last eight, and a recurring theme throughout this stretch has been ragged relief pitching, whether in the middle or late innings. The situation already was dire entering the day, with the Nats owning the National League’s worst bullpen ERA (4.73) and WHIP (1.433), and things only got worse.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Asked this afternoon if he expected his bullpen to be in better shape for today’s game against the Royals after it was severely depleted during Friday night’s loss, Davey Martinez couldn’t help but laugh.

“They’re out there right now,” the Nationals manager said, motioning in the direction of the field from his office at Kauffman Stadium. “I’ll get more of a sense once they get loose and come back in, but I think we should be in good shape.”

This has become something of a daily dilemma for Martinez, who has needed to mix and match his relievers this week way more than in the past. That’s in part because the Nats have been playing in exceptionally close games, which doesn’t afford a manager the opportunity to give his best late-inning arms regular days off.

That was the case Friday night, when Martinez deemed Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey unavailable because each had pitched the previous two days. Andrés Machado and Thaddeus Ward also were unavailable, according to Martinez, because of recent usage, and Mason Thompson was only going to be used in case of emergency.

The situation should be better today. All five of those relievers should be available if needed. Ultimately, though, the Nationals are going to need others to start pitching well enough to be worthy of high-leverage assignments.

While MacKenzie Gore’s laborious start Tuesday night – three runs, seven hits, four walks, 103 pitches in 4 2/3 innings – put the Nationals in a rough position, the young lefty wasn’t the pitcher of record in a 7-4 loss to the Padres. That distinction went to Erasmo Ramírez, who was charged with four runs in one-plus innings of relief, a ragged outing by the veteran right-hander to say the least.

Ramírez, such a bright spot in 2022, continues to struggle in 2023. He now owns a 5.18 ERA and 1.397 WHIP in 19 appearances. Opponents are batting .300 off him.

“It’s tough as a pitcher, no matter what, starting or relieving, every time you go to the mound you just want to do the best you can,” said the 33-year-old, who finished with a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP in 60 games last season. “And when things don’t come out right, you know you have to try to forget it and move on, execute better and work on stuff.”

Ramírez has struggled, to be sure. But the fact he was even pitching in that particular situation Tuesday night says more about the current state of the Nationals bullpen as a whole. In short, it’s not in a great state at the moment.

When Gore’s pitch count crossed into triple-digit territory, manager Davey Martinez decided to pull his starter with two on and two out in the fifth. He summoned Andrés Machado, who did a nice job to strike out pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter and prevent either inherited runner to score.

DENVER – It’s hard to call a six-run offensive performance unsatisfactory, especially for a lineup that hasn’t exactly been great at scoring runs so far this season. The usual standards of offensive success, though, don’t always apply 5,280 feet above sea level.

The Nationals, sorry to say, needed more than that this afternoon during a 7-6 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field. Maybe that’s more an indictment of their bullpen, which saw four runs cross the plate in the bottom of the sixth under its watch. But with several top relief arms unavailable after contributing to wins both Friday and Saturday nights, it was always going to be a challenge for the rest of that unit to pitch flawless baseball.

As such, the Nats failed to win this four-game series, settling instead for a long weekend split. Each loss came by only one run: a 1-0 heartbreaker Thursday afternoon, then today’s high-scoring, back-and-forth affair.

They leave town at 3-7, with a three-game series in Anaheim against the star-studded Angels next before they return to the East Coast.

"We talked about this all week here: You've just got to score as many runs as possible," manager Davey Martinez said. "Anything can happen. Look, we battled. It was just a tough day."

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Jeimer Candelario has 606 games of major league experience, zero of which have come in the postseason.

So when the Nationals third baseman stepped into the box at loanDepot Park in Miami one week ago for his first at-bat representing the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, he had to take a moment to soak in the atmosphere and appreciate just how special this was.

“Oh, my gosh,” he said. “It was really fun. … It was packed. I’ve never seen that before. It was really loud. I even asked the umpire, and he told me: ‘I’ve been in the World Series two times. This is more loud.’”

Candelario returned to the Nats on Friday, the Dominicans’ WBC run having come to a surprisingly quick end after they were beaten by Puerto Rico in pool play. The experience, though, will stick with the 29-year-old forever.

Selected as a late replacement for injured Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Candelario found himself as part of a lineup stacked with star power: Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Julio Rodríguez, Wander Franco and more. And he wound up as one of his country’s most productive hitters in the tournament, going 6-for-12 with a double, two walks and a 1.154 OPS that was bested only by Soto among the team’s regulars.

At least two members of the Nationals’ projected Opening Day roster are expected to participate in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, with Joey Meneses and Erasmo Ramirez among those named to their home countries’ preliminary rosters.

Meneses (Mexico) and Ramirez (Nicaragua) were formally included on the WBC preliminary rosters that were reported Friday. Barring injury, each should hold a prominent role on his country’s national team for this spring’s tournament.

Meneses, who became something of a celebrity back home during his stunning two-month debut with the Nationals late last season, is likely to be Mexico’s starting first baseman and hit somewhere in the middle of the lineup. Ramirez, who was named Nats’ Pitcher of the Year after posting a 2.92 ERA in 86 1/3 innings, could start for Nicaragua even though he’ll again be a member of the Nationals bullpen this season.

Players who participate in the WBC could miss a significant chunk of spring training, depending on how far their teams advance in the tournament.

Mexico will compete in Pool C (along with the United States, Canada, Colombia and Great Britain), with pool play scheduled for March 11-15 in Phoenix following several days of workouts and exhibitions. Nicaragua (which qualified for the first time) is competing in the powerhouse Pool D (along with the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Israel), with games in Miami, also scheduled for March 11-15 following several days of workouts and exhibitions.

The Nationals didn’t have a lot of high-profile free agents set to depart the team this offseason, but they have retained one they valued a lot in 2022.

Erasmo Ramirez is returning to Washington on a one-year deal for 2023, the team announced this afternoon after reports the two sides were in agreement surfaced last week. Ramirez needed to pass a physical before it could become official.

The 32-year-old could earn up to $2 million with incentives this year, as confirmed by our own Mark Zuckerman.

Signed to a minor league deal in March and only earning a modest $700,000 this year, Ramirez filled a variety of roles for manager Davey Martinez. The right-hander was a bridge arm covering multiple innings between starters and the back end of the bullpen, he pitched high-leverage innings late in games during the season’s last couple of months and he even made two emergency starts against the Braves.

His 2.92 ERA, 1.077 WHIP and 4.36 strikeout-to-walk rate over 86 ⅓ innings earned him Pitcher of the Year honors, as voted on by Nationals media members. He was one of only three major league relievers with an ERA under 3.00 while pitching at least 75 innings, joining the Rangers’ Brock Burke and the Angels’ Jaime Barria.

Versatility has been the name of the Nationals’ roster building game ever since they started the organizational rebuilding process two summers ago. They value players who can play multiple positions.

Find jacks of all trades and have them fill a variety of roles.

That works pretty well for position players (infielders who can play all over and outfielders who can fill all three spots). But you might run into a master of none situation when it comes to pitching.

While the Nationals fared very well this season utilizing pitchers out of the bullpen in multiple ways, is there such a thing as too many swing men?

Get your mind out of the gutter. We’re talking baseball here.

The Nationals are close to finalizing a deal to bring Erasmo Ramirez back for the 2023 season, re-signing an invaluable member of this season’s pitching staff.

There remain a few more details to sort out before the deal is announced, including the removal of someone else from the club’s 40-man roster to open a slot, but a source confirmed the two sides are close and it should be finalized within a few days. The one-year contract would pay Ramirez as much as $2 million if he meets all incentives, according to The New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

Of the Nationals players who became free agents at season’s end, Ramirez looked the most likely to return, given his importance to the pitching staff and modest contract demands. It took a few months, but the sides appear on the verge of a deal that should be a boost to an already deep bullpen.

Though his work was often unheralded, Ramirez was a critical part of the Nats pitching staff this season, a jack of all trades who finished with a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP over a hefty 86 1/3 innings. He was one of only three major league relievers – along with the Rangers’ Brock Burke and the Angels’ Jaime Barria – to post an ERA under 3.00 while pitching at least 75 innings.

Originally signed to a minor league deal, Ramirez didn’t make the Opening Day roster. The Nationals called up the 32-year-old from Triple-A Rochester only two weeks into the season, though, and he never went back.

For the first time in a long time, the bullpen was the Nationals’ biggest strength this season.

After so many years (in which they did win, I might add) of trusting unproven closers and acquiring top relief pitchers through trade deadline deals, general manager Mike Rizzo constructed a bullpen mostly through waiver claims and minor league deals that proved to be more than adequate for manager Davey Martinez.

Nine of the 11 relievers with at least 23 appearances out of the ‘pen produced a FanGraphs WAR of 0.1 or better. Only Andres Machado (51 appearances, -0.1 fWAR) and Steve Cishek (69 appearances, -0.3 fWAR) were left out of the bullpen’s top 10 in fWAR, which includes Sean Doolittle’s 0.3 in just six appearances.

Looking even further, they produced some impressive numbers.

Kyle Finnegan posted a 3.51 ERA and 1.140 WHIP with 11 saves in 66 ⅔ innings over 66 games. Carl Edwards Jr. had a 2.76 ERA and 1.226 WHIP in 62 innings over 57 games. Erasmo Ramirez recorded a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP in 80 ⅓ innings over 58 relief appearances en route to being named Nationals Pitcher of the Year. And Tanner Rainey had a 3.30 ERA, 1.300 WHIP and 12 saves before his season was cut short due to injury.

The first full week of the official offseason is complete, and with that, the deadline for teams to negotiate with their respective free agents has passed.

Thursday was the last day the Nationals had exclusive rights to re-sign any of their free agents before they became available to speak with other teams. Of their eight free agents, the Nats had already made decisions on two of them.

On Sunday, the day after the conclusion of the World Series, the Nats announced they had agreed to terms with Sean Doolittle on a minor league deal that includes an invitation to major league spring training. A couple of hours later, the team also announced they declined the $16 million mutual option for 2023 on Nelson Cruz’s contract, instead buying out the 42-year-old designated hitter for $3 million.

Both moves made sense.

Doolittle has a long history with the team, showed flashes of returning to his previous form in limited action this year (5 ⅓ scoreless innings over six games) and has been recovering from his internal brace procedure. The expectation is that he’ll be ready to go when pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach in mid-February.

PLAYER REVIEW: ERASMO RAMIREZ

Age on opening day 2023: 32

How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, March 2022

MLB service time: 8 years, 1 day

2022 salary: $700,000

The Nationals, Phillies and Major League Baseball had multiple meetings this morning to discuss the situation and forecast surrounding today’s series finale.

This game is important to the Phillies, who currently own a one-game lead over the Brewers for the final National League wild card. The Brewers are wrapping up a home series against the Marlins today before welcoming the Diamondbacks for three games. The Phillies head to Houston to play the Astros for three games after finishing here, whenever that is.

With rain forecasted all day, there was talk of possibly moving the start time of this game up to 12:30 p.m. and then 1:05 p.m. from the scheduled 1:35 p.m. start, hoping to find a window to play in before the weather gets worse.

There was a light rain at Nationals Park earlier this morning that they could have played through. But then steady rain and strong winds made conditions unplayable on South Capitol Street for a while.

The tarp is being rolled up and players are starting to loosen up in the outfield, so it looks like they are going to try to start on time. Davey Martinez did not speak with the media before the game as he was still in discussions with the Phillies and the league office.

ATLANTA - Patrick Corbin took an exceptionally long time between pitches. He shuffled his feet, kicked some dirt and adjusted his belt ever so slowly before turning around and motioning to the second base umpire.

Something wasn’t quite right.

Corbin left with back spasms in the first inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Braves after throwing just 12 pitches. After throwing a 76-mph slider high and outside to Matt Olson and fidgeting around the rubber, the lefty was greeted by manager Davey Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard.

Corbin, who leads the Nationals (51-97) in both starts and innings pitched, stretched his back before taking a slow walk to the visitors' dugout.

"He just threw a pitch and (his back) tightened up on him," Martinez said after the game. "We watched him, he started trying to stretch. We went out there and he said it just cramped up on him. ... As he was getting back on the mound, he said he couldn't get loose, so the smart thing to do is just get him out of there."

ST LOUIS – Had the Nationals hung on to win Wednesday night, instead of watching as Kyle Finnegan blew a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, the story of that victory might well have focused on Erasmo Ramirez, who quietly strung together 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief to keep the game close and put his teammates in position to rally in the top of the eighth.

In a way, it’s actually fitting that Ramirez’s performance was lost in the shuffle at night’s end. Because it feels like his entire season has gone under the radar when it has deserved far more attention.

Entering today’s series finale against the Cardinals, Ramirez sports a sparkling 2.84 ERA and 1.082 WHIP. The only major league reliever with at least 70 innings pitched and a lower ERA is the Angels’ Jaime Barria (2.60). Only Barria (0.991) and the Orioles’ Keegan Akin (1.009) own a lower WHIP.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, and then some,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s been a quiet leader in the bullpen, as well. He’s helped out a lot of guys. But he’s a bulldog. He takes the ball every day; if need be, multiple innings. We asked him to start one day, he had no problems with that. So he does whatever we’ve asked him to do, and he’s been great.”

Indeed, Ramirez has pitched in just about every possible scenario he could this season. He was an emergency starter June 13 and July 17 against the Braves, each time churning out three innings before giving way to another reliever. He’s pitched as many as 3 1/3 innings in long relief, then entered to record two outs with runners in base in the seventh inning of a close game. He’s been credited with four wins and three holds, though he has yet to secure a save.

ST LOUIS – Just when a sleepy Nationals lineup came through with an inspired rally to take a seemingly comfortable late lead over the Cardinals, a rusty closer managed to turn what should've been an uplifting victory tonight into a crushing defeat.

Handed a four-run lead for the bottom of the ninth at Busch Stadium, Kyle Finnegan promptly gave up five runs to hand his team a 6-5 loss, Tommy Edman's two-run double to deep left field just off a diving Alex Call's glove the final blow that left what remained of a crowd of 34,715 delirious and left the Nats devastated.

"Hey, when you close games, some days go well, some don't," manager Davey Martinez said. "The biggest thing for me is you've got to come in there, up four runs, and you've got to pound the strike zone. Walks are going to kill you."

Finnegan hadn't pitched in six days even though the Nationals had won three times on this road trip, because all of those wins were lopsided. Martinez summoned him tonight in a non-save situation simply because he needed the work. It backfired.

"I didn't feel rusty," Finnegan insisted. "I just couldn't make the pitch when I needed to. The stuff was getting a little too much of the plate, and they were doing their job. They were hitting mistakes and doing damage with it. I just wasn't able to make a pitch to get us out of it tonight."

Steve Cishek grew up a Red Sox fan in Cape Cod, Mass., modeling his pitching after two of Boston’s aces, Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe. He wanted his wind up to mimic Martinez’s, and his mechanics to be like Lowe’s.

Somewhere along the way, Cishek molded a delivery that was completely different from that of Martinez or Lowe: a sidearm motion that he would use to establish himself as a big league reliever. 

But for years, he had no idea his delivery was distinct.

“Somehow I came out the way I am today,” Cishek said. “I've had some pointers here and there, but even in high school people would ask how I throw like that and I had no idea what they were talking about.” 

Cishek says he’s a self-taught sidearm pitcher, and doesn’t know how to throw any other way — noting that it actually feels like he’s delivering the ball in the typical, over-the-top fashion when he pitches. It wasn’t until he was in college at Division-II Carson-Newman, watching video of himself pitch for the first time, that he realized how low he actually delivered the ball. 

CHICAGO – There’s plenty for Davey Martinez to be concerned about these days, amid a five-game losing streak that has seen his Nationals get blown out multiple times, all while fielding a roster that looks nothing like the one he was used to only a year ago.

But nothing stands out more to Martinez right now, and rightfully so, than a rotation that hasn’t come close to holding its own during this stretch.

Entering tonight’s series opener against the Cubs, Nationals starters have averaged a scant 3.3 innings over the last five games. They haven’t had anybody complete five innings since Cory Abbott tossed five scoreless frames Aug. 2 against the Mets, hours after Juan Soto and Josh Bell were traded to the Padres.

The domino effect on the bullpen has been dramatic, with several relievers unavailable on a given night because they pitched too much the previous one.

“It’s been tough,” Martinez said. “Trying to space these guys out, trying not to use them too much. Keeping guys fresh as much as we can. Hopefully today, Aníbal’s pitching and he can give us a good 5-6 innings and then we can go from there.”

By this time next week, the Nationals’ farm system could have a brand-new infusion of talent, perhaps a host of well-regarded prospects acquired before Tuesday’s trade deadline, should the organization make the dramatic decision to deal Juan Soto (not to mention Josh Bell, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr. and possibly others) in the final teardown of their once-competitive roster.

All the while, the guy who has been regarded their No. 1 prospect for some time now remains at Triple-A, seemingly knocking on the door for the final promotion that will lead to his major league debut.

Cade Cavalli made another case for that Wednesday night, tossing five scoreless innings on 75 pitches for Rochester against Scranton-Wilkes Barre. The young right-hander allowed three hits, walked three and struck out three to continue his recent surge, albeit in his first start in more than two weeks.

Cavalli hadn’t pitched since July 12, when he abruptly departed a game in the fourth inning with what proved to be a minor finger issue, akin to a blister. Minor as it was, that ailment did prompt the Nationals to hold him out of that weekend’s All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium. They then waited until Wednesday to have him take the mound again, giving him a 15-day break that perhaps helped conserve some innings he’ll still need before season’s end.

Cavalli now sports a 4.03 ERA in 16 total Triple-A starts this season, but he has been trending in an upward direction for a while. Over his last nine starts, he owns a 1.89 ERA and 1.000 WHIP. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in any of his three starts this month.