Two players the Nationals let go at season’s end found new homes Tuesday, with Ildemaro Vargas signing a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks and Jordan Weems getting his own minor league deal with the Braves.

Both Vargas and Weems were regular members of the Nats roster in 2023 and were expected to remain in their respective roles throughout the 2024 season, as well. Vargas did survive the full year but was dropped from the 40-man roster in November and elected to become a free agent. Weems was designated for assignment in August, and though he cleared waivers and finished the season at Triple-A Rochester, he became a free agent in October.

Neither is assured of a major league job in 2025, but each will get an opportunity to make a case for himself in the spring with invitations to big league camp.

Vargas, 33, has previous ties with the Diamondbacks, signing with them in 2015 and making his major league debut in 2017. The infielder spent parts of the next four seasons in Arizona, playing in 144 games while batting .247 with seven homers, 36 RBIs and a .648 OPS.

He bounced around after that, going from the Diamondbacks to the Twins to the Cubs to the Pirates and back to the Diamondbacks again in 2021. The Nationals then signed him to a minor league deal in May 2022, and when the need for a utility infielder arose in August following the trade of Ehire Adrianza to Atlanta, they called him up.

PHOENIX – A road trip that began on the heels of a no-hitter, then included an extra-inning win, a 14-run explosion, back-to-back walk-off losses, a 17-run blowout loss and the trades of three popular veterans ended this afternoon with the closest thing the Nationals have had to a normal day in the last week. And even then, there was still some top-of-the-ninth drama just to make sure nobody got too complacent.

After eight relatively sleepy innings at the plate, the Nats came up to bat down three runs in the ninth, got two runs home and loaded the bases with two outs before coming up just short to seal a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.

They nearly pulled off the kind of improbable comeback Arizona pulled off against them Monday night, getting an RBI double from CJ Abrams and then back-to-back walks drawn by Juan Yepez and James Wood to knock closer Paul Sewald from the game. But with the bases loaded and one out, Harold Ramírez struck out against Ryan Thompson. And though Thompson allowed another run to score on a wild pitch, he proceeded to get Riley Adams to bounce out to second to end the game.

"We worked good at-bats. We tried to get the ball in the zone," manager Davey Martinez said of his team's approach in the ninth. "We've got to be conscious of that from the first inning on. When we get the ball in the zone, we hit the ball well."

With a chance to at least emerge from this tumultuous trip with a 3-3 record, the Nationals instead got an improved-but-not-great start from MacKenzie Gore and then a mess of a relief appearance from Jacob Barnes that left them in a 5-1 hole in the sixth.

PHOENIX – It’s been an eventful road trip, to say the least. The Nationals went to St. Louis and won a game in extra innings, scored 14 runs while trading Jesse Winker mid-game and lost on a walk-off homer. Then they came to Arizona and traded Lane Thomas before Kyle Finnegan gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth, then kept Finnegan but traded Dylan Floro before suffering the most lopsided loss in club history. Whew.

And now we finally come to the final game of the trip. Will it be relatively normal, or will some other wild development overtake matters and turn this into another crazy afternoon? If they win, the Nationals somehow would head home 3-3. All things considered, that wouldn’t be bad at all.

They need MacKenzie Gore to be good, though. And that’s something that hasn’t happened in a while. The left-hander hasn’t delivered a quality start since June 14 against the Marlins, and over his last four starts he’s got a 10.80 ERA while totaling only 15 innings. He knows he needs to be better. He’s openly said it. Now it’s time for him to actually do it.

It’s been a bit of an erratic year for Zac Gallen as well, but the Diamondbacks right-hander still enters with a 3.70 ERA and back-to-back wins over the Cubs and Pirates. After getting shut out for the 13th time this season Tuesday night, the reconfigured Nats lineup would love to take an early lead today and take some of the pressure off everyone.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Chase Field
Gametime: 3:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

PHOENIX – As he sat in his office this afternoon, a frantic and often emotional trade deadline period having finally been completed with four veterans dealt away, Davey Martinez took a deep breath and tried to turn the page.

"It’s over," the Nationals manager said. "Let’s go play baseball."

It was a nice thought, and surely for the 26 remaining players and the coaching staff, the idea of a ballgame to prepare for had to be refreshing. Until that ballgame began and disaster ensued.

Patrick Corbin, one of only two remaining players on the active roster due to become a free agent at season’s end along with reliever Jacob Barnes, took the mound for the 22nd time this season, the 160th time since signing a six-year, $140 million contract in 2019, and proceeded to do something no pitcher in Nationals history had ever done.

During the first three innings of what wound up a 17-0 spanking at the hands of the Diamondbacks, Corbin surrendered 11 runs. It’s not only the most runs he’s allowed in his career, it’s the most runs any pitcher has allowed in club history.

PHOENIX – All right, after all the craziness of the trade deadline, there’s still a game to be played tonight. And the Nationals really need a bounceback performance after Monday’s late-night implosion.

In spite of the last-minute maneuvering Davey Martinez had to make, the lineup exploded for five runs in the top of the first and eight overall during the game. He can only hope for similar results from a group that now includes Juan Yepez, Harold Ramírez and Travis Blankenhorn, who was called up from Triple-A Rochester today to take Lane Thomas’ roster spot.

That group, so successful against Arizona lefty Jordan Montgomery, faces right-hander Ryne Nelson tonight. Nelson has struggled this season to the tune of a 4.85 ERA and 1.414 WHIP over 98 1/3 innings, but he held the Nats to two runs on three hits over seven innings last month in D.C.

Patrick Corbin, meanwhile, returns to his old stomping grounds to face a Diamondbacks lineup he held to one run and three hits over five innings last month. And he’s coming off back-to-back quality starts against the Reds and Padres, even though he took a tough 3-0 loss to San Diego’s Dylan Cease in last week’s no-hitter on South Capitol Street.

Joan Adon joined Blankenhorn from Rochester to take the spot of Dylan Floro, who was traded to the Diamondbacks.

PHOENIX – A week of trade deadline frenzy reached its final hour this evening, the Nationals having previously dealt three key players and now waiting to see if there would be any last-minute takers for their two remaining available relievers.

In the end, they did find a deal they liked for Dylan Floro. They did not find one to their liking for Kyle Finnegan.

Floro was traded to the Diamondbacks for Triple-A corner infielder Andrés Chaparro during the final minutes leading up to the 6 p.m. Eastern deadline, giving the veteran right-hander a chance to move to the other clubhouse at Chase Field and potentially face his former team tonight. Finnegan, on the other hand, stays put and will remain the Nats closer for the remainder of this season while remaining under club control for 2025 as well.

"I'm happy to be a National, and we can put this behind us and focus on winning games," said Finnegan, who for the third straight summer heard his name come up in trade deadline rumors but never was dealt. "I was at peace with whatever happened. But I'm happy to be here."

Having already traded Hunter Harvey to the Royals prior to the All-Star break, then Jesse Winker to the Mets and Lane Thomas to the Guardians over the last three days, the Nationals reached deadline day with only two expected trade candidates in Finnegan and Floro.

PHOENIX – They already traded their top setup man 2 1/2 weeks ago. They already traded their top one-year rental three days ago. And they already traded their top available position player under control beyond this year Monday afternoon.

So as trade deadline day finally arrives, the Nationals really are left with only two final pieces who could be moved, both right-handed relievers: Kyle Finnegan and Dylan Floro.

Instead of a last-minute flurry of activity, this has been a prolonged trade deadline period across the majors, with more deals getting done in the days leading up to the deadline than at any point in recent memory.

And the Nats were very much a part of that overriding trend. They traded Hunter Harvey way back on July 13, a reflection of the particular time-sensitive nature of that deal because they acquired a pick from the Royals in the following day’s draft. Then they traded Jesse Winker late during Saturday night’s game, the veteran outfielder getting pulled in the sixth inning for a pinch-hitter and finding out two innings later he was being sent to the Mets.

And then on Monday afternoon, as they were preparing to open a three-game series with the Diamondbacks, the Nationals traded Lane Thomas to the Guardians, leaving manager Davey Martinez with a shell of a lineup.

PHOENIX – The news was only minutes old, and Davey Martinez was still trying to process it and express his thanks to Lane Thomas while also trying to figure out what to do with his lineup for a game that was set to begin in less than three hours.

"It's tough, but I've still got 25 guys out there to get ready to play Arizona," the Nationals manager said shortly after 4 p.m. "They've been playing really well. We've got to be upbeat. It's part of the game. I can only control what I can control, and that's to get these guys ready to play."

The Nats were ready to play tonight, no doubt. They stormed out of the gates to score five runs in the top of the first, then opened up a six-run lead in the top of the sixth and carried a four-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. At which point disaster struck.

Kyle Finnegan, the subject of plenty of trade rumors himself, blew that four-run lead in the ninth and took a shocking 9-8 loss. The All-Star closer retired only one of the six batters he faced, giving up homers to Ketel Marte and ultimately a walk-off homer to Corbin Carroll that left Chase Field shaking and the visitors slumping their way back to the dugout.

"In this game, no lead is ever safe, no team is ever out of it," Finnegan said. "You've got three outs to get to win the game, and they're not going to concede the game. They're not going to give away at-bats. They're trying to win the game. And I think they just took really quality at-bats, and I wasn't able to make good enough pitches to get them out."

PHOENIX – It’s a dry 109 degrees here in the Valley of the Sun. Guess it’s only appropriate as the trade market heats up. There have been a number of deals made throughout the baseball world today, though nothing involving the Nationals yet. The day is still young, especially out here in the Pacific Time Zone. (Technically, it’s Mountain Standard Time, because Arizona doesn’t do daylight saving, but that’s not important right now.)

The Nationals come to the desert after taking two of three from the Cardinals, missing out on a sweep Sunday afternoon when Dylan Floro gave up a walk-off homer to Paul Goldschmidt in the bottom of the ninth. They’ll look to get this series off on a positive note against the defending National League champs, who have won 10 of their last 14 to get back into the thick of the Wild Card race.

It’s a matchup of left-handers, with Mitchell Parker against Jordan Montgomery. Parker is coming off back-to-back rough and short starts, having totaled 3 2/3 innings against the Brewers and Padres. The Nats simply need much more from him tonight, especially if they make any moves that deplete their bullpen. Montgomery, one of the top free agents last winter who held out forever before finally signing with Arizona, has been really good in three of his last four starts but was roughed up by the Royals for eight runs in 2 2/3 innings in the other.

Update: Lane Thomas is being traded to the Guardians, per a source familiar with the situation. The Nats are getting 19-year-old left-hander Alex Clemmey (Cleveland's No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline), 19-year-old shortstop Rafael Ramirez Jr. (No. 22) and 23-year-old infielder Jose Tena (No. 28 per Baseball America).

More to come soon.

The Nationals’ aggressiveness at the plate has been on display all season. They want to swing at strikes, get on base and steal bases to score runs.

The approach of swinging at strikes is all well and good on paper. But you have to do some damage with those hitter’s pitches to make it meaningful.

They’ve had some trouble with it this week against the Diamondbacks. It didn’t work at all on Tuesday while seeing a grand total of 96 pitches during a 5-0 shutout. It barely worked Wednesday when they needed Jesse Winker’s two-run home run to rescue them in a 3-1 win after seeing only 104 pitches.

And it didn’t work again Thursday in a 5-2 loss to the Snakes as the Nats dropped their first series in their last four attempts in front of an announced crowd of 21,158.

The Nationals offense was once again doomed by not doing too much in the strike zone.

Josiah Gray was back in the Nationals clubhouse this morning after making his third rehab start with Double-A Harrisburg last night.

Gray, on the 15-day injured list since April 9 (retroactive to April 6) with a right elbow/forearm flexor strain, threw 79 pitches over five innings in last night’s outing, his second with the Senators. He gave up two runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Results aside, the right-hander said he felt good.

“I felt good, felt really good,” he said at his locker. “I got five innings there, (about) 80 pitches. Everything was really crisp. Changeup, curveball, fastball, cutter were on point and everything felt in control. Felt that I was throwing my best stuff out there. So I'm just looking forward to the next step and seeing where we go from there.”

Gray wasn’t sure what his next steps would be at the time. He was going to meet with manager Davey Martinez and the Nats training staff before today’s matinee finale against the Diamondbacks. The Nationals embark on a nine-game cross-country road trip tonight, and Gray didn’t know whether or not he would be going with them.

The Nationals have a chance today to win their fourth straight series after getting swept at home by the Mets earlier this month. A win over the Diamondbacks would also give them 10 wins in 13 games during that same stretch. And a win would also bring them back to .500 and keep them firmly in a National League wild card spot.

Not to put too much pressure on a single game in June, but a victory to close out this series against the defending NL champs before embarking on a nine-game road trip that will take them all over the country would be huge for this team.

But they’ll likely have to do it without CJ Abrams, who was a late scratch from yesterday’s starting lineup and underwent an MRI on his left wrist. We should get some more insight into that surprising injury later this morning.

With or without Abrams, the Nats will look for better offensive results against Arizona pitching. Right-hander Ryne Nelson makes his 13th appearance (12th start) for the visitors. Although his overall numbers aren’t that impressive (4-5, 5.49 ERA, 1.640 WHIP), he’s coming off a six-inning outing against the White Sox in which he held them to one run and struck out eight. He also completed 7 ⅔ innings of two-run ball against the Giants earlier this month on just 80 pitches, so the Nats need to work the count better than they have lately.

MacKenzie Gore makes his 15th start this afternoon. The left-hander is coming off a dominant performance against the Marlins that included seven innings of one-run ball, 10 strikeouts and a dust-up in the dugout. Here's hoping that today will produce similar results on the field without the dramatics off it.

For 14 innings across nearly 23 hours, they swung and swung and kept swinging and kept making outs. And then with one mighty swing, Jesse Winker changed the agonizing narrative that had defined the first half of the Nationals’ series against the Diamondbacks and got his team back on track.

Winker’s two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth snapped the Nats out of their scoreless funk. And thanks to a tack-on run provided by Ildemaro Vargas, another effective start by Patrick Corbin and another strong showing by the back end of the bullpen, they emerged with a cathartic 3-1 victory.

"Good teams, that's what they do," manager Davey Martinez said. "They're not going to hit every day. I talk about it all the time: Hitting is hard. And you're going to go through those lapses where it's like that, where you score two or three runs but you've got a chance to win. That's what I love about this team: They don't give up."

It wasn't a perfect day at the yard for the Nationals, who had to scratch shortstop CJ Abrams from the lineup shortly before first pitch with a left wrist issue. Martinez said Abrams, who isn't sure how he hurt himself, is getting an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

Shut out on four hits and no walks Tuesday night even with a healthy leadoff man, the Nationals totaled just two hits and one walk through five innings this afternoon against Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt, whose pitch count remained ridiculously low thanks to another string of first-pitch outs made by an overly aggressive lineup.

The sun was blazing, straight overhead, no shade in sight, as Mitchell Parker fired pitches from the mound and then reacted to field bunts and other assorted ground balls hit to his left and right.

No other Nationals pitchers were out there this afternoon. This was a personal PFP (pitchers’ fielding practice) session for Parker alone, a response to three misplays he made during his last two starts.

When he was done, Parker walked out to right field for his standard between-starts throwing session in the bullpen. And by the time he returned to the clubhouse, his shirt was completely soaked through.

“There was no negative to it,” the rookie left-hander said afterward. “During the (last misplay Sunday), I kind of figured this was going to be happening. Luckily, we’re going to get to it before it becomes a bigger issue. I appreciate the work to get out there and work on it. It’s a good thing.”

Parker has been perhaps the biggest positive surprise to the Nats’ season to date. In 12 starts to date, he’s 5-3 with a 3.06 ERA and 1.079 WHIP, having yet to be charged with more than three runs in any outing.

Tuesday’s series opener against the Diamondbacks has to be considered one of the Nationals’ worst games of the year. They weren’t blown out, but they put forth almost zero offensive punch, totaling three singles, one double and zero walks against Slade Cecconi and two relievers, seeing a grand total of 96 pitches during a 5-0 loss. It wasn’t much fun to watch.

So the Nats can only hope it gets better today, especially on the offensive side of things. They face D-backs right-hander Brandon Pfaadt, who doesn’t walk many batters (1.9 per nine innings) and strikes out a lot (9.0 per nine innings). Pfaadt, though, enters with a 4.38 ERA in 14 starts, having allowed four or more runs in three of his last four outings.

The Nationals might need to score some runs today with Patrick Corbin taking the mound for them in what could be a critical start for him. The lefty was good last time out against the Tigers, but he’s still 1-7 with a 5.84 ERA overall. And with Josiah Gray making another rehab start tonight for Double-A Harrisburg, the identity of the Nats’ starter when this spot in the rotation comes up next time is very much in question.

Update: CJ Abrams was a late scratch for today's game. Nasim Nuñez will now make just his third major league start, playing shortstop and batting ninth.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 90 degrees, wind 9 mph out to left field

On a night when hardly anyone in the Nationals lineup did anything of consequence, Jesse Winker did more than anyone else. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t able to play the team’s last game after hurting his knee.

Winker went 2-for-3 in the Nats’ 5-0 loss to the Diamondbacks, recording the team’s lone extra-base hit (a fourth-inning double) as well as a single in his final at-bat. The veteran left fielder did so with no apparent lingering issues in his right knee.

Winker hurt himself rounding second base and slamming on the brakes to dive back into the bag Saturday against the Marlins. He went to get an MRI that night, hoping it wasn’t anything serious but a bit worried it could have been something bad.

When the MRI came back clean, Winker and the Nationals were relieved. He sat out Sunday’s game, then enjoyed the team’s day off Monday before returning to work Tuesday, back in the lineup batting third and playing left field.

Winker ran the bases fine and had no problems in the field. Afterward, he was asked if he thinks he can jump right back into playing every day, or if he might need to manage his knee a little and take some days off.

It’s still too early in the season to call a series truly meaningful, not with the calendar still showing June and with more games left on the schedule than have been played to date.

But the Nationals haven’t been in this position in a while, so why not get a little excited about a mid-June three-game set against the defending National League champs, both teams smack dab in the middle of a wild card race that features a host of teams sitting just below the .500 mark, waiting for someone to make a move.

The result of tonight’s game doesn’t necessarily portend anything about what’s still to come over the next 3 1/2 months, but it wasn’t exactly a positive showing by the home team. A 5-0 loss to the Diamondbacks was about as unexciting as it gets, with Jake Irvin laboring early and a punchless lineup completely rendered ineffective by three Arizona pitchers.

The Nats (35-37) didn’t much look the part of a surprise contender, not on this night. The Diamondbacks (36-37) looked much more like the team that squeaked into the 2023 postseason with 84 regular season wins and then rode the wave all the way to a World Series loss to the Rangers.

Davey Martinez can only hope for a better showing the next two afternoons.

Summer has arrived in the nation’s capital, a conclusion you probably already drew for yourself upon stepping outside at any point today. It’s hot, it’s muggy and that means the ball is probably going to start flying at Nationals Park for the next few months.

That’s not a bad thing for the Nationals, who wouldn’t mind hitting a few more homers. Provided they keep giving up as few as they have so far this season. They’ve hit only 58 through 71 games (third-fewest in the majors) but they’ve given up only 59 (second-fewest).

Jake Irvin has done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, serving up 0.8 home runs per nine innings, a big improvement from last year’s 1.5 rate. He’s also been great at keeping the ball in the strike zone, reducing his walk rate from 4.0 to 1.7 per nine innings. The right-hander will look to keep that up tonight against the Diamondbacks, who may be the defending National League champs but enter this series a half-game behind the Nats in a wide-open wild card race full of teams hovering just below the .500 mark.

Arizona’s struggles so far this season have been on the pitching front, and that includes tonight’s starter: Slade Cecconi. The 24-year-old rookie, a first-round pick in 2020, is 1-5 with a 6.70 ERA. And notably, he’s served up 12 homers in only 44 1/3 innings. Perhaps the Nationals lineup can take advantage of that on a hot summer night in D.C.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 89 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left field

Tim Bogar, let go by the Nationals at season’s end, won’t be returning to the major leagues this year but will get a chance to manage professionally again.

Bogar was named manager of the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Diamondbacks’ Double-A affiliate, on Monday. The longtime Nats coach under Davey Martinez will have the opportunity to re-establish himself overseeing an entire team for the first time since 2013.

The 57-year-old former infielder was the most prominent (and perhaps unexpected) of the four Nationals coaches who were dismissed in October. A member of Martinez’s staff since 2018, he served as first base coach for two seasons and then became the skipper’s right-hand man as bench coach for four seasons.

The Nats wound up replacing Bogar with Miguel Cairo, the White Sox’s former bench coach and interim manager. They also dismissed first base coach Eric Young Jr., third base coach Gary DiSarcina and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, replacing them with Gerardo Parra, Ricky Gutierrez and Chris Johnson, respectively.

“Obviously, it was a tough decision,” Martinez said in December when asked about the coaching changes. “Very close to all those guys. I’m going to miss them. But I thought it was an opportunity, being where we’re headed, to bring some fresh guys in and some guys that are very well capable of coaching young players. So I decided to make that change.”

Voting for the annual Baseball Writers' Association of America awards has always seemed like a distinguished honor. And at times a difficult one.

Needless to say, I was very surprised and grateful when I learned I had been assigned a ballot for this year’s National League Rookie of the Year Award in my first season as a BBWAA member.

At first, I was intimidated by the daunting task. How could I – a humble D.C.-area kid who grew up to be fortunate enough to cover his hometown baseball team – be given such an important task as to vote for one of the sport’s most prestigious awards and by so doing become a part of the sport’s incredible history? Again, while in my first year as a member, nonetheless?

Thankfully, this year’s NL Rookie of the Year decision ended up being sort of a no-brainer instead of one of the highly debated awards.

In fact, entering last night since 2003, four NL Rookie of the Year awards have been won unanimously, with a majority of the others winning by a landslide. Only four races for this award over the last two decades were actually close, the latest coming in 2012 when Bryce Harper took home the hardware for the Nationals by narrowly beating the Diamondbacks’ Wade Miley by a score of 112-105 (Harper was awarded 16 first-place votes, eight second-place votes and eight third place votes while Miley was awarded 12 first-place votes, 13 second-place votes and six third place votes on a 5-3-1 scoring system).