CINCINNATI – The Nationals cut ties with Paolo Espino today, requesting unconditional release waivers on the veteran right-hander in one of a series of transactions prior to their series finale against the Reds.

The Nats also reinstated Trevor Williams from bereavement leave and activated Israel Pineda off the 60-day injured list and subsequently optioned the now-healthy catcher to Double-A Harrisburg. They already had cleared a spot on the active roster for Williams, optioning reliever Amos Willingham to Triple-A Rochester following Saturday’s game. But they needed to make another move to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Pineda, and Espino was the unfortunate victim.

“It’s always hard, because I’ve known Paolo for quite some time now,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters at Great American Ball Park. “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s been really good, a very positive guy. Working with these guys, getting to know them, getting to know their families, it’s always tough when you have to let them go.”

Espino was on the 15-day injured list with a sprain in his right ring finger after a ragged relief appearance in Chicago three weeks ago. In three big league games this season, the 36-year-old right-hander was charged with 11 runs and 14 hits in only four innings, a disappointing final act for what had been an uplifting story when he first joined the team.

A journeyman who had pitched for four different organizations from 2007-19 but appeared in only 12 major league games for the Brewers and Rangers during that time, Espino was called up from the Nationals in September 2020 to make two late-season appearances. He then was called up again in April 2021 to make a spot start for an injured Stephen Strasburg and wound up staying on the big league roster through the end of the 2022 season.

CHICAGO – The Nationals made yet another bullpen move today, calling up recently acquired right-hander Rico Garcia from Triple-A Rochester and placing Paolo Espino on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his right ring finger.

It’s the club’s 10th bullpen change in six weeks, evidence of a revolving door unit that has dealt both with injuries and poor performances from those who have tried to fill the void.

Garcia only joined the organization one week ago when he signed a minor league deal after getting released by the Athletics, for whom he posted an 8.31 ERA in seven appearances. The 29-year-old wound up pitching only twice for Rochester before getting the call he was reporting to Chicago to join the big league staff.

“Everything kind of happened so quickly,” Garcia said. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here.”

The 5-foot-9 Hawaii native has endured through a winding professional career that has included major league stints with the Rockies, Giants, Orioles and A’s. In total he’s pitched 27 big league games, producing a 6.89 ERA and 1.837 WHIP.

CHICAGO – As ugly as Tuesday night – and oh boy was it ugly – the Nationals still arrive at Wrigley Field today with a chance to win this series and head home with a 3-3 record on the second-half-opening trip. Even better news: The two semi-reliable relievers they still have are both available.

Kyle Finnegan and Mason Thompson are good to go if the situation presents itself in the late innings. So is Jordan Weems, who hasn’t appeared since Sunday in St. Louis. So the key, then, is for Trevor Williams to at least provide five (ideally six) quality innings and give his a team a chance, which is basically what he’s done all year. Williams is plenty fresh, because his last start was cut short after 2 2/3 innings due to rain. So there’s no reason he can’t reach, or even top, 100 pitches tonight if he’s performing well enough.

Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks starts for the Cubs, and he has allowed nine runs, 18 hits and six homers over his last 10 1/3 innings after pitching quite well prior to that. Hendricks isn’t an overpowering guy; his changeup is his go-to pitch. It’s imperative for these Nationals hitters to stay patient with him and not get jumpy at the plate.

The Nationals announced some roster moves this afternoon, selecting the contract of right-hander Rico Garcia from Triple-A Rochester, placing Paolo Espino on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain of his fourth right finger and transferred Israel Pineda (right finger fracture) to the 60-day IL.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field

CHICAGO – Davey Martinez knew it was probably going to come to this tonight. With Mason Thompson and Kyle Finnegan having both pitched 1 1/3 innings in order to seal Monday night’s win over the Cubs, the Nationals manager was going to have to entrust some high-leverage situations to young, untested relievers in this game.

So it was no surprise when the bullpen door underneath the right field bleachers opened up in the sixth and seventh innings of a tight ballgame and out trotted Amos Willingham and Jose A. Ferrer. Sadly, it may not have surprised many when those two rookies – and then journeyman Paolo Espino – imploded before everyone's eyes, combining to allow an astounding 14 runs and turn a tight ballgame into a farcical, 17-3 loss.

This is the current state of the Nationals bullpen. With Hunter Harvey (elbow strain) and Carl Edwards Jr. (shoulder inflammation) on the injured list, Martinez has only two semi-proven late-inning options in Thompson and Finnegan. And when he needed those two to record the final eight outs of Monday’s 7-5 win, he left himself with no choice but to see how these newcomers might handle a big moment.

It did not go well.

Willingham, a 2019 17th round pick who hadn’t pitched above Single-A before this season, got out of a sixth-inning jam but did not retire any of the four batters he faced in the seventh. Patrick Wisdom homered to open that inning, and three singles followed before Martinez pulled the 24-year-old.

ST. LOUIS – The last thing any team wants is to face a doubleheader on the second day coming out of the All-Star break. But if ever there was a time to do that, and a pitching staff unintentionally designed to handle it, this is it.

After Friday night’s second-half opener against the Cardinals was suspended with two outs in the bottom of the third, St. Louis leading 1-0, the Nationals will be forced to play 15-plus innings today at Busch Stadium. They’ll pick up Friday night’s game from the point it was suspended – runner on first, 3-2 count on Paul Goldschmidt – at 2:15 p.m. Eastern, then play the originally scheduled game at 7:15 p.m.

Trevor Williams, who recorded the first eight outs for the Nats, will have to be replaced on the mound. Davey Martinez, though, has a good number of viable options. Everybody in the bullpen is fresh coming out of the All-Star break, and that unit already has an extra pitcher on staff in Paolo Espino, who is replacing starter Patrick Corbin this weekend while the latter is on paternity leave.

Espino is one of three long relievers available to Martinez if needed, along with Cory Abbott and Joan Adon. Those three are supplemented by six other healthy, fresh relievers in Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Mason Thompson, Jordan Weems, Jose A. Ferrer and Amos Willingham.

Jake Irvin will start the nightcap as originally planned. Even if the rookie only goes five innings, the Nationals still should be in decent shape to cover the rest of the game.

SEATTLE – A Nationals bullpen that has gone through a number of changes in the last week experienced another one today when the club promoted right-hander Amos Willingham from Triple-A and optioned Paolo Espino back to Rochester.

This move comes only two days after the Nats called Espino up to replace Chad Kuhl, who was designated for assignment. (The club officially requested unconditional release waivers on Kuhl today, making him a free agent.)

Willingham, 24, made a name for himself in the organization early this season, stringing together 10 consecutive scoreless appearances with 14 strikeouts and only one walk for Double-A Harrisburg. That earned him a promotion last month to Triple-A, where he wasn’t as dominant (3.46 ERA, 11 strikeouts, eight walks over 13 innings), but still pitched well enough to earn consideration for another promotion.

“I knew this could be a big year for me,” he said. “I needed to go in and take care of everything I needed to do, and I knew there would be opportunities to move up. I had no idea it would happen this fast. I was thinking at this point in the year maybe get to Triple-A, and then maybe be in Triple-A until September and maybe get a look up here. But it’s all happened so fast, it’s hard to really fathom the entire process.”

The Nationals might have called Willingham up Saturday to take Kuhl’s spot, but he had just thrown 30 pitches over two innings and likely wouldn’t have been available for another couple days. So they instead recalled Espino, who wound up pitching the ninth inning of Sunday’s 8-3 win in San Diego but retired only two of the five batters he faced, prompting manager Davey Martinez to summon closer Hunter Harvey for the final out.

SEATTLE – Hello from the great Pacific Northwest, where the Nationals make only the fourth visit in club history but their second in as many years. They’ve had very good results here, no matter the era, sweeping a three-game set in 2008, taking two of three in 2014 and then splitting a quick two-game series last August. Now they’re back for three with the Mariners, who, like the Padres, had high expectations entering the season but are currently under .500.

Seattle does have a legit ace on the mound tonight in Luis Castillo, who currently ranks sixth in the American League in ERA (2.89), 10th in WHIP (1.053) and seventh in strikeouts (101). The electric right-hander will pose a real test for a Nationals lineup that bust out for nine runs during Sunday’s win in San Diego but as you already know has been in a real rut for quite a while.

Trevor Williams gets the start, looking to build off possibly his best outing of the season, in which he shut out the Cardinals for six innings and earned his fourth win in the process. Davey Martinez let Williams pitch into the seventh in that game, and he may be tempted to push him again tonight because multiple relievers (most notably Hunter Harvey and Mason Thompson) figure to be unavailable tonight after pitching each of the last two days.

The Nats bullpen will have another new face tonight, though: The club called up Amos Willingham from Triple-A Rochester. The 24-year-old right-hander, a 17th round pick in the 2019 draft out of Georgia Tech, has worked his way up the organizational ladder since, and now gets his first promotion to the big leagues. To clear a roster spot for Willingham, the Nationals optioned Paolo Espino back to Triple-A after only one appearance.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: T-Mobile Park
Gametime: 9:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 72 degrees, wind 5 mph out to right field

SAN DIEGO – The Nationals parted ways with Chad Kuhl today, designating the struggling right-hander for assignment and recalling Paolo Espino from Triple-A Rochester to take his roster spot.

The club had been hoping Kuhl might turn things around as a long man in their bullpen, but the 30-year-old was in a sustained rut, his ERA climbing to 8.45 following a four-run appearance during Friday night’s blowout loss to the Padres.

The move was particularly tough for manager Davey Martinez on a personal level, given how much the Nationals have done to help Kuhl’s wife, Amanda, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. The Kuhls established the “Cancer Isn’t Kuhl” campaign in April in partnership with Washington Nationals Philanthropies and have raised tens of thousands of dollars for breast cancer treatment and research since.

“The toughest part of my job is letting guys go when you start building these relationships with them,” Martinez said. “It’s hard. I know he gave it his all. It just didn’t work out.”

Initially signed to a minor league contract in January, Kuhl came to big league camp this spring and earned a spot in the Opening Day rotation after top prospect Cade Cavalli needed Tommy John surgery. A six-year major league veteran with the Pirates and Rockies, he struggled from the get-go and had a 9.41 ERA in five starts before landing on the 15-day injured list with a foot ailment.

DENVER – Luis García is out of the lineup for tonight’s game against the Rockies, but the Nationals continue to believe his right hamstring is only tight and not cause for any significant concern.

García pulled up and grabbed his right leg as he was running out a grounder in the sixth inning of Friday night’s 10-5 win at Coors Field. After a brief talk with director of athletic training Paul Lessard, he walked off the field, replaced at second base by Ildemaro Vargas.

Tests conducted after the game showed no serious issues, and García himself said he wasn’t worried about the hamstring.

“Everything seems to be fine,” manager Davey Martinez said. “This is going to be a day-to-day thing.”

García went through some agility drills today and did say his leg still felt sore. Martinez decided to play it safe and not include him in the lineup.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals made six more cuts this afternoon, bringing the number of remaining healthy players in camp down to the requisite 26 but leaving open the possibility of acquiring someone from outside the organization to fill out their bench or bullpen before the Opening Day roster is officially set.

Right-hander Paolo Espino and infielder Jeter Downs were optioned to Triple-A Rochester, while relievers Alex Colomé, Andrés Machado and Wily Peralta were reassigned to minor league camp.

First baseman Matt Adams, meanwhile, was informed he won’t be making the club but is still deciding whether he will accept an invitation from manager Davey Martinez to come with the team to D.C. for Tuesday’s exhibition finale against the Yankees and whether he will report to Rochester or become a free agent.

Those moves seemed to set the Opening Day roster, with infielder Michael Chavis winning the final spot on the bench and Anthony Banda, Thaddeus Ward, Mason Thompson and Hobie Harris filling the last four spots in the bullpen. But Martinez insisted the roster is not set in stone yet and said he has not informed any of those players they’ve made the club yet.

“There’s no set roster right now,” Martinez said. “We still have decisions to make. We probably won’t make any decisions until we go back to D.C.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Two weeks from today, the Nationals will be taking the field in D.C. to face the Braves in the 2023 season opener.

That means there’s still two weeks for things to happen, two weeks for things to change and two weeks for club officials to make decisions on which 26 players will take the field March 30.

But with a full month of spring training now complete, some matters have begun to come into focus. Between the cuts that have already taken place and a few unfortunate injuries that have occurred, we have some clarity at some positions.

With a night game on tap this evening against the Mets, let’s take the opportunity this morning to look at who’s still in big league camp, with a position-by-position breakdown of the players who appear to be locks to make the team, those who are unlikely to head north and those whose fates are still up in the air. …

CATCHERS
Locks: Keibert Ruiz, Riley Adams
Unlikely: Israel Pineda
Comment: This one is pretty much locked up, barring some kind of late-camp injury. Pineda actually is dealing with an injury, still recovering from getting hit by a pitch on his right hand two weeks ago. Ruiz is the established No. 1 catcher with the big contract to match now. Adams is the established backup, though he’ll need to start hitting a little more consistently to hold that job long-term.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Paolo Espino was immensely proud when Panama qualified for the World Baseball Classic for the first time since 2009, and he was excited to represent his home country in next month’s international tournament.

But when the final bracket was unveiled and Panama was placed in Pool A, which will hold its first-round games in Taiwan, Espino came to a difficult conclusion: He couldn’t go.

Though he remains on Panama’s preliminary WBC roster, Espino said he has opted not to participate, citing his need to remain with the Nationals this spring as he tries to make the Opening Day roster.

“It’s just too far to go,” the right-hander said. “I would have to miss too much of camp, and I know I have work to do here.”

Panama’s first-round games are set to be played March 8-11 against the four other competitors in Pool A: Taiwan, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Cuba and Italy. Players will need to report to camps a week prior to that for workouts and exhibitions.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a long winter. And it may be a very long summer back home in D.C. as the Nationals navigate their way through another rebuilding season.

But if ever there’s a time for optimism, this is it. It’s the first day of spring training, and while there’s little reason to believe the 2023 Nationals are going to be dramatically better than the 2022 Nationals were, they begin today with a clean slate and at least the hope of better things to come.

There are six weeks to prepare for a March 30 Opening Day date with the Braves. Much can and will happen between now and then, some of it expected, some of it unexpected.

Here’s what to expect on day one …

With some pitchers and catchers still getting their physicals completed, the day actually will get off to a later start than usual. Most days, the team will take the back fields behind The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches a little after 9 a.m. for Davey Martinez’s “Circle of Trust” meeting, then stretch and workouts. But for day one, that meeting won’t begin until 12:45 p.m., so the first workout of the spring will be an afternoon affair.

The Nationals’ best hope for significant improvement in 2023 is through a significantly improved rotation. It’s really as simple as that.

The 2022 Nats rotation was awful. That group’s 5.97 ERA didn’t just rank last in the majors, it ranked last in club history. By leaps and bounds.

Only three previous times had the Nationals ended a season with a rotation ERA over 5.00: In 2006 (5.37), 2007 (5.11) and the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign (5.38). Davey Martinez and Jim Hickey would’ve killed to get those kind of numbers last season, which tells you just how bad things were.

The organization, though, believes it is ready to take a big step forward in starting pitching. That belief is based in the hope that three young building blocks (MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Josiah Gray) are ready to lead the way, taking pressure off Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg to have to hold those responsibilities anymore. The offseason addition of right-hander Trevor Williams, in theory, should provide some stability at the back of the rotation.

It all sounds good on paper, but what are the odds it will play out as hoped in reality?

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 signing of Trevor Williams – which became official Saturday night – wasn’t anything that was going to send shock waves through Nationals Park or the baseball world. A two-year, $13 million deal for a 30-year-old right-hander with a career 4.27 ERA is hardly the kind of move that shapes a team’s fortunes to any great extent.

What the Williams signing did do, however, was punctuate a point the Nationals seem to be making this winter: If they can’t spend big on top-tier pitchers, they’re going to make sure they get guys who can comfortably bounce back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen.

That was Williams’ role in New York this season. When the Mets were dealing with rotation injuries from April through June, he was asked to start every five days. When that rotation finally was healthy from July through September, he shifted into a long relief role.

In that respect, Williams proved to be hugely valuable to a Mets roster that was loaded with star power but needed his versatility and effective performance to navigate through a long season that ended with a berth in the National League Wild Card Series.

Williams did whatever New York needed of him. He made nine starts. He made 21 relief appearances. He finished five games. He recorded one save. He completed at least two innings in 13 of his relief outings, completing at least four innings in four of those.

PLAYER REVIEW: PAOLO ESPINO

Age on opening day 2023: 36

How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, January 2019

MLB service time: 2 years, 75 days

2022 salary: $716,200

NEW YORK – By the time the Braves defeated the Marlins in Miami to clinch their fifth straight National League East title, the Mets already were routing the Nationals at Citi Field, having blitzed Paolo Espino for seven runs in the first inning to deal the right-hander an embarrassing concluding chapter to his season.

At that point, there was nothing official left for the Mets to play for in the regular season, their focus now shifting to the best-of-three Wild Card Series they’ll host against either the Padres or Phillies beginning here Friday night.

But even as the rain picked up and left the small, shivering crowd scrambling for cover by the sixth inning, they pressed on and played this game to its conclusion, the Nationals handed an unsightly, 8-0 loss in which they struck out 17 times for their 106th loss of the season.

They’ll return Wednesday afternoon one final time to wrap up a miserable 2022 and turn their sights to trying to ensure this doesn’t happen again in 2023.

This game saw shortstop CJ Abrams depart after 1 1/3 innings, having jammed his left shoulder trying to make a diving catch in the field. Manager Davey Martinez said Abrams will get an MRI on Wednesday to be sure he didn't suffer any structural damage.

NEW YORK – All right, they were able to get the first game of today’s doubleheader in. Let’s see if they can get the nightcap in as well. And if the Nationals can beat the Mets and officially eliminate them from the National League East race.

It’s Paolo Espino on the mound for the Nationals for his final start of the season, and he is still seeking his first win of the season. Espino enters the day with 113 innings pitched. The record for most innings pitched in a season without earning a win is 117 1/3, set by the Twins’ Terry Felton in 1982. That record is very much at stake tonight.

Taijuan Walker starts for the Mets. It’s only his second outing against the Nationals this season. Way back on May 12 in D.C., he tossed seven scoreless innings on only 85 pitches. He’ll try to duplicate that feat this evening.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Rain, 56 degrees, wind 18 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
1B Joey Meneses
2B Luis García
DH Luke Voit
3B César Hernández
CF Alex Call
LF Josh Palacios
C Tres Barrera

NEW YORK – If the Nationals are able to play both of today’s newly scheduled doubleheader games against the Mets – and based on the forecast, that’s a big if – they will be sending Cory Abbott to the mound to start Game 1 and Paolo Espino to start Game 2.

And if history repeats itself, Abbott and Espino are likely to pitch very well for two or three innings, then struggle mightily after that.

The right-handers have had no trouble retiring opposing hitters once per game this season. Abbott, when facing a hitter for the first time within a game (either as a starter or reliever) has held the opposition to a miniscule .165 batting average and .576 OPS. Espino’s numbers in the same situation: a .235 batting average and .645 OPS.

The problems arise when they have to face those same hitters a second or third time. In those situations, opponents are batting .324 with a 1.133 OPS against Abbott and .340 with a .958 OPS against Espino.

At the moment, there’s not much the Nationals can do about it. They’ve needed both Abbott and Espino to start down the stretch, and Davey Martinez has no choice but to try to get as many innings as he can out of each.