The Washington Nationals reinstated right-handed pitcher Kyle Finnegan from the Paternity List and placed right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin on the 10-day Injured List (retroactive to Sept. 1) with a right elbow UCL sprain on Friday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Finnegan, 29, is 4-5 with six saves and a 2.77 ERA with 26 walks and 51 strikeouts in 55 relief appearances for the Nationals. His 55 appearances and 51 strikeouts are...

The Nationals bullpen got a boost and took a hit today, with news that right-hander Kyle Finnegan had returned from paternity leave. To make room for Finnegan on the 28-man roster, the Nats placed righty Kyle McGowin on the 10-day injured list with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, a tough break for a guy who has performed well while riding the shuttle this season between Triple-A Rochester and the majors. Manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with...

Juan Soto has known for some time now opponents aren't going to pitch to him. At least not with any regularity. He's drawn 48 walks in 42 games since the All-Star break, far and away most in the majors. And that has produced a whopping .516 on-base percentage during that time, also far and away the highest in the majors. If you've been paying even scant attention, you already know this. We're not treading into new territory with this subject. But here's what has changed in more recent...

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Sean Nolin (0-2, 6.57 ERA) will take the hill tonight to face the Mets.Since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Aug. 11, the lefty has made three starts, two of them against the Mets, against whom he's gone 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA and a 1.680 WHIP, allowing six runs on 14 hits with no walks, three strikeouts and three homers yielded in 8 1/3 innings. The way things are going, the Nationals would be thrilled to get some length out of Nolin, whose...

What can we expect from the Orioles in September and those three October games in Toronto that attach to the schedule like skin tags? Probably more losses than wins, considering their record and the teams awaiting them, though four games at home against the Royals and four against the Rangers will be spun as soft spots. That's not what I'm talking about. Let's move beyond the schedule and look closer at how the Orioles could use these final weeks. Some players who could really benefit from...

BOWIE - A few years before he became a first-round draft pick with a big signing bonus and later a marked man in professional baseball, right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez was just another teenager in Nacogdoches, Texas, rooting for the big league team closest to home. But the team he rooted for lost a lot. They were rebuilding. The teenage Grayson would get to see that team go from worst to first and win the World Series. Now as an Orioles minor league pitcher with Double-A Bowie, he is one...

The Nationals understand there are going to be growing pains as they play out the string of a season that has now long since morphed from one with legitimate visions of success into one that is solely about starting a difficult organizational rebuild. But it's one thing when those growing pains come in the form of rallies made possible by a superior opponent's performance. It's quite another when they come in the form they did this afternoon during a nightmare of a 7-6 loss to the...

Davey Martinez underwent a planned, minor foot procedure earlier this morning, and though he's expected to be at Nationals Park in time for today's series finale against the Phillies, bench coach Tim Bogar may take over his duties for the game. Martinez had previously scheduled the procedure, expecting today to be an off-day for the Nationals as originally planned. Wednesday's rainout, though, pushed the game to this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Martinez went ahead and had the procedure this...

As bad as the rain was Wednesday, and as awful as the weather has been for weeks now, boy is today a nice pay-off. Fall has arrived in full force, and it's going to be a glorious afternoon for baseball as the Nationals and Phillies wrap up their delayed series finale. The postponement was probably good for the Nats bullpen, which was beginning to run on fumes given a heavy workload of late. Everyone should be available to pitch today in relief of Paolo Espino, who should be good for his...

The Nationals' recent decision to require all full-time, non-playing employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 will result in the departures of some staff members, including one of general manager Mike Rizzo's top lieutenants: Bob Boone. Boone, who has worked in the front office since the club arrived in Washington in 2005, has informed the organization he will step down instead of getting the vaccine, sources familiar with the decision confirmed. A handful of other employees are expected to...