Joey Meneses, Lane Thomas power Nationals by Brewers at trade deadline
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It was Joey Meneses, a player used to thriving around the trade deadline, who pushed the Washington Nationals to a 5-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, logging a solo homer, a double and then a broken-bat, two-run, go-ahead single in the decisive seventh inning. And to make the victory just slightly more impressive, the Nationals earned it with 25 players instead of 26.
Ten minutes before first pitch, they announced that third baseman Jeimer Candelario was headed to the Chicago Cubs for a pair of prospects (left-hander DJ Herz and shortstop Kevin Made). And a few hours before that, when they posted a lineup without Candelario in it, he lounged at his locker one last time, laughing with teammates.
Then he stretched on the floor. Then he scooped some popcorn into a bag, which maybe felt a bit too on the nose.
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“No updates,” Manager Dave Martinez said when he sat down for his pregame news conference, smoothing out a piece of paper in front of him. “Just injuries.”
After the game, though, Martinez wanted to address his remaining players before answering a question about Candelario.
“Let’s talk about the win first, all right?” he said. “The boys played well. I was worried about him leaving the clubhouse. But the boys came out and they played well. Good for them. Jeimer, obviously, he was awesome. ... He was everything I expected and more. He did well for us, and we’ll miss him. But now he’s going to go help the Cubs try to get to the playoffs and win the championship.”
As he typically does before each series, Martinez read injury notes off that sheet of paper Monday afternoon. Reliever Carl Edwards Jr., sidelined with right shoulder inflammation, should throw in another simulated game Tuesday in West Palm Beach, Fla. Reliever Tanner Rainey, recovering from Tommy John surgery, is expected to do the same. Reliever Hunter Harvey, out with a right elbow strain, was going to play catch at Nationals Park on Monday.
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There wasn’t much to say about reliever Rico Garcia (biceps tendinitis), reliever Paolo Espino (flexor strain in his right ring finger) and outfielder Victor Robles (back spasms), who is only running on an antigravity treadmill. But in sum, these injuries showed why Washington’s deadline should be quieter than expected. Edwards, 31, was a surefire trade candidate before hurting his shoulder. Harvey, a 28-year-old flamethrower, could have been in the mix, too. Instead, there’s a chance that dealing Candelario will be the Nationals’ only significant move ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline.
Take their approach to the opener with the Brewers. While they planned to sit Candelario to avoid an injury, they played Lane Thomas in right field — same as any other game — and Martinez vowed to use reliever Kyle Finnegan in a save situation. Both are under team control through 2025, meaning the Nationals don’t have to strike deals now or risk losing them for nothing in the offseason, as they did with Candelario. But they remain logical trade options, even though General Manager Mike Rizzo seems set on keeping Thomas, according to three people familiar with his thinking. And Meneses, the 31-year-old first baseman/designated hitter, the guy called up after the Nationals traded Juan Soto at the deadline last year and then seized his moment, could be attractive to a team that needs a right-handed bat.
“You have certain expectations for yourself going into the season, and we all know it’s hard to play at this level,” Meneses said through an interpreter, acknowledging his dip in power after slugging his eighth homer Monday. “So now being up here, not the start I wanted to the season. I think I put more pressure on myself than I probably should have. But I feel like the process has been going and I’ve made some adjustments. I’m going to keep making those adjustments every day.”
Washington (45-62) jumped ahead of Milwaukee (57-50) in the second, riding Meneses’s solo homer off Corbin Burnes. After the Brewers tied it with a pair of third-inning doubles off Jake Irvin, Washington went back in front on an RBI single by Thomas in the fifth. Irvin just couldn’t hold the one-run lead.
The 26-year-old entered the sixth at an efficient 77 pitches. Yet once he walked Sal Frelick with one out, with three of the pitches nowhere near the strike zone, his outing wobbled. Willy Adames followed with a single to center. Andruw Monasterio followed Adames with a single to right that knotted the score. Irvin was hooked after that, his line capped at two runs and six hits over 5⅓ innings. Jose A. Ferrer escaped the sixth with a double play before yielding a go-ahead homer to Joey Wiemer in the seventh.
As ever, these are some of the players who matter most on the current roster. Irvin is a young pitcher who has flashed potential, perhaps as a reliever long term. Ferrer, a 23-year-old lefty, was fast-tracked after impressing in the minors last season. They may not be CJ Abrams, Keibert Ruiz, MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray or Luis García, the players the Nationals feel will be a part of their next contending core. But their development is still worth watching closely down the stretch.
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And in the end Monday, after the Nationals rallied in the seventh — a tying RBI single by Thomas and the two-run knock by Meneses — Martinez stuck to his word. Finnegan jogged in for the ninth and made quick work of the Brewers with a one-two-three save. Soon we’ll know if they were his last pitches in a Nationals uniform.
“I’m here, and that’s where my mind is,” Finnegan said. “Until that changes, I’m just going to keep showing up here every day and doing what I do.”
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Source: The Washington Post
