Nationals Bullpen Struggles Highlight Why Franchise Isn't Ready to Contend

The Washington Nationals still aren't ready to be a contender with one of the worst bullpens in baseball

Apr 6, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Kyle Finnegan (67) throws the ball during the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Nationals Park. | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

With the Washington Nationals starting to play a bit better of late, the franchise is hoping to build some momentum and get closer to the .500 mark.

As expected, the Nationals don’t appear like they are going to be a World Series contender this year, but the franchise is hopeful for improvement.

With a young team, there are going to be a lot of ups and downs with players going through growing pains.

Washington is certainly no stranger to this during their rebuild, but the timeline to truly compete is still a ways away.

However, there have been some positive takeaways from the early part of the season. In the lineup, James Wood has emerged as an absolute star in the making with a strong beginning to the campaign.

Furthermore, the rotation looks like they have two pitchers establishing themselves as front-end caliber pitchers in MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker.

While there have been some nice positives, there have also been some negatives.

Recently, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report wrote about the struggles of the bullpen for the Nationals to start the season and why this unit is holding them back.

“The Nats have some exciting young pieces in James Wood, Keibert Ruiz, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, but the early-season struggles from arms like Jose A. Ferrer, Lucas Sims, Brad Lord and Jorge López show why they still feel a year or two away from being a playoff contender," he wrote.

There isn’t much sugarcoating about the struggles of the bullpen, with Washington having the worst bullpen ERA in baseball through their first 16 games of the year.

This winter, the unit saw some changes, but still figured to have some talent. Unfortunately, multiple relief pitchers are off to poor starts, and that has helped contribute to some losses.

Two of the expected key members of the bullpen, Jose Ferrer and Jorge Lopez, both have an ERA north of 5.00.

However, one of the bright spots is the performance of Kyle Finnegan this season. The All-Star closer from last year is off to a nice start with five saves and a 1.35 ERA in six games.

The right-hander really struggled in the second half of the last campaign, which resulted in a strange offseason for him. Now, he is once again pitching well, and the Nationals would be wise to trade him this summer if he’s still pitching well, and they are out of contention.

Even though the unit is struggling, there is reason to believe that they will improve once a couple of key pitchers get going. However, this is still a team that isn’t quite ready to compete with one of the worst bullpens in baseball.

Plus, after manager Dave Martinez and the bullpen met as a group on Tuesday, they helped preserve a 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's an encouraging sign, at least.