Jose Tena Finds New Home After Nationals Designate Him for Assignment
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On Nov. 2, the Washington Nationals had to make multiple roster moves.
With players on the 60-day injured list needing to be activated, that meant the Nationals had to get their 40-man roster down to compliance. As a result, there were tons of DFA's, including some notable names like Mitchell Parker, Paxton Schultz, Jose Tena, PJ Poulin and others.
Parker and Schultz quickly found new homes, as the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds claimed them off waivers, respectively. Now, Tena is the latest former Nationals player to find a new landing spot, as he was recently claimed off waivers by a familiar team.
Jose Tena Claimed by Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians announced on Friday that they claimed Tena.
Washington acquired Tena from them back in 2024 in the Lane Thomas deal. The Nationals also got top 30 pitching prospect Alex Clemmey and Rafael Ramirez Jr. in the trade. But so far, Tena is the only player from that deal who has suited up for Washington in the bigs.
Tena, who was originally signed as an international free agent by Cleveland in 2017, only appeared in 21 MLB games for them across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns before he was dealt. He slashed .200/.263/.257 during those limited appearances with no home runs, two doubles, three RBIs and 15 strikeouts to three walks drawn.
It appeared like Tena might be a piece of the future for the Nationals when he first arrived, though. He broke out with a .274/.305/.363 slash line, three homers and 15 RBIs across 41 games to close out the 2024 season. But he had a limited role in 2025 before largely being used as a bench player this year.
When Washington acquired fellow left-handed-hitting infielder Nate Furman from the San Francisco Giants at the beginning of this offseason, the writing was on the wall that Tena's tenure in the nation's capital could be coming to an end. And when the Nationals had to trim their roster down, they decided to part ways with Tena and open him up to a waiver claim by designating him for assignment.
It will be interesting to see if Tena can kickstart his career at the place where it all began for him. Cleveland was in the ALCS this past season, so he's arriving to a team that is in a more competitive window than Washington is currently in.
Whether or not that means he'll be a contributor remains to be seen, but after the Nationals parted ways with him, he has now found a his next home.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai