Key Trade Deadline Addition Set for Nationals Debut as Part of Latest Roster Move
In this story:
After a disastrous stretch of play where the Washington Nationals lost nine out of 11 games, including a streak of seven defeats in a row, they have rebounded against the Cincinnati Reds.
With dominant wins in the first two contests of their weekend series, the Nationals are going for a sweep in the finale on Sunday. But, as has so often been the case throughout this season, they made a key roster move ahead of this game that impacted their bullpen.
Washington announced that right-handed pitcher Jake Bird was promoted to the major league roster. That is the corresponding move for left-hander Carson Palmquist getting optioned to Triple-A Rochester after Saturday's contest.
Jake Bird Set to Make Team Debut
Bird, 30 years old, was a key part of the return package from the New York Yankees in the Luis Garcia Jr. trade. With the Nationals searching for established, controllable big league arms, Bird fit that description with 227 career MLB outings to his name and two more seasons of club control remaining following the 2026 campaign.
Unfortunately, things haven't gone smoothly for the veteran right-hander the past couple of years. After getting dealt to the Yankees ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, he allowed six earned runs across two innings pitched during three appearances to close out that season. He then followed up that performance with an ERA of 5.93 across 36 appearances this year, which was one of the reasons why New York was willing to give him up in the Garcia deal.
However, regardless of the struggles Bird has had, he possesses some big-time stuff. Even with inflated ERA numbers the past two seasons, Bird has had Stuff+ figures of 116 and 111 during the 2025 and 2026 campaigns, respectively.
Washington is hoping they can tap into that while also fixing the issues that have caused him to struggle, which has primarily been due to his walk rate and allowing hard contact. If those two things can get corrected, then Bird could become a serious weapon for the Nationals down the stretch. After all, following his major league debut in 2022, the righty was above average in ERA+ in both 2023 and 2024. He was on track to do that again in 2025 before he was traded. And considering he spent those years with the Colorado Rockies, that is an impressive stretch of play.
Ideally, Bird will be able to hit the ground running and improve this bullpen unit immediately. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
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