Nationals Reportedly 'Did Not Prioritize Spending Money' on Their Bullpen in Offseason

The Washington Nationals seem to have made a mistake.

Washington Nationals pitcher Gus Varland | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals have lost four games in a row.

They now sit with a record of 41-42 and are 3.5 games out of the final NL Wild Card spot. That is a massive difference from where they were four days ago, when they had just beaten the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 4-1 in convincing fashion.

One doesn't have to wonder where this Nationals team would sit in the pantheon of the National League if they had a competent bullpen. With massive leads in the ninth inning on back-to-back days, and then a five-run lead for the majority of the time in the finale, Washington lost all three of those games and exited their series against the Phillies with three losses instead of having a four-game sweep over their division rivals.

The Nationals have no one to blame but themselves, though. According to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic (subscription required), the organization made the decision to not spend money on their relief staff despite coming off a season where that unit had the worst ERA in baseball.

Nationals Decision to Not Spend on Bullpen Has Backfired

Washington Nationals pitcher Mitchell Parker | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

"This offseason, the organization did not prioritize spending money on a bullpen that now has the second-highest ERA in baseball. The Nationals were only connected to a handful of relievers this winter, according to multiple league sources who spoke to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss negotiations," the insider reported.

That's how the skeleton crew of Brad Lord, Clayton Beeter, Orlando Ribalta, Richard Lovelady, Mitchell Parker, PJ Poulin, Justin Lawrence, Zak Kent, Andre Granillo, Gus Varland, Riley Cornelio, Cole Henry, Carson Palmquist and Paxton Schultz came together.

Only Lord, Beeter, Ribalta, Parker, Poulin and Henry were holdovers from last year's group. Cornelio was a prospect who hadn't pitched in the bigs before. Lawrence was the most recent addition after he was claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. Varland and Schultz were claimed off waivers over the offseason. Granillo was acquired in a trade before the start of the campaign. Lovelady, Kent and Palmquist were in-season trade acquisitions.

That's a lot of piecing together, and it's not a surprise that this unit has struggled when they've needed to come through for the team. So far, they have blown 24 saves. That is on pace to shatter the MLB record of 37. They also have an ERA of 5.02, which would give them an ERA above the 5.00 mark for the second year in a row.

It's clear that Washington's strategy of going cheap on their bullpen isn't going to work. Hopefully everyone has learned their lesson and that changes going forward.