Phillies' Division Rivals Shockingly DFA Key Player Before Series Begins

A surprising roster move was made before the Philadelphia Phillies got their series with the Washington Nationals underway.

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The Philadelphia Phillies aren't entering their divisional matchup with the Washington Nationals with much momentum after getting stifled during their series loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

After it seemed like the Phillies were going to get things rolling at the right time during the stretch run of the season, their four-game winning streak was halted by poor pitching and hitting performances.

Philadelphia will now have to turn the page quickly.

While losing the final two contests of their set against the Reds was disappointing, that happens in a 162-game schedule. But with a chance to really put the New York Mets out of contention for the NL East title, the Phillies have to take care of business against the Nationals.

Ahead of their series getting underway, though, Washington made a shocking roster move.

Nationals Designate Nathaniel Lowe For Assignment

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This was announced as the corresponding move to outfielder Dylan Crews being activated off the 60-day injured list.

For Philadelphia, this is actually a major break.

While Crews is talented and is seen as someone who could be a future star in the sport, he has had a rough time when facing the Phillies, going 6-for-32 with just two extra-base hits and 15 strikeouts across nine games.

Meanwhile, Lowe has gone 20-for-72 in 18 games when facing Philadelphia, with four home runs, three doubles and 14 RBI, striking out 20 times while drawing four walks.

It's an interesting decision to say the least.

Crews was scheduled to be activated prior to this set, but the Nationals already had four other outfielders on the roster. So by not optioning one of them down to Triple-A, that now leaves five guys interim manager Miguel Cairo has to find playing time for.

Of course, none of that is the Phillies' concern.

They likely are happy that someone who has had success against them in the past is no longer in the mix, while someone who has struggled in these matchups is.

Should Phillies Make Play For Lowe?

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What comes of this will be interesting.

There probably will be some clamoring for Philadelphia to place a waiver claim to add Lowe to the roster, but he hasn't been the same player this year compared to what he was with the Texas Rangers.

Owning a .216/.292/.373 slash line and OPS+ that's 12 points below the league average, he wouldn't be much of an upgrade over what they have even though he has hit 16 homers with 68 RBI.

Whether anything comes out of this or not for the Phillies, their division rivals seem to have done them a favor by DFA'ing someone who has had success against them in the past.