Trevor Rosenthal watches and waits in the bullpen. (Photo for TalkNats by Lynn G)
An enduring mystery of baseball is the churn of relief pitchers. Like a sock that vanishes somewhere between the washer and the dryer, the God-given talent and ability of a quality reliever can seemingly dry up in between one season and the next. In a sport marked by the consistency of its stars, relievers are a remarkable volatile quantity.
All of that leads into the question we ask every spring: Who is going to be in the Washington Nationals’ bullpen on Opening Day?
Some of the names we know. Sean Doolittle heads into his third season handling the ninth for the Nats, after he was acquired midway through the 2017 season. His primary setup man will be Trevor Rosenthal, signed after a year off recovering from “Tommy John” surgery to replace a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Spelling both those guys and providing another high-leverage arm in the middle to late innings, there’s Kyle Barraclough, for whom the Nats traded some international bonus money to the Miami Marlins last October. Homegrown Nats southpaw Matt Grace rounds out that “core four”, likely pitching in a number of roles, from long relief to lefty matchup to setup, as he has in the past.
For the rest, we have to read tea leaves.
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