Catching Up on Transactions

As noted in the comments, the Nats made a curious trade yesterday with the pickup of OF Frankie Tostado from the Mariners for cash considerations. What makes this odd is that Tostado was taken by Seattle in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft on Wednesday. He has already been assigned to Harrisburg, where the Nationals no doubt scouted him last summer while he was playing for the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

The following players have been signed to minor-league contracts since November 22 (assignments if available):

• CF Stone Garrett
• CF Derek Hill (Rochester)
• CF Tito Polo (Harrisburg)
• 3B Jeimer Candelario
• 2B Franklin Barreto (Harrisburg)
• SS Leonel Valera (Rochester)
• SS Erick Mejia (Rochester)
• RHP Hobie Harris (Rochester)
• RHP Ronald Herrera (re-signed, Harrisburg)

As per usual, most of these moves are an effort to restock the upper levels to replace the players who left via free agency. Given that a modest goal for 2023 would be 70 wins for the big club, you’re looking at emergency options here. (Any takers for Joey Meneses as the next Shane Spencer or Hurricane Hazle?)

We now return you to your December 9th festivities…