With the Nationals mired in last place at 47-71, it is once again time to clear out some of the rent-a-vets that they were unable to trade at the deadline. Not all of them, mind you; Josh Bell has been the hottest hitter on the team for six weeks, and I think there’s enough mutual respect between him and the organization that that would be a non-starter anyway. But just about everything Paul DeJong can do, Nasim Nuñez or José Tena can also do, and I see no reason for Nathaniel Lowe to be still occupying a roster spot with his abysmal .216/.287/.367 slash line (85 OPS+) and worse defense - ideally, a Lowe DFA is the move we get for Dylan Crews’s return (Thursday? Please?).

The pitching staff has already been fully turned into a youth movement - the career leader in rotation innings is now MacKenzie Gore at 504.2, and the career appearance leader in the bullpen is Jose A. Ferrer with 124. It’s time, in this lost season, to do the same with the position players.

As I unfortunately predicted, Cade Cavalli was not quite as sharp in his second start back in the majors. Still, he was certainly good enough for five innings, finishing that inning with a 4-2 lead courtesy of home runs from Bell and DeJong. Unfortunately, Miguel Cairo failed to read that his pitcher had emptied the tank in that fifth inning (he touched 99), and thus sent him out to start the sixth. Cavalli walked Maikel García to lead off the frame, prompting a mound visit from Jim Hickey…followed immediately by a Salvy Pérez bomb to tie the score (BINGO! See the next section for details.), and another single. For some reason known only to himself, Cairo then decided that bringing Jackson Rutledge into a high-leverage situation was wise.

After getting a GIDP for the first two outs Rutledge allowed a single and another homer to give Kansas City a 6-4 lead (they would tack on another run in the eighth for a 7-4 win).

As the A’s were thrashing the Nats a few days ago, I spent a couple of innings creating a gallows humor version of Nationals bingo to play along at home. If you listen to Nats Chat, they brought this up during the Giants series, so here is the full card for you to try for yourself.

And yes, making TOOTBLAN the center square was very intentional. We will post the Bingo scorecard on our X account before each game so that you can play along!

📌 MLB top prospects: Six stars who could get promoted to the majors in August (USA Today)

📌 Utah's Major League Baseball hopes spur pushback from some, worried about gentrification (KSL.com)

📌 Blue Jays reportedly promote No. 1 prospect Trey Yesavage to Triple-A, possibly eyeing major-league call-up (Yahoo Sports!)