Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, July 8.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here. The Nats lost the weekend portion of their series against the Cardinals. Let’s talk about it.

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Pitching struggles in Cardinals series

Despite the boost from James Wood and Juan Yepez joining the offense, the Nationals still could not outscore the Cardinals in all of the games this weekend. But thanks to the offensive burst on Saturday where the Nationals scored 14 runs, the Nats hold a positive run differential for the series.

Washington Nationals are defeated by the Cardinals, 8-3

Richard, Kelsey Tucker • Jul 7, 2024

Washington D.C. — The Washington Nationals lost at home to the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3. The Nationals now have a record of 42-48 going into the last game in the series tomorrow afternoon against the Cardinals. The Nationals have a 20-23 record at home and are 3-4 already during July. With today’s loss, the Nationals have lost another series and seven l…Read full story →

The bullpen remains a major question mark for the squad. After a dominant three-month stretch for Hunter Harvey, he has looked far from himself in July. In his four games this month, he has thrown 3.1 innings and allowed as many home runs as he has strikeouts. He is currently tied for first in runs allowed so far this month.

In my mind, a lot of these struggles stem from Davey Martinez’s biggest weakness as a manager, workload management. The Nationals have three relievers who have already appeared in over 40 games this season. The only other franchise with that many is the Guardians, who rely heavily on their big three arms to maintain their 56-32 record.

The Nationals meanwhile are getting little to no usage from the bottom of the bullpen. Yes, every win matters if the Nationals have any hope of making the playoffs, but that should not come at the expense of the health of Harvey, Kyle Finnegan, or Dylan Floro. These players can help the team more if they actually reach the postseason than if they win a game in June or July.

And if the team falls out of playoff contention by the end of the month, what team would want to trade for a reliever who has already thrown 50+ innings and is having deteriorating results?

The Nationals need to get more innings out of the bottom of their bullpen, and there is no doubt about it. If Davey does not trust the arms there, why not give former top prospect Tim Cate, who in his second season as a reliever is striking out over 30 percent of the batters he is facing a look in the majors. If you want an arm with more experience, you could always turn to Joan Adon, who in his last five appearances as a reliever struck out 22.7 percent of the batters he faced.

The Nats need to either find better options in the bullpen or stomach more losses. This tightrope they are currently walking will not hold much longer.

Onto today, the Nationals will finish the series against the Cardinals. Mitchell Parker will take the mound RHP Miles Mikolas (6-7, 5.19 ERA) at 4:05 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on MASN.

Down on the Farm

On Saturday, the Red Wings eeked out a 7-6 win over the Buffalo Bison. Stone Garrett hit his first homer of the year. Dylan Crew went 2-5 with a walk. Carter Kieboom went 3-5 with a double as a first baseman. Brady House will join the team for their upcoming series in Worchester.

The Senators lost 13-12 against the Altoona Curve in extras. Daylen Lile went 2-3 with three walks from the leadoff spot. T his lineup has gotten extremely thin with House gone and Yohandy Morales and Robert Hassell III on the IL. On the bright side, the lineup drew 11 walks in this game.

The Blue Rocks lost 7-6 to the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. Vidale Pena stays hot by going 2-5 with a double. Kevin Made doubled and earned a promotion to the Senators. T.J. White stays hot with two hits in the contest. Since his home run on May 28th, White has hit .240/.326/.480. Strikeouts remain an issue, but he has impacted the ball at a much better rate.

The FredNats took down the Shorebirds 8-3. Elijah Green doubled. Brandon Pimentel got two hits including a double.

Featured Story of the Day

CJ Abrams. Talk Nats broke the news first. [X link] The announcement was made during the All-Star Selection Show on ESPN tonight.","size":"sm","isEditorNode":true,"title":"CJ Abrams representing the Washington Nationals at this year's All-Star Game","publishedBylines":[{"id":192734,"name":"Richard","bio":null,"photo_url":"https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/001bf718-3b06-40dd-9f86-c3a5c5990267_548x633.png","is_guest":false,"bestseller_tier":100}],"post_date":"2024-07-07T22:00:53.795Z","cover_image":"/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https_3a_2f_2fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com_2fpublic_2fimages_2ffafb1a90-b3a0-4237-aec1-2f9d041311b2_2000x2274.png","cover_image_alt":null,"canonical_url":"https://www.thenatsreport.com/p/cj-abrams-representing-the-washington","section_name":null,"id":146376685,"type":"newsletter","reaction_count":2,"comment_count":0,"publication_name":"The Nats Report - Your Source for Washington Nationals News","publication_logo_url":"https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc786448-93b4-4b68-99e2-3fb6793a785c_804x804.png","belowTheFold":false}" contenteditable="false" draggable="true">

CJ Abrams representing the Washington Nationals at this year's All-Star Game

Richard

·

Jul 7

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A 17-year-old caught James Wood’s first home run ball; His story about what happened next via TalkNats

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