Nationals acquire Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson from A’s

The Washington Nationals needed some bullpen help, and they’ve now got two  arms from Oakland.

The Washington Nationals are comfortably ahead in the NL East, with a 9.5 game lead entering Sunday. But they’d have even more wins if not for a shaky back end of the bullpen, and any aspirations for a deep run in October rest on fixing the situation. As evidence of the instability, six pitchers have at least two saves for the Nationals this year.

On Saturday night, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reported Washington was trying to acquire both Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson from the Oakland Athletics. Oakland is clear trade deadline seller, with multiple pieces that could appeal to contending teams, but trying to get two bullpen arms at once seemed pretty aggressive. But early Sunday afternoon, a deal went down to bring both A’s relievers to the Nationals.

Doolittle (3.38 ERA, 31 strikeouts and three saves over 21.1 innings) and Madson (2.06 ERA, 14 holds, 39 strikeouts in 39.1 innings) will give Dusty Baker a nice lefty-righty combination to deploy at the end of games. Both guys are under contract through 2018, with team options for 2019 and 2020 on Doolittle’s deal, so the Nationals have added two bullpen pieces that are not strictly rentals.

Madson seems most likely to step right in as the Nationals’ regular closer, with Doolittle staying in a role as a primary set-up man and matchup-specific closer when needed. Regardless of roles for Madson and Doolittle, definite or not down the stretch, the Nationals have now turned a notable weakness into an area of strength.

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Neuse was ranked as Washington’s No. 7 prospect heading into the season, and Luzardo is only 19 with a 1.32 ERA this season in rookie ball. But they are a small future price to pay, if Doolittle and Madson help bring a long-awaited World Series run for the Nationals this year.