MLB Rumors: 5 players the Nationals should trade for

2. Madison Bumgarner

Recognizing that the Nationals have already spent over half a billion dollars to fill their rotation with Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin, telling them to target another starting pitcher at the trade deadline might seem like a stretch. But their rotation is paper thin behind the top trio.

With their World Series aspirations, the Nationals have given starts this year to Anibal Sanchez, Jeremy Hellickson, Erick Fedde and Austin Voth. Sanchez has actually managed to pitch fairly effectively, and has a 2.21 ERA over his last seven starts after posting a 5.27 ERA over his first eight starts of the year. Still, asking a 35-year-old who was one of the worst starting pitchers in the league from 2015 to 2017 to pitch meaningful innings in a playoff race seems like a bad decision.

San Francisco Giants legend Madison Bumgarner will be in high demand at the trade deadline, and the Nationals are surprisingly not one of the teams on his no-trade list. Perhaps Bumgarner did not expect the Nats to have interest in adding a starting pitcher at the deadline. Or maybe he’s not that opposed to the idea of joining a rotation that features Scherzer and Strasburg.

The Nationals don’t have enough depth in their farm system to go after one of the younger starters on the market like Marcus Stroman or Matt Boyd, but they’ll be able to offer a fair trade for Bumgarner. As one of the teams not on his no-trade list, that also could give them a leg up in talks. The Giants will probably still try and work with Bumgarner to select a destination he feels fits his needs best given all that he has done for the franchise.

Bumgarner hasn’t been up to his high personal standards this year, but he is coming off two absolute gems. He has allowed only three earned runs over his past 13 innings, with 20 strikeouts. He has also boldly claimed that he will be able to dial it up for the postseason when called upon.