The Nationals announced today that they have select the contract of right-hander Jacob Barnes. He will take the active roster spot of left-hander Robert Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to influenza, retroactive to April 21. To open a 40-man spot for Barnes, infielder/outfielder Jake Alu has been designated for assignment. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com noted that Barnes was in the clubhouse prior to the official announcement.
It would appear that an influenza virus is spreading around the Nats’ clubhouse. Catcher Keibert Ruiz came down with the illness and also landed on the IL, last appearing in a game back on April 8. Over the weekend, he told Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post that he was feeling better but had lost 18 to 20 pounds because of his illness. Garcia last appeared on Saturday and it seems he is unwell, so the club will let him rest up for the next little while.
To take his spot in the bullpen, they have tapped a veteran journeyman in Barnes. They 34-year-old has appeared in the past eight major league seasons and will make in nine in a row once the Nats send him out to the mound. He has suited up for the Brewers, Royals, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees and Cardinals in that time, and will now add the Nationals to that list.
He has a 4.76 earned run average over his 265 appearances, but with much better numbers earlier in his career. He tossed 147 1/3 innings with the Brewers from 2016 to 2018 with a 3.54 ERA, 24.4% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. Since then, he has a 6.32 ERA while punching out just 20.8% of hitters, corresponding with the nomadic phase of his career.
He finished last season with the Cardinals but they outrighted him off the roster in October, allowing him to elect free agency. He signed a minor league deal with the Nats and has been in good form of late, having tossed eight scoreless innings for their Triple-A club, striking out ten opponents while giving out just two walks. He’s out of options so the club won’t be able to send him back down to the minors at a future date. Even if they were to pass him through waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency.
To add that veteran arm to their pen, the Nats are risking losing Alu. A 24th-round pick in 2019, Alu overcame that modest draft selection to get onto Washington’s 40-man roster in November of 2022, as the club hoped to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He had hit .299/.365/.506 in the minors that year for a wRC+ of 131.
Since Alu already offered a bit of speed and some defensive versatility, the Nats were hoping that the improved offense was a good sign of things to come. Unfortunately, he’s hit just .226/.282/.289 in the majors thus far and just .277/.341/.397 in the minors since the start of 2023, the latter line translating to a wRC+ of 88.
The Nats will now have a week to trade Alu or pass him through waivers. The lack of offense will tamp down the interest somewhat but he still has a couple of options and has played all four infield positions, as well as left field.