Imagine growing up in the Dominican Republic and loving baseball. You’re a teenager and you’re playing great and the MLB scouts are watching. As a teenager, you sign with a relatively new MLB team, the Washington Nationals. You come up through the farm system and make a big splash in 2026 with a .283 batting average and 23 home runs when you are not even playing every day. Then BOOM! You get traded to the NY Yankees. The WORLD FAMOUS NEW YORK YANKEES! Childhood dreams really do come true.
As a Nationals fan, I am sad to see Lui go. He is the longest tenured National at this point, having been with the club for 10 years. He signed with the Nationals as an international free agent in 2016 and made his MLB debut in 2020.
Lui almost always smiled. He was a fun-loving teammate who always had an encouraging word. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few times at the team’s charitable gala. The last time I saw him there, after the dinner, I was near the bandstand dancing and he came and joined me.
Lui posted a farewell message that included this note to the Nationals fans: “thank you for welcoming me from day one. Your passion, loyalty, and unwavering support meant more than words can ever express. It has truly been an honor to represent you.” Oh Lui, you’ll always have a spot in my heart.
In the trade, the Nationals landed pitchers Yovanny Cruz, Jake Bird and prospects Ben Grable and Jack Cebert from the Yankees. Yovanny Cruz and Ben Grable are two relief prospects who project to be weapons in the Nats bullpen for years to come.
I sat down to write this blog just before 6 pm eastern on August 3, hoping that there would not be other major new to report about trade for the Nationals. Not so. According to MLB, the team has traded Foster Griffin to the Cleveland Guardians. According to Sports Illustrated, the Nationals are getting a “monster haul” in return: pitchers Will Dion, Josh Hartle and Kendeglys Virguez, and outfielder Nick Mitchell.
Griffin is having a story book year. He just turned 31 and is a rookie, after pitching three years in Japan. His stats are amazing and he very well could win NL Rookie of the Year.
We needed pitching. These two trade alone give us EIGHT new potential pitchers.
While I might have loved to see no trades by the Nationals, I know that moves needed to be made. I believe Toboni’s take that we have been both buyers and sellers this year. We may not see the benefits this year but I hope these moves set us up to continue to be competitive in the near future.
Meanwhile, let’s not talk about the series against the Braves. Bad timing at the trade deadline. Now we can get back to business. Even with the disappointing series, we still have amazing things going on, as reflected in the below pictures.
Let’s be the envy of sports! And beat the Phillies!
#thenatslady #theswarm
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