Nationals Finish Bullpen Rebuild, Add Brandon Kintzler

Nationals Get: Brandon Kintzler (2-2, 2.78 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 28 SV, 27/11 K/BB, Age 33)
Twins Get: Tyler Watson (6-4, 4.35 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 98/24 K/BB at Class A, Age 20)
International bonus pool space

Not long after acquiring Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to fix a disaster of a bullpen, the Nationals added another high leverage reliever, Brandon Kintzler. The 6' righty has been a pretty underrated reliever for the majority of his career, and his big year this year includes a 2.78 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP, though he has struck out just 27 over 45.1 innings. Hopefully, the Nationals will go with a closer-by-committee, but that seems unlikely, and it will probably be either Kintzler or Doolittle who does the closing. His 3.68 FIP and 4.08 xFIP aren't terrible, but they don't really back up his 2.78 ERA as well as you would want out of a back-end guy. Overall, I'm lukewarm on this trade (I would have preferred Brad Hand or Brad Brach for the Nationals), but now with three new relievers, the bullpen is good enough that at least it's not a liability anymore. However way you look at it, the Nationals turned a 34th round pick and some bonus pool space into two months of a very good reliever. A free agent after the season, Kintzler has a career ERA of 3.24 with a 1.25 WHIP, having struck out 196 batters and walked 70 in 280.2 innings.

Going back to Minnesota is 2015 34th round pick Tyler Watson, a 20 year old left handed pitcher who has room to grow into his 6'5" frame. He's done nothing but outperform his low draft position (though he did fall more due to signability than due to a lack of talent), reaching Class A Hagerstown last year and pitching quite well there this year. Over 18 games (17 starts), he is 6-4 with a 4.35 ERA, but he has struck out 98 and walked just 24 in 93 innings, leading to a much better 3.39 FIP. He pitches around 90 right now but with all that height, it's easy to see him adding more velocity. He's not too different from another member of the Suns rotation who was traded this year, McKenzie Mills. Watson is a long way off, but he's just 20 years old and all signs point to him trending upwards.