The Nationals have acquired 29-year old righty reliever Andrew Brown from the Cardinals for future considerations. Brown has pitched in 5 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this year and he is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP. He has only given up 6 hits in 9 1/3 innings this year while whiffing 11 batters as he is seeming to get back to where he was in 2008 before major surgery. Brown has pitched in 73 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 4-3 with a 3.84 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. I like this move a lot for the Nationals as Brown has been a good pitcher when healthy in his major league career.

With the Nationals somewhat in contention right now I expect them to be very aggressive in the trade market sooner rather than later. The Nationals have a need for another starting pitcher, a starting RF and maybe a backup type catcher. Three teams come to mind that could fill all of those needs for the Nationals and they would be the Oakland A’s, Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians. The Indians would probably be the cheapest of these three teams to deal with but also maybe the worst fit as they could send the Nationals Jake Westbrook, Russell Branyan and Mike Redmond with the likely return being something like Roger Berandina or Justin Maxwell (whichever one the Indians like more), Garrett Mock and Matt Chico. Of course if you’re buying into this deal it would put Adam Dunn into RF with Branyan playing 1B. That doesn’t seem like much to give up but the Indians are likely to blow up the team so they would take it. The A’s are the next team I have pegged and they could send Ben Sheets, Ryan Sweeney and Landon Powell to the Nationals for Bernadina, Maxwell, Luis Atilano and Mock. The Astros have the best package for the Nationals including Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt or Wandy Rodriguez or Brett Myers along with catcher J.R. Towles. If you go for the top package of Berkman, Oswalt and Towles the Astros would likely want back Drew Storen, Ian Desmond, Roger Bernadina, Craig Stammen and Luis Atilano. That seems like a lot to give up but Oswalt and Berkman would be HUGE improvements for the Nationals. The second best bunch were would be to take out Roy Oswalt and insert Wandy Rodriguez. That would likely still cost the Nationals Storen, Stammen Atilano and Bernadina. Going for Brett Myers as the pitcher involved would likely cost the package down quite a bit with Stammen, Atilano, Maxwell and Chico being involved. Basically I think the Astros are going to extract top dollar for their players as they don’t need to dump money. The Orioles are the team right around the block but I’m not so sure that they would deal with the Nationals. Kevin Millwood or Jeremy Guthrie along with Luke Scott would really make the Nationals imposing. I think the O’s would be tempted to pull the trigger if the Nationals offered Roger Bernadina, Garrett Mock, Matt Chico and Jesse English. Finally the Royals would have to be considered as a trade partner with Gil Meche and Jose Guillen being prime targets. They would probably jump at a offer of Luis Atilano, Garrett Mock and either Justin Maxwell or Roger Bernadina. The bottom line is that the Nationals look like they will be buyers in the trade market and that is nice.

The Nationals have called up 31-year old righty swinging catcher Carlos Maldonado from AAA. He has played in 26 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 19 of 87 (.218 avg, .592 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 1 homer and 9 RBIs. Maldonado last played in the majors in 2007 with the Pirates. He has played in 21 games in his major league career and he is 7 of 43 (.163 avg, .586 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 2 homers, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Look for Wil Nieves to get most of the P.T. until Ivan Rodriguez comes back.

The Nationals have placed 38-year old righty swinging catcher Ivan Rodriguez on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain. Rodriguez has played in 35 games for the Nationals this year and he is 40 of 123 (.325 avg, .790 OPS) wtih 13 runs scored, 1 homer, 16 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. 32-year old righty swinging Wil Nieves will likely take over as the full time catcher until Rodriguez is ready to return to action. He has played in 18 games for the Nationals this year and he is 13 of 58 (.224 avg, .552 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. He’s a hacker as he has not walked this season which is pretty amazing when you think about it. The Nationals need Rodriguez to make a quick recovery.

The Nationals have lost 37-year old righty swinging catcher Chris Coste for the season due to Tommy John Surgery. Coste didn’t get into any games in the minors this season due to his elbow. He has played in 299 games in his major league career and he is 219 for 806 (.272 avg, .744 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 23 homers and 108 RBIs. The Nationals won’t miss Coste much if at all as they have some depth at catcher.

UPDATE: (6/5/2010) - The Nationals have released Coste.