Matt Capps has been one of the biggest surprises for the Washington Nationals this season, who have been a big surprise team so far this season.  Set-up man Tyler Clippard has been giving Capps plenty of save opportunities and Capps has yet to disappoint.  That’s because Capps is a perfect 14/14 in save opportunities.  He has given up only 2 earned runs all season long and he is a big reason why the Nationals are one of the surprise teams so far this season with a 19-15 record after going 59-103 last season.  The Nationals have been winning a lot of close games and Capps has mainly been the reason why.  Of the Nationals 19 wins, 13 of them have been by 2 runs or less.  The Nationals are finally winning close games, something they have failed to do consistently the past few seasons.  Hopefully the Nationals can continue to keep games close so that Capps can come in and continue on the success he has had at closer for them so far this season.

The Washington Nationals knew they had themselves a solid set-up man in Tyler Clippard after he went 4-2 with a 2.69 ERA in 60.1 innings pitched last season for them.  What they didn’t expect is for Clippard to be leading the majors in wins a month and a half into the season.  The 25-year-old right hander has given up only 5 earned runs in 25 innings pitched so far this season for a 1.80 ERA.  The funny thing is that Clippard has been allowing a lot of his inherited base-runners to score, so those runs aren’t credited to him and he then has the opportunity to hold them.  He has done that a few times already this season, but he has been holding them off after that and that is why he already has 7 wins.  He does have some great looking stats, and although the win total is kind of a fluke Clippard has been doing a good job for the Nationals so far this season.  Just don’t expect him to be leading the league in wins for very long.

The Washington Nationals are not making the playoffs this season so it makes sense to start moving some players. The Nationals would need pitching back in almost any trade as the pitching staff that they have been running out this season is devoid of much talent. 1B Nick Johnson, OF Austin Kearns, OF Josh Willingham, IF/OF Willie Harris, 2B Ronnie Belliard and OF Lastings Milledge could all be moved without the Nationals losing much sleep. Lefty relievers Ron Villone and Joe Beimel could have some worth to contenders the rest of this season. If righty reliever Julian Tavarez keeps pitching all right the Nationals might be able to get something for him. The Nationals could get a King’s Ransom for Adam Dunn if they put him on the block but he’s signed for next season at a discount so they should really consider keeping him.