The Washington Post - 01.08.2019

BY JESSE DOUGHERTY

While the Washington Nation-

als and Atlanta Braves battled

through the late innings Wednes-

day afternoon, a much bigger com-

petition was happening off the

field.

Major League Baseball was clos-

ing in on its 4 p.m. trade deadline.

Both the Nationals and Braves,

wrestling atop the National League

East, needed bullpen help. So the

Nationals, in a span of 40 minutes,

dealt for Daniel Hudson from the

Toronto Blue Jays and Roenis Elías

and Hunter Strickland from the

Seattle Mariners. And the Braves,

having added Chris Martin from

the Texas Rangers on Tuesday

night, got Shane Greene from the

Detroit Tigers and Mark Melancon

from the San Francisco Giants.

That totaled six new relievers in

24 hours between the two clubs.

The Braves took the contest and

series, winning the finale, 5-4, in 10

innings, restoring a 6^1 / 2 -game lead

over Washington in the division.

Now the next two months, and a

pennant race, will decide who wins

the arms race.

“It was a busy, productive day for

us. I think we’ve upgraded our

bullpen,” Nationals General Man-

ager Mike Rizzo said once the

deadline passed. “These aren’t the

sexiest names in the trade market,

but we think we got good quality,

reliable guys with some moxie and

some experience.”

Because Hudson, Elías or Strick-

land were not among the high-pro-

file relievers available — not

Greene, not Ken Giles of the Blue

Jays, not Will Smith of the San

Francisco Giants — the Nationals

didn’t have to run an already thin

system dry. They sent Class A

pitcher Kyle Johnston to Toronto

for Hudson. They dealt two minor

SEE NATIONALS ON D5

The engine of the
bus that waited in
the tunnel outside
the Washington
Nationals’
clubhouse
hummed
Wednesday
afternoon, ready
for a trip to an airport, to a flight
to the rest of the season. On board
were the current Nats, a bit beat-
up by a disheartening 5-4, 10-
inning loss to the first-place
Atlanta Braves, cautiously
bolstered by the imminent arrival
of three new relief pitchers who
will join them in Arizona, where a
three-city trip begins Friday.
Last on the bus: Mike Rizzo,
who has headed this baseball
operation for a decade now.
“We feel good about what we
did today,” Rizzo said. “We feel
like we upgraded ourselves and
improved ourselves, and we are
excited to take this road trip and
really step on the gas and get
SEE SVRLUGA ON D6

The Washington
Nationals got the
three relief
pitchers in trade
that they so
desperately
needed
Wednesday, but
they lost a game
to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, in 10
innings that they, with nearly
equal desperation, needed to
win.
For the final two months of
this season, the Nats may feel
the extra strain of having to
overcome a 6^1 / 2 -game deficit to
the Braves in the NL East,
rather than just 4^1 / 2 games if
they had walked off with a win
in the bottom of the ninth at
Nationals Park when they had a
golden chance — bases loaded,
no outs, down by only a run.
But, as usual in baseball,
there’s a larger picture and, with
time, we’ll realize it matters
more. If the Nats do make it to
October, either as a wild card or
SEE BOSWELL ON D5

oversize athletes can be tamed.

It’s an uneasy thought, this

notion of control and the

complex reasons for it, especially

when you consider the league is

predominantly African

American. No sports league

protects its money quite like the

NFL. So Goodell has his

kangaroo court, and it exists to

manipulate the perception of the

NFL. The goal isn’t justice. It

isn’t to inspire rehabilitation. It

isn’t even about discipline, really.

When players get in trouble,

every case comes down to how

SEE BREWER ON D6

The NFL doesn’t
really have a
personal conduct
policy. It has an
“ensure our
players don’t
scare the
customers” policy.
Commissioner
Roger Goodell can proclaim all
he wants that his far-reaching
disciplinary power includes
everyone in the league, but in
practice, his most notorious
protect-the-shield edict is meant
to inspire public confidence that,
off the field, these aggressive and

KLMNO

SPORTS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

BY LES CARPENTER

Roughly 40 Washington Red-

skins business employees have

left the team since owner Daniel

Snyder fired Brian Lafemina, the

former president of business op-

erations and chief operating offi-

cer, this past December. The exo-

dus is roughly one quarter of the

organization’s non-football work-

ers.

The departures were con-

firmed by multiple people with

knowledge of the situation and a

check of social media accounts.

The workers came from all sides

of the business operations, in-

cluding suite sales, sponsorships,

marketing, graphics and the web-

site. Former employees, who

spoke on the condition of ano-

nymity out of concern for their

future job prospects, said the

majority of those who departed

did so out of frustration over

Lafemina’s removal.

“Everyone who left was look-

ing to leave,” one ex-employee

said. “Maybe five of them left

because they had a better oppor-

SEE REDSKINS ON D7

PRO BASKETBALL

Controversy once again finds LeBron James, who was

simply being a parent this time at his son’s game. D2

TENNIS

Rising star Felix Auger-Aliassime does not have a license,

but he is driving crowds to his matches at Citi Open. D3

PRO FOOTBALL

Nick Buoniconti, the heart of Miami’s Super Bowl-

winning “No-Name Defense,” dies at 78. D7

Inaction on Kraft case exposes

Goodell’s lack of consistency

Jerry
Brewer

After letting Lafemina go,

Redskins faced an exodus

With bar low,

adequate arms

should help

this bullpen

Thomas
Boswell

Rizzo faced

a unique set

of challenges

at deadline

Barry
Svrluga

RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST

Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, left, fired Brian Lafemina, who ran

the team’s business operations, after less than eight months.

Nationals at Diamondbacks

Tomorrow, 9:40 p.m., MASN 2

Inside: Houston lands the prize of the trade deadline,

sending four prospects to Arizona for Zack Greinke. D3

Nats reach for some relief

While losing series to Braves, they keep up in arms race, adding trio to beleaguered bullpen

KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Center fielder Victor Robles could not prevent Josh Donaldson’s decisive home run off Sean Doolittle in the top of the 10th Wednesday afternoon.

’Pen gets some fresh ink

Roenis Elías

LHP, age 31

W L ERA WHIP

4 2 4.40 1.26

IP: 47 SO: 45 SVS: 14

Fun fact: Defected from

Cuba in 2010, traveling

30 hours by boat to

Cancun, Mexico

Daniel Hudson

RHP, age 32

W L ERA WHIP

6 3 3.00 1.27

IP: 48 SO: 48 SVS: 2

Fun fact: Attended

Princess Anne High in

Virginia Beach and Old

Dominion

Hunter Strickland

RHP, age 30

W L ERA WHIP

0 1 8.10 0.60

IP: 3.1 SO: 3 SVS: 2

Fun fact: Hit Bryce

Harper with 98-mph

pitch in 2017, setting off

Giants-Nats brawl

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