By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | July 27, 2017, 10:19 pm CT
The Washington Nationals, who led the NL East by 13 games as of Thursday night, have apparently looked at two Cardinals in their efforts to address two key team needs at the trade deadline.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Thursday night that the Nats have scouted Cardinals outfielder Tommy Pham and reliever Trevor Rosenthal.
Despite the acquisition of relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from the Athletics on July 16th, the Nationals could still be looking to improve a bullpen which current ranks 29th in the majors in ERA (5.19). The team is also banged up in the outfield, with Chris Heisey, Ryan Raburn, Michael Taylor, and Jayson Werth all on the disabled list.
[Report: Cards’ decision on trading Lynn won’t be affected by Wainwright injury, recent surge]
It’s currently unclear to what extent the Nationals are interested in Pham and Rosenthal, although Brian Stull of STL Baseball Weekly tweeted that a scout from the team was at every game of the Cardinals series against the Rockies.
Pham, 29, has been a breakout star for the Cardinals thus far in 2017, hitting .312/.400/.534 with 14 home runs, 44 RBI, and 13 stolen bases in 72 games.
Rosenthal has had an up-and-down season, pitching to a 3.69 ERA across 39 innings, though he’s posted an impressive 1.93 ERA in July has closing experience, as he’s tallied 111 saves since the start of 2014.
[Report: Cardinals “actively looking” for reliever, monitoring Lynn market and eyeing bat]
