Washington Nationals news & notes: Kyle Finnegan didn’t get dealt in the end…

Notes and quotes in the Nationals’ closer surviving the trade deadline…

Considering the moves the Nationals did make at this year’s trade deadline, with a couple other short-term team control players like fellow reliever Hunter Harvey and right fielder Lane Thomas both dealt, you can understand Kyle Finnegan not taking it for granted nothing happened even after the 6:00 PM ET deadline passed this past July 30th.

“You know there’s always ones that can trickle in after the clock strikes zero,” Washington’s closer said once he was sure he was staying put, “… so [manager Davey Martinez] called me into the office, and it was a little interesting to go in there, and he just had a big smile on his face and said, ‘You’re a Nat.’ So we laughed about it and shared a hug and got excited about the future.”

“It was weird,” Martinez explained in post-deadline comments to reporters.

“He had kind of that look on his face that he didn’t believe me. I brought him in like at [6:02 ET] — I don’t have favorites, cause they’re all my favorites really, but he’s the one guy I count on to pitch at the back end of the bullpen. It’s nice that he’s still here and he’s going to get an opportunity to save games for us.”

GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo told reporters, after holding on to Finnegan, why no deal for the right-handed closer happened in the end.

“It had to be market value,” Rizzo said:

“That’s what we were shooting for. This guy pitches at the back of a baseball game. He’s proven that he can handle the closer’s role. I don’t think we were asking for anything extravagant, but we did want market value for a closer that has another year of control. And that had a lot to do with it. We weren’t handcuffed or forced to move a player because his contract’s expiring or financial ramifications. We like this player. We think that he’s going to help us this year and next year and he’s a wonderful person, and he’s a good relief pitcher, he takes the ball whenever Davey hands it to him, and very selfless in that regard. He’s our bulldog and our guy in the ninth inning. None of the deals in our mind reached the eye-level of the market, so we were having conversation til the end, and see if some deals changed, but at the end of the day we didn’t get a deal that we were comfortable with and we didn’t have to move the player and we really like having him at the back of the bullpen.”

“He wants the ball, he wants to win,” the Nats’ skipper said in mid-August. “When he goes out there he knows for us he’s the last man standing. When he’s in there it’s to close games, and he’s grown accustomed to it and he loves doing it. I’ve said this before, every time we get to that ninth inning, 10th inning, whatever it is, he’s the guy. I love having him out there. I know that he’s going to give me everything he’s got. A lot of times it works out really well for him, sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s part of the game.”

Finnegan saved 38 games in his 43 save opportunities on the year, “the fourth-most in a season in Nationals’ history (2005-[present]),” as the club noted in their Season in Review at the end of the 2024 campaign.

The total, “…ranked second in the National League and third in Major League Baseball,” on the year.

Finnegan, the Nationals highlighted, had some dominant stretches along the way:

• Tossed 11.0 no-hit innings from April 13 to May 8, the second-longest hitless streak in Nationals’ history (Max Scherzer, 16.0 IP in 2016).

• Pitched to a 1.98 ERA (8 ER/36.1 IP) and a .171 opponents’ average in 37 games from March 30 to July 3…”

“Opposing batters went 0-for-31 with 11 strikeouts and three walks against him,” during that stretch, the Nationals wrote.

Finnegan, one of the Nationals’ two 2024 All-Stars, posted a 2.45 ERA, a 3.99 FIP, 13 walks, 42 Ks, and .191/.255/.340 line against in 41 games and 40 ¹⁄₃ innings in the first half of the season, but he had less success in the “second half” with a 5.79 ERA, a 4.71 FIP, 11 walks, 18 Ks, and a .337/.404/.490 line against in 24 games and 23 ¹⁄₃ IP.

While he struggled down the stretch on a decidedly younger team, Martinez said in the closing weeks of the season Finnegan played an important role in the bullpen as a mentor.

“He’s been awesome. really has,” Martinez said. “Finnegan leads by example more so than [speaking].

“When he has to speak guys tend to listen to him because he doesn’t say a whole lot, but he’s been great down there, he really has.

“I talk to [Bullpen Coach] Ricky [Bones] about him a lot, and he says not only is [Finnegan] the back end of the bullpen, but he is the back end of the bullpen.

“He’s the guy that they lean to to talk about different things down there. He’s very open. He’s got an unbelievable routine, so he’s been really good.

“As you can tell, he’s got a bunch of saves, but he’s been really good.”