Washington Nationals: Roger Bernadina Called Up For Support

The Nationals called up Roger Bernadina from Triple-A Syracuse to help a banged-up bench, while optioning lefty Jesse English to make room.

Bernadina got the nod after going on a tear; in 61 at bats for Syracuse he's stolen seven bases while batting .377 with a .426 OBP and a .541 SLG percentage.

On the other hand, English has been very effective in the bullpen, posting a 3.86 ERA in seven appearances.

General Mike Rizzo told Bill Ladson:

"We told him, 'This is not a demotion. This is a strategic roster move, because we feel that we need to get a healthy position player in there.

"He didn't get as much work as we wanted to. We want him to go down there, pitch and get more work."

Analysis

This is exactly the opposite of what we suggested earlier this week.

The Nationals extra-inning loss to the Cubs on Monday was a direct result of having an exhausted bullpen.

Tyler Clippard, Matt Capps, and Miguel Batista were seemingly unavailable, forcing Brian Bruney to pitch in a situation he obviously wasn't comfortable in resulting in the walk-off walk.

We at The Nats Blog suggested the Nationals bring up Storen or perhaps a Triple-A starter to throw in the bullpen until the starting pitching gets more stable.

Now, instead of getting more help the Nats have had to chew up a lot.