Davey Martinez wanted to get Tanner Rainey back on the mound late this season, a year-plus after Tommy John surgery, in part for the veteran, to reward him for the hard work he put in to get back, but also to give some of the Nationals’ bullpen arms a break. He asked a lot of his late-inning arms and by the end of the year they were bushed.
“I’m trying to think of ways to get [Rainey] on the roster,” Martinez explained heading into the final regular season series. “We might have to do that. Some of our bullpen guys are hanging on by a thread here a little bit.