A Baseball First

Pretty impressive for a sport about to mark its 150th anniversary yesterday, when baseball had its first-ever.... Tanner for Tanner trade.
The Nationals sent veteran righthander Tanner Roark to the Reds for rookie reliever Tanner Rainey. The trade makes sense for Washington, who just signed Patrick Corbin to a massive free agent contract to join Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg at the top of the rotation. Now a year away from free agency, Roark slumped to 9-15 last season. And shedding his expected $10 million salary from arbitration will help to balance the books with Corbin coming aboard.
Rainey showed plenty of promise as a Triple A reliever in 2018, going 7-2 mostly in middle relief.
So instead of letting Roark walk away in a year with no return, Nats GM Mike Rizzo lands a lottery ticket with payroll relief.
(My image of Roark is from the September 4th, 2016 Nats/Mets game at Citi Field .)

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