Inspired by an MLB Network’s segment about each team in which they named the top players — position by position, we did the position players, and starting rotation already — and now we move to the bullpen’s top relievers. This was tough coming up with the final few names. Putting them in order of impact was a even more difficult.

Here was the segment from MLB Network:

For our purposes, let’s do a list of just Nationals players to keep this simpler. And we will do a modern list of eight relievers.

While WAR isn’t the best indicator of who the best relievers are, impact is very subjective. Of course Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle were the stars of the 2019 World Series bullpen, and they have to be on this list. Then you have the team’s first closer in Chad Cordero. And we will never know if Jose A. Ferrer was going to be the Nats greatest reliever because he was traded in this offseason.

But impact is felt in ways that can’t be measured quite often. While Matt Capps wasn’t on he team for long in 2010, it was what he did in those 47 games and 26 saves that led him to be traded for top prospect catcher, Wilson Ramos, at the trade deadline. It was the best sign and flip of Nats’ history. However you might not know what a great mentor that Capps was to pitchers like Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen. Listen to this TalkNats Podcast that went live this week (and please HIT the SUBSCRIBE button):

So while Capps and Ferrer get honorable mentions, they didn’t make our Top-8. And coming up with a true first pick doesn’t even feel fair. Based on longevity, Tyler Clippard would be on top. Based on saves, it is Chad Cordero with Kyle Finnegan right after him. Sean Doolittle did it in so many key spots.

There were pitchers who had great stuff but being a high leverage reliever requires a steady heartbeat. That is the mark of the great ones. Sometimes you have to learn that. Wander Suero might have been one of the great ones, but he is one of those relievers who was treated like a fungible asset and gave up his arm health for the team. This isn’t just a Nats issue — that is a baseball issue. Cordero could certainly be put in that category. Nobody went through more injuries than Aaron Barrett. Then there was the crazy story of Koda Glover dropping the soap in the shower and hurting his back — that basically ended his career.

There are so many wild stories from the bullpen. There was the time the Nats’ went into free agency and signed Rafael Soriano aka “the Untuck guy” as a favor to Scott Boras. The Nats made him the highest paid reliever, at the time, in MLB history, and in turn, the Nats forfeited their first round pick in the 2013 draft. That made it double costly.

Here is the Top-30 of Nats’ relievers sorted by WAR. Not the best indication of best relievers but certainly you can see your best-8 on this list:

To make the list, I wanted some longevity, and used 200 innings as my minimum except in the case of Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle who were World Series heroes for the Nats.

Here are our Top-8 relievers in order of our rankings:

Chad Cordero

The Chief gave his arm for this team. He pitched on the 2005 inaugural team as he came to the Nats from the Montreal Expos. But he also pitched on some awful teams after that 2005 season. He holds the Nats’ saves record with 113. He could have been a Hall-of-Famer if he was able to stay healthy. Too many games of agreeing to pitch three games in a row. And Cordero gave new meaning to Labor Day both figuratively and literally, when I believe he put the final straw on his arm on Labor Day of 2007. Not only did he pitch three games in a row, he only got one day of rest before throwing 26 pitches after only one rest day in that span in Sept. 2007. He just never looked the same again after that. His arm paid the price.

Cordero was just 25 years old when Manny Acta kept asking him to pitch in meaningless games in that 2007 season. The team was 73-89 that season in that final year in RFK Stadium. Cordero would return briefly for the 2008 season while battling injuries, and his career was ending at too young of an age. He gave his arm for that team.

Tyler Clippard

Once a top starting pitcher prospect for the New York Yankees, Clippard got the nickname of The Yankees Clippard. While his Yankees career didn’t go well, he was traded to the Nats and became a key set-up reliever and backup closer for the Nats. He has the most innings and games in Nats’ bullpen history.

Clippard’s changeup was a thing of beauty. They knew it was coming — and they still couldn’t hit it. The Nats did try Clip as a starter in 2008, and converted him full-time to the bullpen in 2009. Later, he would form the duo with Storen to be known as Clip-n-Save. They made playing on that bad 2010 team behind Capps a glimpse into the future.

Drew Storen

When is the last time that a pure closer in college was drafted at 10th overall in a draft? Well, Mike Rizzo made that decision to get Storen out of Stanford in the first round. He was destined for greatness. You could see it. Then in an instant, Storen’s future changed in an instant with two outs and an NLDS win against the Cardinals in 2012 was there. In a 2-2 count, Storen dotted a fastball at the knees of Yadier Molina for strike-3 — but the ump wouldn’t give it to Storen, and that led to a walk to Molina — and the inning went awry to say the least. With it seemed to go Storen’s confidence. Every hi lev reliever needs confidence.

Ex-GM Mike Rizzo wouldn’t stick with Storen and demoted him to a set-up man when — as mentioned, he signed Soriano as the closer a few months after that Game 5. If there was a Robo-Ump moment, Storen would have been the NLDS hero. Instead he was the zero and became the scapegoat for that loss. While Storen was collared with the loss, he wasn’t the only reason. Years removed from that debacle, Storen deserves a placement in the team’s best relievers.

Sean Doolittle

Another pitcher who gave his arm for this team. At least Doolittle’s sacrifice led to a 2019 World Series win. He was nails in so many hi lev spots. He had that optical illusion rising fastball that he would sometimes throw exclusively in some of his outings — and hitters knew it was coming and they still couldn’t hit it.

While Doolittle only had 75 saves in a Nats uni in the regular season, it was that World Series save that was his biggest. He had seven set-up appearances in the 2019 postseason, and two saves because manager Dave Martinez was using Hudson as the closer in most games.

Nowadays, Doolittle is an Asst. Pitching Coach for the Nats.

Daniel Hudson

In 2011, Huddy was a top starting pitcher. Arizona pitched him in 222 innings that season, and Hudson’s days of being a starter would end abruptly after arm injuries. He was traded too many times in his career, and eventually came to the Nats in what turned out to be a steal for or Kyle Johnston.

Truth be told, Rizzo didn’t even fully believe in the 2019 Nats at the trade deadline, hence Rizzo didn’t go after any big names at the trade deadline. But sometimes things work out better than you could ever imagine and Hudson turned out to be just what the Nats needed.

With Doolittle overused during the 2019 season, Huddy would come in and be a star. He had a 0.00 ERA in the Wild Card, NLDS ad NLCS rounds. He closed out the 2019 Game 7 of the World Series but since the lead was more than 3-runs, he wasn’t credited with a save. His glove throw after striking out Michael Brantley was legendary.

Jon Rauch

The 6’11 behemoth of a human came over from the Montreal Expos to be a key set-up reliever for Cordero. He once pitched in 88 games in the 2007 season as a reliever which was a record that season.

Rauch was the winning pitcher in the inaugural game in Nationals Park when Ryan Zimmerman hit the walk-off homer to open the stadium on Opening Night.

You have to wonder what and who Rauch could have been if there was better analytics during his Nats tenure.

Craig Stammen

From a struggling starter in 2009 and 2010, the Nats made a decision to convert Stammen into a reliever. He became a hybrid reliever who would fill-in for a variety of roles. Affectionately called Stay-man by manager Davey Johnson, the roles that Stammen filled in the bullpen were a key in the Nats’ first postseason in 2012 and their second postseason run in 2014. Then Stammen suffered a flexor tendon tear which is usually a career ender and the Nats cut him loose.

Stammen had a great recovery as a success story from a flexor tendon tear and spent the rest of his career as a very good reliever for the Padres. Today, he is the new manager for the Padres.

Kyle Finnegan

Some might be surprised that Finnegan made the list. Part of that is because the Nats have not had enough good relievers with longevity. Ferrer might have made the list sooner than later if he wasn’t traded. Relievers just have a shorter history, and that probably won’t change.

Credit to Finn for his 100+ saves in Nats history that ranks him second behind Cordero. There is a good chance that Finn will do well in Detroit where the Nats traded him at the 2025 trade deadline.

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Who makes your list?