Former Padres pitcher Matt Waldron forces Nationals into surprising veteran sacrifice

Matt Waldron has spent the month of August changing uniforms. This time, he’s making the Nationals’ righty Trevor Williams pay the tab. The Nats DFA’d Williams on Aug. 25 to open up a spot on the active roster for Waldron, whom they claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays over the weekend. It’s a trade-off, albeit a strange one.

Williams returned from internal brace surgery and delivered a 2.65 ERA with 22 strikeouts against six walks over 17 innings. Waldron reached Washington after posting a 10.38 ERA in four appearances with Toronto. We guess Washington chose the cheaper question mark over the better 2026 stat line. 

Matt Waldron’s post-Padres journey keeps getting stranger

The Padres DFA’d Waldron on July 29 when they activated Jeremiah Estrada from the IL. The Jays claimed him on Aug. 5, watched him pitch 4 1/3 innings and promptly DFA’d him two weeks later.

Washington grabbed him on Aug. 22. In less than a month, Waldron went from San Diego to Toronto and now will take the mound in the DMV.

It’s kind of impressive. Waldron allowed opponents to hit .319 while recording a 7.16 ERA over 32 2/3 innings for the Friars this season. His brief audition with the Jays made those numbers look not so bad. Yet teams keep finding reasons to take another look. Perhaps it’s the knuckleball. Every team thinks it might discover the right usage to unlock something the previous club missed. Waldron is affordable, capable of covering multiple innings and different enough to keep getting chances.

The knuckleball remains baseball’s version of a lottery ticket. Teams know the odds. Yet they still want to scratch it.

Washington has a different agenda than either of Waldron’s previous teams. The Nationals are evaluating pieces for the future. Waldron is 29 and inexpensive. Williams is 34, carries a $7 million salary and was approaching the end of his contract. His salary could also discourage another club from claiming him, potentially allowing Washington to keep him in the organization if he clears waivers and accepts an outright assignment.

This move is about cost, control and curiosity. It’s definitely not some kind of declaration that Waldron suddenly became a better pitcher than Williams.

We can appreciate the weirdness without any manufactured regret. Waldron had plenty of opportunities to make it work in San Diego. Choosing Estrada and a roster built for meaningful games makes a lot more sense. Washington chose an inexpensive experiment during a losing season. Those clubs are solving entirely different problems.

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