The NL East-leading Nationals have acquired a left-handed reliever at a reasonable rate in Matt Thornton.
The Washington Nationals have bolstered their late game effectiveness by picking up the Yankees' left-handed reliever Matt Thornton off of waivers.
In his 11th year, Thornton has been very solid for New York this season with a 2.55 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched, and 12 holds in 46 appearances without surrendering a single home run. Relatively speaking, the former Red Sox pitcher is a strikeout machine. His 411 punch-outs since 2008 are the most by a left-handed reliever in that time frame.
Not surprisingly, the southpaw pitches particularly well against left-handed batters, who have hit just .233 against him in his career. A first round selection for the Seattle Mariners in 1998, the one thing that the Nationals won't be getting from Thornton is a significant amount of postseason experience. He has just one appearance on his resume -- a single scoreless three-inning performance against the Tampa Bay Rays from 2008 as a member of the Chicago White Sox.
Thornton's new team will pay a prorated portion of his $3.5 million dollar salary for the remainder of this season and the entirety of that same salary next year, bringing the total cost of the acquisition somewhere in the $4 million dollar range for the Nats. They sit just three games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East despite outpacing them by almost 70 in run differential.