Where we at

The Nats lost.  Oh well.  still 4-5 is on pace. 4-6 isn't even that bad if they lose tonight.  Only worry if they lost the next two because you'd rather have to take one from SF in SF, not win the series.

 Where the Nats are currently is they are a .500 team that have played like a .500 team. They pitch ok both as starter and reliever, which actually gives them a slight advantage over other teams who don't do one or the other well. They still don't score when Schwarber isn't doing a roided Barry Bonds impression, but they aren't the worse at it - the bad scoring luck of the early season gone away. 

Catching - Gomes is good! Avila was fine as a back-up catcher which means kind of bad but what are you going to do? It's a back-up catcher. You aren't finding a good player if you didn't develop one yourself. Avila is hurt now but 29 of 39 teams 3rd catcher is gonna be trash. 

First Base - Bell's been hitting better each month which yes is easy given the abysmal April but he's back over average.  He'll probably dip again soon but he's pretty much become the bat the Nats expected

Second Base - The opposite of Bell - after a torrid April has hit pretty poorly since. Not terrible but below average. 

Short Stop - Star turn continues. He'll probably never be the BEST SS in the majors but he's up in the conversation for "who else" once you get past whoever is at the moment.

Third Base - people act like he's a gaping hole but the truth is he is hitting like Harrison since April and completely in line with his previous stats. He's a decent fielder.  He stays healthy. I can see why you want better but he's not a disappointment. 

Left Field - Schwarber was ok then got AMAZING. Now hurt and out for a while 

Center Field - Robles is kind of bad.  If you are looking for one thing that is the Nats problem... this isn't it. But if you are on the second thing. Yes Robles not developing into anything could be it. He's a great defender but he's MAT production at the plate 

Right Field  - disappointing for Soto. He's probably hurt and hitting everything down because of a shoulder issue but it doesn't seem to be getting worse and he's still got a great eye and hits the ball hard so you keep playing him hoping for a return to form and the meanwhile he's still your second best bat. 

Bench - well here's your problem! Zimm has been useful in his limited appearances. Yadi stinks, Parra stinks, Stevenson stunk, Mercer... didn't stink but all Mercer can do is not much, Garcia stunk, 

Overall the Nats have a decent healthy offense set-up.  It's not as good as it has been (that'll happen if you lose a Rendon) but it's ok. Better than average with everyone healthy and hitting as expected. The second part is mostly happening, Soto not being SOTO costs them a little. But really it's the first part not happening that kills them. They replace someone good or at least ok with someone bad and the line-up becomes real short. 

Trade deadline - Get someone good! OF or IF! The IF has to be good. Pulling Castro for a guy hitting a 100OPS+ isn't getting you anything. The OF has to be good too... if you are replacing Robles. If you are filling in the Schwarber absence you can go with average. Wouldn't hurt to get both. 

Starting Pitching - Lester is degrading. Corbin still isn't good enough - rolling through decent stretches then tossing one or two stinkers. Ross and Fedde are unreliable. They need Strasburg (GOOD Strasburg) to help anchor the rotation and not force 3 of 4 starts to need 4+ innings of bullpen work. An extra stud pitcher or even a solid middle would help but I don't expect that from the Nats. An extra 5th type arm would be superfluous here. 

Relief pitching - Brad Hand hasn't been smooth sailing but he's been ok. The rest of the pen are guys that can come in and do well or not - they are pretty average. And while it's nice to have a bunch of arms to go to if you don't solve the starting pitching issues you can't find the good ones in any night because guys are overworked or resting. The end result is tossing out 4 arms almost every night knowing full well one is probably going to have nothing.  Hudson coming back will help out alot assuming he can keep up his pitching from before.

  

Looking at the Nats there isn't anything specifically wrong. But that's what you get with an average team.  And that can be a problem because without a glaring easy fix any fix that will actually impact your team will cost you and the Nats don't have the prospects to pay up. The Nats expected movement going forward is to fritter around the edges getting a decent OF (to play while Schwarber's out) and a not as decent IF (for depth) and maybe another bullpen arm if it's there because a LHP that can be decent against everyone - even if it's really just decent - would be preferable to Clay as your first LHP option. Nothing more. Anything more is just too expensive for a team who can't be sure it's going to matter in the end.