ATLANTA — As the seconds tick off the clock until Monday’s trade deadline, players are notably on edge.

A tap on the shoulder, a phone call or a text could upend their professional life, and much of it is out of their control. Nationals manager Blake Butera has experienced this before with prospects, and he said the best way to approach this tenuous situation is to be as transparent as possible with players. But solace doesn’t exist when there is so much uncertainty.

“Control what you can control,” Butera said before Sunday’s 4-2 loss, the Nationals’ fifth consecutive defeat. “Like it’s out of their hands. It’s out of my hands. At the end of the day, if you’re worried about it, if you’re anxious about it, sometimes that can affect how you play on the field. Look, it’s easier said than done, right?”

The Nationals were reminded of how delicate the trade deadline is when Luis García Jr. — a popular trade candidate — was scratched from the lineup. García exited Friday’s game with knee soreness but returned Saturday. He was on the bench, per the team, but when Andrés Chaparro left the game after being hit in the head during a fourth-inning at-bat, Brady House replaced him at first base for the first time in his career in the fifth.

Advertise with us

Until a trade is finalized or the 6 p.m. Monday deadline has passed, tension will exist throughout the Nationals’ clubhouse. That anxiety persisted as the team was swept by the Braves and tied its season high for consecutive losses.

The series finale was an unusually sloppy performance by the Nationals. They recorded two errors as their defense regressed to its early-season inadequacy. The offense recorded just four hits and left six men on base.

But the real story surrounding the Nationals is who’s on the team after Monday, when the Nationals begin a four-game set against the Phillies.