Washington Nationals release reliever Jeremy Jeffress Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post March 7, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail Jeremy Jeffress.Washington Post photo by Toni L. Sandys WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Washington Nationals have released reliever Jeremy Jeffress, the team announced Sunday. The veteran right-hander was signed to a minor league deal in February and expected to compete for a spot in the Opening Day bullpen. Instead the Nationals cut him after 13 days, raising questions about why this decision was made with three weeks left in spring training. When asked to explain the move Sunday morning, General Manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement: "He was released for personnel reasons." A team spokeswoman said the Nationals could not expand on that. When reached by text message Sunday afternoon, Jeffress did not divulge how the team explained its decision to him. He did say the reason the team gave him was "not true" - without clarifying what that reason was - and expressed frustration with how the situation was handled.