BOSTON — Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni did his job on Monday afternoon, which is to say he walked over to the visitor’s dugout at Fenway Park, let a camera shine in his face and suggested anything could be on the table at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.“I don’t know what we’re going to be thinking a month from now,” Toboni said.It is worth believing him.After Monday’s 6-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, the Nationals are 43-43, one of nine teams separated by seven games in the National League wild-card race. The projections suggest Washington won’t play into October, but they once indicated this team wouldn’t even sniff .500.Look how that turned out.While it may frustrate fans that Toboni made no concrete claims and offered many caveats, the Nats do not automatically fall in the “sell” bucket, and that, in and of itself, is progress. With that, it feels like due time to lay out the case for the Nationals to take each of those avenues — buy, sell, or something in between — leaning on Toboni’s thoughts.The case for buying: An easy, low-cost fixThis is a flawed roster, but its flaws are among the easiest to solve.The bullpen has struggled, but there is enough talent to cover the middle innings. Honestly, given the dearth of swing-and-miss on the roster, a sixth- or seventh-inning arm with some late-game experience on another roster could probably slot in as the Nationals’ closer.If the bullpen had blown 15 games (still a bottom-10 figure in MLB) instead of 25 (by far the worst mark in the sport), you could argue that we’re talking about a contender. Helping matters: Relievers are often the easiest commodity to find at the deadline.Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies is one such reliever who could be available at the deadline. (Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)One could also argue — though I would not — that there isn’t as much need to augment the farm system via trades, because the player development group has shown that it can turn around a once-floundering system. One could also argue — and I probably would — that this offense has produced over a long enough stretch that negative regression would be a shock.