Just minutes after the Washington Nationals acquired lefty Connelly Early from the Red Sox for infielder Curtis Mead late Saturday night, The Athletic’s Nationals beat writer Spencer Nusbaum fielded questions from our subscribers. He also offered his instant grade on the move.This is an A for me. Mead was great, and he probably truly is an .800 OPS guy. But the Nationals need pitching, and the avenue towards getting it is so, so, so difficult. They just got a GUY for someone who was DFA’d and traded for a sixth-rounder for in March. They also have shown the ability to develop hitting (which can change) but that gives you more confidence in the replacements. Truly, instant reaction is that this is a big win.As Spencer notes, there is also a human consequence to the deal involving Mead, a native of Australia.Random thought: There was a kid who came to basically every game at Nats Park this year. Every time Curtis Mead was up to bat, he yelled “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!” I would not want to be the one to comfort that kid in the A.M.Here’s more from Spencer’s impromptu live chat, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity.How did the trade come together? Is this a vote of confidence in Brady House? Do you see this as more of a buyer or sellers move? —swishkoffIt’s too early to know the exact machinations, but the fact that Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni could talk with his old club surely allowed him to cut through a lot of the BS that comes with other calls. I know the Nats were not so narrow that they were looking to acquire big-league pitching, but I was told this week that it was a focus, perhaps even more than the bullpen. This is a buy-for-buy move. One, I will say, I like for the Nats.Do you think there is another move to come to replace Mead’s bat. Brady House didn’t seem ready with his first chance in the bigs? — Andrew B.Brady House will be recalled tomorrow morning. He’s had an .948 OPS in July. There’s still concern against right-handed pitching, but he’s been better against those arms recently, too. We’ll see, but they can platoon or semi-platoon there if they really want to push to win.