Kimbrel is one of the most effective relievers in baseball. Washington’s bullpen has never had more than two reliable arms at any point this season. Kimbrel was floating in free agency, worth just money and maybe a draft pick, until the Cubs scooped him up for three years and $43 million, according to multiple reports.

It would seem as if the Nationals missed a chance to add a key missing piece to a team that is coming around, 9-2 in its past 11 games and just 6½ games back in a division race that was once zooming away.

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But because he has found a home and that home is Chicago, the signing still affects the Nationals’ chances at making something out of this season: Kimbrel did not land elsewhere in the National League East. And, for that, they are very lucky.

The division’s top teams could have used him. The first-place Philadelphia Phillies have an average bullpen with six relievers on the injured list, and their lineup took a hit this week when it lost starting left fielder Andrew McCutchen for the season with a torn ACL. Kimbrel could have turned the Phillies into one of the NL’s most-balanced teams.

The second-place Atlanta Braves, 1½ games back of the Phillies entering Thursday, have needed bullpen help all season. Kimbrel was an obvious fit. And the New York Mets looked at Kimbrel because their bridge to closer Edwin Diaz has been shaky at best.

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None of these teams could have used Kimbrel more than the Nationals — who entered Thursday with a historically bad bullpen ERA of 6.68 — but his destination won’t tip the scales out of their favor, at least in the division race. Washington was in light discussions with Kimbrel’s representation before the season, and because ownership doesn’t want to go over the competitive balance tax threshold, a deal was never realistic.

Kimbrel’s average annual value of nearly $15 million would have vaulted Washington several million dollars over the line, and the team always was unwilling to pay the 50 percent overage fees. When the Nationals were swept in a four-game series by the Mets in late May, leaving their season on life support, signing Kimbrel drifted out of the conversation. Then they surged, winning their past four series to get back in the mix. It again felt like a move they should make to fix a glaring weakness.

Then they didn’t, leaving Kimbrel to sign in the NL Central, and the consolation prize is that they will face his team just three times this regular season. By comparison, the Nationals have 17 games left against the Braves, 11 more matchups with the Phillies and six remaining with the Mets.

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The Nationals’ margin for error has disappeared because of their dreadful start, and Kimbrel would have helped. But he won’t affect results from the other side, either, and so each NL East team is left to pad its bullpen elsewhere.

The Nationals, despite their recent success, still need to make significant bullpen upgrades if they want to make a push. Doolittle, rookie Tanner Rainey and Matt Grace are the only trustworthy relievers at the moment, and the latter two are due for a regression. Manager Dave Martinez had to use Rainey, Grace, Suero and Doolittle, arguably his four best options, to hold a four-run lead Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, he went to Barraclough with a three-run lead, pushed him into a second inning, watched Barraclough give up a two-run homer, brought in Suero again, watched him give up a solo homer, and pitched Doolittle in a tie game to give Washington a chance for a walk-off win.

After the game, Martinez was left lamenting using Suero — a right-hander with a 6.23 ERA — in back-to-back high-leverage situations. That, in one odd dilemma, is the current state of the Nationals’ bullpen.

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“I wanted to stay away from Suero today. I really did. Because now all of a sudden he’s going to be down one or two days,” Martinez said after the narrow win. “So now, [Thursday], we have to figure out who’s going to pitch the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.”

So if not Kimbrel, who could have enabled Martinez to use Doolittle in a dangerous hybrid role, what are Washington’s options?

The Nationals have to make a decision on Trevor Rosenthal by the end of this week, with the right-hander nearing the end of a 30-day rehab assignment with Class AA Harrisburg. The choices are to activate him and hope his control has returned or designate him for assignment and toss away $7 million.

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The Nationals already have signed veteran relievers Dan Jennings, Javy Guerra, George Kontos, Jonny Venters and Fernando Rodney to minor league deals, hoping something sticks. Jennings didn’t. The others still have a chance to make marginal contributions.

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And, as it did in 2018, Washingtonalways could survey the summer trade market for a bullpen piece. The Nationals netted Kelvin Herrera from the Kansas City Royals last June for three middling minor leaguers — Kelvin Gutierrez, Blake Perkins and Yohanse Morel. They could cobble together that sort of package if they are buying instead of selling before the deadline.

Yet before they do and before this next month decides which direction this year goes, it’s worth putting two truths right next to each other: The Nationals lost out on Craig Kimbrel on Wednesday. But they enjoyed a small victory, too.