Offseason In Review Washington National

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The Nationals are entering the third full season of their rebuild, and their lackluster offseason was emblematic of a team more focused on the long-term picture than even feigning an attempt at competing in 2024. Major League Signings , OF/1B: , RHP: , 3B/OF: (eligible for arbitration through 2025) 2024 spend: $9.25MM Total spend: $9.25MM Option Decisions Declined $3.3MM club option on CF (Robles was arbitration-eligible and remains with the team after agreeing to a lower-cost one-year deal) Trades and Waiver Claims Selected SS from the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft Notable Minor League Signings , , , , , , , , , , , , Notable Lo ses , , , , , , , The Nationals lost 91 games last season and entered the offseason with a fairly modest $110MM committed to the 2024 roster. With ample room to add starting pitching and players at various positions around the diamond, the stage looked to be set for some offseason dealings. General manager Mike Rizzo seemed to suggest as much early at last years Winter Meetings. Weve got several holes to fill, the veteran general manager said. Weve got our work cut out for us this year, and I think were going to take our aggre sive approach when it suits us and wait for the market when it suits us. I think were going to be busy here. I think were going to be aggre sive again this year looking for a bat that can play the corner infield, be it third base or first base or DH or left field, or a combination of all three of those. And then well resort back to getting more pitching. Rizzo went on to indicate that hed be comfortable offering multiple years to free agents in the right situation. It was an encouraging slate of comments for Nats fans who have been tracking a series of ballyhooed prospects throughout the current rebuild and looked to the 2024 season as a year that could see the team begin to turn the corner. Fast forward several months, however, and many of those claims ring hollow. The Nationals spent under $10MM in free agency, didnt make a single trade and, despite having the No. 5 waiver priority in baseball, didnt place a claim on a single player all offseason. Washington did indeed add some corner bats, as Rizzo alluded to, but the impact of those acquisitions doesnt look to be particularly high. For the second straight season, the Nats bought low on a non-tendered former top prospect to take over at third base. Unlike , however, Nick Senzel isnt simply coming off one down season. The former No. 2 overall draft pick has never had an average offensive season in parts of five MLB campaigns. Hes a career .239/.302/.369 hitter about 23% worse than average, by measure of wRC+, which weights for the hitter-friendly home park in which Senzel has spent his entire career to date (Cincinnatis Great American Ball Park). Health has been a major roadblock for Senzel, whos been on the injured list seven times in his big league career (to say nothing of multiple notable injuries from his prospect days). If the Nats can finally get Senzel healthy, hed hardly be the first former top prospect to thrive in a change of scenery. Hes still just 28 years old, and the Nats will only owe him a $2MM salary this season. If he performs well, hell be a viable trade deadline chip but also could be a multi-year piece for Washington. Because hes three weeks shy of five full years of MLB service, Senzel will be controllable through 2025 via arbitration. The Nationals have already said that Senzel will be the teams primary third baseman, which displaces their own in-house former top prospect, . Hes out of options and now ostensibly looking at a bench role. It shouldnt come as a surprise if Kieboom himself is moved in a change-of-scenery deal later this spring perhaps even following a DFA. Its understandable that the Nats feel ready to move on from Kieboom after myriad injuries and parts of four unproductive big league seasons but its at least a bit surprising that theyre doing so in favor of a player with a very similar career trajectory to date. Acro s the diamond, it appears Joey Gallo will get another opportunity to try to recapture the Rangers form thats increasingly becoming a distant memory. Hes still just 30 years old, but Earl Monroe Jersey Gallos bat has cratered since being traded from the Rangers to the Yankees back in 2021. The slugger belted 110 home runs in just 1716 plate appearances from 2018-21, including a pair of 40-tater seasons, but since being traded, Gallo has a .166/.293/.396 batting line. Hes still walked in 14.5% of his plate appearances and hit for plenty of power, but his already problematic strikeout rate has ballooned to 40.5% in a significant sample of 970 plate appearances. Gallo wont cost the Nationals much, but at this point hes two and a half seasons removed from being a productive hitter. If he goes on a huge first-half run, he could build up some trade value, but even if hes hitting reasonably well, hell be viewed as a volatile rental whose 21-23 track record makes it tough for a team to surrender much of note in a trade. The remainder of the lineup is largely set with in-house names. Shortstop posted an ugly .300 OBP last season but saw his strikeout and walk rates improve in the seasons second half. Hes also one of baseballs most impactful baserunners, swiping a hefty 47 bags in 51 tries, and quietly connected on 18 home runs last year. Theres legitimate breakout potential for him this season if he can continue to build on last years second-half gains in his K/BB profile. On the other side of the bag, will reprise his role as Washingtons everyday second baseman in what figures to be a make-or-break year of sorts. The 23-year-old was one of the sports top infield prospects before making his debut as a 20-year-old in 2020, and while hes shown off the premium bat-to-ball skills that helped him garner praise (12.4% strikeout rate in 23), he hasnt done much else. Last years .266/.304/.385 slash (84 wRC+) is right in line with his career .265/.295/.395 output (85 wRC+). Hes been a sub-par defender thus far and hasnt hit for power or provided baserunning value. Hes young enough to take another step forward, but if it doesnt happen in whatll be his fifth season with big league playing time, the Nats might have to look elsewhere for a long-term answer. Then again, one need only look to center field to show the organizations patience with homegrown talents. Victor Robles will be back for an eighth season despite not showing much since a promising start to his career. From 2017-19, the once-elite prospect he ranked among the top 10 in all of MLB at Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus hit .258/.327/.431 with premium defense. Dating back to 2020, however, hes a .225/.302/.313 hitter (72 wRC+) in nearly 1100 plate appearances. Back problems limited him to 36 games last year, and his typically excellent defensive grades plummeted. The free agent market offered some affordable alternatives ( , , old friend ), but the Nats opted to stick with Robles, wholl reach six years of service in 24 and become a free agent next winter. If hes healthy and performing even reasonably well this summer, hell be a trade candidate. In right field, the Nats will again give everyday at-bats and hope he can build on last years .268/.315/.468 showing. Thomas hit 28 homers, swiped 20 bags and played a fine right field. Hes only controlled through 2025 and was the subject of plenty of trade chatter last summer. Thatll likely be the case again come July. Behind the plate, will again serve as the primary catcher. Ruiz popped 18 homers, struck out in just 10.3% of his plate appearances and hit .260/.308/.409 (93 wRC+). Hes already signed long-term under an eight-year extension. is likely to open the season as the Nats primary designated hitter, but some of the shine has come off the late-blooming slugger after an out-of-the-blue breakout in 2022. Menseses hit .324/.367/.543 with 13 homers in just 240 plate appearances as a rookie in 22. He saw nearly triple the at-bats in 23 but still hit just 13 homers with an overall .275/.321/.401 output. For a bat-only player, that wont cut it moving forward. Left field is the only real spot thats up for grabs heading into the season. The Nats dished out minor league deals to Je se Winker and Eddie Rosario in hopes one can step up to fill that spot. Rosario is the more capable defender and is coming off a better 2023 showing. Winker, at his peak, was the more productive of the two at least against right-handed pitching. Neither will cost much if they make the roster. Its unlikely either will return much in a potential deadline swap, even if theyre performing well, but the pair of veterans gives the Nats a short-term bridge to prospects like , and III. On the pitching side of the roster, the Nats will effectively roll out the same staff that produced some of the worst results in the game last year. Zach Davies, another minor league signee, is the only addition of note. The Nats have plenty of payroll space but will eschew even modestly priced upgrades in the vein of and , both of whom remain unsigned. That will pave the way for a group of , , , and to lead the team in starts again, pending any contributions from Davies and top prospect , wholl eventually return from 2023 Tommy John surgery likely on a limited workload. Washington is lacking in top-end pitching prospects beyond Cavalli, though names like , and could factor into the rotation at some point. The hope will be that Gray, Gore and Cavalli can all take meaningful steps forward, but theres reason to expre s skepticism despite the former top prospect pedigree of each. Gray has never walked fewer than 10.5% of his opponents in his two and a half MLB seasons, and last years 20.5% strikeout rate was a career-low. He finally managed to somewhat curb his highest-in-MLB home run rate (2.30 HR/9 in 22, 1.25 in 23), but he did so at the expense of strikeouts and more free pa ses. Gore was immensely homer-prone (1.78 HR/9) but mi sed bats at a strong level and did reach a new career-high innings total (136 1/3). Cavalli was viewed by some scouts as a future reliever before he had Tommy John surgery, and hell now be under a tightly managed workload. Despite Rizzos earlier proclamations about needing to add pitching help and being willing to make multi-year offers in the right setting, he changed his tune dramatically just a couple months later: I just couldnt find that starting pitcher that was going to impact us at this time, for not only the right amount of years but the right salary at this time, Rizzo said in mid-February. Its a puzzling statement when each of , , , and inked one-year contracts (for under $10MM, in the case of Wood, Junis and Perez). Each of ($24MM), ($26MM), ($32MM) and ($28MM) inked two-year deals with prices that wouldve kept the Nationals payroll in the $140MM range, if not a bit lower. The Nats peaked at a $197MM payroll in 2019 and were at $135MM or more in each season from 2014-22. Its a similar story in the bullpen, where myriad arms signed short-term deals that the Nationals could accommodate. The Nats only pickup was righty Dylan Floro, who has a nice track record but struggled in 23 while battling a wildly unfortunate .401 average on balls in play despite better-than-average hard contact numbers. Floro is a perfectly sensible pickup, po sibly even a bargain, but the Nats have such an undefined bullpen that its surprising he was the only one. Between Floro and the trio of , and all controlled only through 2025 Washington will have plenty of relievers to peddle this summer. Veterans Matt Barnes and Richard Bleier could work their way into that group after signing minor league deals. Another one-year pickup couldve given them another, though, and while the return on such investments is rarely of note, the Nats clearly had the payroll capacity to at least take a shot. Perhaps the general dearth of activity stems from uncertainty regarding the future of the team. The Lerner family was reportedly exploring a sale of the club for the past couple seasons before announcing in late February that those efforts were being halted. Its plenty feasible that current ownership handcuffed Rizzo and his staff in fairly significant fashion this winter, not wanting to take on long-term commitments while exploring a sale of the team. Rizzo, the rest of the front office, and ownership would never publicly state as much, but its fair to wonder given the minimal payroll outlay and the number of areas on the roster that remain ripe for an upgrade. Regardle s of the reasoning, the results are what they are. The 2024 season looks like another bleak year for Nats fans, one plagued by lackluster pitching performances and subpar offensive production. But the ongoing rebuild could begin to bear fruit later this season, setting the stage for a more interesting 25 campaign. Wood and Crews will likely be in the majors by then. Corbin will be off the books. Cavalli could be both healthy and largely free of an innings cap. And the Nats only have $43MM on that years payroll, perhaps setting the stage for a more aggre sive run through free agency following the 2024 campaign. Thats shaping up to be a deep free agent cla s, headlined by old friend in addition to , , and among many others. This offseason was as quiet as they come, but next winter could be more interesting. How would you grade the Nationals' offseason? D 39.55% (778votes) F 30.60% (602votes) C 21.50% (423votes) B 5.69% (112votes) A 2.64% (52votes) Total Votes: 1,967 Immanuel Quickley Jersey