Nationals Are “Open-Minded” In Search For Pitching

Edwin Jackson is a free agent and John Lannan may be non-tendered, so the Nationals will be in the market for a starting pitcher this offseason. GM Mike Rizzo told Amanda Comak of The Washington Times that he isn't seeking one specific kind of starter and will instead be open minded.

"We want to get as qualified and impactful a starting pitcher as we can," said the GM. "We want to get as good of a starting pitcher as we possibly can. He may pitch fifth in our rotation but we don't necessarily want a No. 5-quality starter … I'm much more open-minded with it this year. It doesn't necessarily have to be a veteran, it doesn't have to necessarily need to be a fifth starter type of guy."

As our Free Agent Tracker shows, this winter's crop of free agent pitchers includes everything from an ace (Zack Greinke) to workhorses (Jeremy Guthrie, Ryan Dempster) to reclamation projects (Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker). The Nationals will have both Christian Garcia and Ryan Perry work as starters in camp, giving the team some internal options behind Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmermann, and Ross Detwiler.