The Nationals are back in the postseason after their fourth NL East crown in the past six years. By now, the search for redemption is a familiar tale for this organization, which has failed to advance past the NLDS in each of the past three years. There has been a fair bit of roster turnover through the years, as president of baseball operations/GM Mike Rizzo has successfully transitioned from prior core players to new ones through a variety of methods.
Here’s how the current roster came together…
[Related: Washington Nationals Depth Chart and Payroll Outlook]
- HOMEGROWN (9)
- Ryan Zimmerman, 1B: Drafted 1st Rd (4) ’05
- Stephen Strasburg, SP: Drafted 1st Rd (1) ’09
- Michael Taylor, OF: Drafted 6th Rd ’09
- Wilmer Difo, INF/OF: International Free Agent (D.R.) June ’10
- Bryce Harper, OF: Drafted 1st Rd (1) ’10
- Sammy Solis, RP: Drafted 2nd Rd ’10
- Anthony Rendon, 3B: Drafted 1st Rd (6) ’11
- Brian Goodwin, OF: Drafted 1st Rd (34) ’11
- Victor Robles, OF: International Free Agent (D.R.) July ’13
- ACQUIRED VIA FREE AGENCY (7)
- Jayson Werth, OF: December ’10 (PHI) — Signed to a seven-year, $126MM contract.
- Max Scherzer, SP: January ’15 (DET) — Signed to a seven-year, $210MM contract.
- Daniel Murphy, 2B: December ’15 (NYM) — Signed to a three-year, $37.5MM contract.
- Oliver Perez, RP: December ’15 (HOU) — Signed to a two-year, $7MM contract.
- Matt Albers, RP: January ’17 (CWS) — Signed to a minor league contract.
- Matt Wieters, C: February ’17 (BAL) — Signed to a one-year, $10.5MM contract (plus $10.5MM player option).
- Adam Lind, 1B/OF: February ’17 (SEA) — Signed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract (plus $5MM mutual option)
- ACQUIRED VIA TRADE (9)
- Tanner Roark, SP: July ’10 (TEX) — Acquired in the trade that sent Cristian Guzman to the Rangers.
- Gio Gonzalez, SP: December ’11 (OAK) — Acquired in the trade that sent A.J. Cole, Brad Peacock, Tommy Milone and Derek Norris. to the Athletics.
- Jose Lobaton, C: February ’14 (TB) — Acquired in the trade that sent Nathan Karns to the Rays.
- Trea Turner, SS: June ’15 (SD) — Acquired in the three-team trade that sent Wil Myers, Jose Castillo, Gerardo Reyes and Ryan Hanigan to the Padres and Steven Souza, Rene Rivera, Jake Bauers, Burch Smith and Travis Ott to the Rays.
- Enny Romero, RP: February ’17 (TB) — Acquired in the trade that sent Jeffrey Rosa to the Rays.
- Howie Kendrick, INF/OF: July ’17 (PHI) — Acquired in the trade that sent McKenzie Mills to the Phillies.
- Sean Doolittle, RP: July ’17 (OAK) — Acquired in the trade that sent Blake Treinen, Sheldon Neuse and Jesus Luzardo to the Athletics.
- Ryan Madson, RP: July ’17 (OAK) — Acquired in the trade that sent Blake Treinen, Sheldon Neuse and Jesus Luzardo to the Athletics.
- Brandon Kintzler, RP: July ’17 (MIN) — Acquired in the trade that sent Tyler Watson to the Twins.
While the Nationals’ window has long been a topic of conversation, it figures to stay open a while longer. The club will lose a few contributors this winter — Werth, Perez, and deadline additions Kendrick and Kintzler are probably the most significant — but none are major drivers of the organization’s success. While there’s only one more year of control over Harper past the present season, when he’ll be joined by Murphy and Gonzalez in free agency, several other top-quality performers are still around beyond 2018 … and the team has hopes that Robles will soon become the team’s next star.
Bryce Harper was drafted 1st overall. Not 2nd.
Was gonna point this out as well
Fixed the mistakes. Thanks.
Ryan Madson is a pitcher, not a catcher.
Harper went first
Came up one short in this series.
Seeing as I’m not a big Nats fan, I obviously don’t know a ton about most of their players (outside of Harper/Strasburg, obviously). That being said, I find it pretty crazy that Rendon was drafted a year after Harper. I also never knew that Rendon was such a high draft pick. I’ve always looked at him like an under-the-radar guy that kind of popped up out of nowhere. Clearly I was very wrong about that. That was a nice little stretch of 1st round picks form ’09-’11 for them (though ’09 and ’10 were practically impossible to mess up).
If he was on a different treat he zf
If he was on a different team he would have been more well known . When he was drafted Zimmerman was still the third basemen so he had to change spots and once he got called up he was forgotten because of the other big names in the lineup like Zimmerman Harper Ramos werth Desmond and span
They paid werth too much money!
I thought that was an outrageous overpay when the Nats signed Jayson Werth after 2010. At the time, the Nats were far from fielding a descent team. Acquiring a 32 player like Werth, was a move that a very good team would make to fill a hole to get to the next stage… not as a building block. Matt Wieters and Oliver Perez don’t seem like good fits either and are over priced too.
Personally I think the MLB needs to put a rule into affect that money can’t be deferred. Nationals have used that loop hole too much and they have made Not as look good and given him too much power to hurt low income teams. Do something right and put him in his place