While the Nationals don’t appear to be pursuing Cubs third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant in a trade, general manager Mike Rizzo does have interest in landing a big bat before the 2021 season begins.
Speaking Tuesday with Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com and other reporters, Rizzo said the Nationals will “make offensive production a little more of a priority this offseason,” and ownership won’t stand in his way to spend on help. Rizzo left the door open for the team to address multiple positions, though he “downplayed” third base and catcher as glaring holes, Zuckerman writes. That could rule out high-profile free agents such as Justin Turner and J.T. Realmuto.
Where could the Nationals look instead? According to Rizzo: “I think we’re versatile in that it doesn’t have to be strictly a right fielder or strictly a left fielder. But a corner outfielder that complements the lineup, or a first baseman, would be the smoothest transition, because those are positions of need. With that said, you can get creative and get a bat in all sorts of ways. And with a little maneuvering, we’d feel comfortable doing it in all sorts of different creative ways.”
The Nationals do have two-thirds of their starting outfield set with superstar Juan Soto and Victor Robles, but it’s unclear who will replace the departed Adam Eaton in the other spot. George Springer, Marcell Ozuna, Michael Brantley and Joc Pederson appear to be the most desirable outfield free agents. It’s unknown whether the Nationals have shown interest in them, but they do have the recently non-tendered Kyle Schwarber on their radar. Schwarber’s production took a huge dip in 2020, but he was a well-above-average hitter in the two prior seasons.
Meanwhile, the stable of free-agent first basemen doesn’t look particularly exciting. Washington did make an effort to sign Carlos Santana, though he wound up with the Royals. Versatile infielder DJ LeMahieu may be able to play the position on a regular basis if given the chance, but the Nats reportedly aren’t going after him. Longtime Nat Ryan Zimmerman (who opted out of last season), C.J. Cron, Mitch Moreland, Tommy La Stella, Jake Lamb and Justin Smoak are some other available names. There certainly aren’t any stars in that group. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be too tall of a task to upgrade over the Nats’ first basemen from last season, as each of Eric Thames, Asdrubal Cabrera and Howie Kendrick managed below-average production.
On the pitching side, the Nationals’ rotation went from one of the league’s best during their 2019 World Series-winning season to a disappointment during a disastrous ’20 for the team. Of course, it didn’t help that Washington had to go without right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who dealt with carpal tunnel syndrome and totaled just five innings for the season. Strasburg underwent surgery in September, but Rizzo expects him to be “full-go for spring training” (via Byron Kerr of MASNsports.com).
Strasburg still has six years left on his contract, while co-ace Max Scherzer is entering the last season of the seven-year, $210MM deal he inked in 2015. That has been among the most successful big-money signings ever, though another agreement doesn’t appear imminent. Rizzo revealed that there haven’t been “any substantive conversations about an extension for Max to my knowledge,” but he added that it “could be on the ownership level” and noted that extensions often come together during the spring.
Regardless of whether Washington extends the 36-year-old Scherzer, he’ll front its rotation with Strasburg and Patrick Corbin next year. The rest of their starting five is up in the air, but Rizzo hinted he will prioritize adding a veteran No. 4 starter after he addresses the team’s lineup, according to Kerr. As for the No. 5 role, manager Dave Martinez named Joe Ross, Austin Voth and Erick Fedde as in-house possibilities. He’s especially high on Ross, saying, “I want Joe to be in the rotation.” Ross opted out of last season over health concerns, but the 27-year-old plans to return in 2021.
Name random players who could play on the Nationals followed by saying that the Nationals aren’t interested in them. Maybe Schwarber. That’s about it.
Hard to be the sneaky “mystery team” when the papers keep talking about you.
Nats have a good history of pulling off trades and signings that were not in the news. They keep a tight rein on rumors. So probably don’t believe the ones you read about.
Feels like Nats window is closing. Braves are class of division. Mets and Marlins are rising and now that Dombrowski is in Philly, they are poised to make big moves. Beyond Soto and Turner, Nats just feel old. Flags do fly forever though.
Marlins are still far away. They have a AAA lineup out there.
I think the Phillies are as well if they are in fact “retooling.”
Yeah, the AAA Marlins are far away alright. You mean that AAA Marlins team that went to the playoffs and left the last place Mets in the dust last year. The same Mets team you insisted was going to light up the NL East. Im not sure why people refer to Fox News and MSNBC as biased. When compared to you, they look absolutely unbiased and middle-of-the-road..
When the Nats are in last place next year I’ll be looking for you in the comments lol
I don’t see the Nats finishing in last place next year. The team already gets a huge boost with the return of Stras. While they have lost some pop in the linup several players who opted out like current number 4 starter Joe Ross are also returning.. All of these returns have no to minimal impact on Payroll, If the Nats do an extension for say two years with Mad Max the rotation is in good shape for at least two more years.
On the infield the emergence of Garcia was more than encouraging. He was not producing at star level but he was an asset with upside at the MLB level last year and maintains their infield flexibility
The fact is the whole division has improved. Anyone who says they know at this point what will happen is blowing smoke [insert joke here]
I was joking. I got marlins in last place. I really don’t think the Nats will finish above the Braves or Mets. And I’m pretty confident about that tbh.
I understand,
My point overall is this is a crap shoot with the medical staff being the key to any NLEast teams success this year
Metsfan22, need you to keep talking trash about The Nats. What usually happens in the future is completely opposite from your foam finger fan predictions. Keep up the good work,
I hope Garcia is in AAA next year.
On paper anyway, the Mets will be the best team in the division by a wide margin come Spring (or Summer?) Training. Losing Ozuna — if that’s what happens — will hurt the Braves a lot, although their rotation should be healthier. But if the Mets go out and get Bauer or Springer (which seems inevitable) plus a couple nice other pieces, they’re pretty clearly the 2nd best roster in the NL after L.A.
Braves losing Ozunas bat in that lineup is a big deal but lots of offseason left. Braves need push the chips in this year.
I love the Mets as much of the next but until they lose the division the Braves should be favorites. But next year the Mets could be the new leaders of the east.
I agree, love the Mets but Braves run a good franchise, their core players make them contenders for years to come but so do the mets
By a wide margin? Are you just assuming the braves don’t add anyone while also assuming the mets will just add springer or bauer? Even if it did go that way, I think I’d still take the braves.
The NLE in 2021 is clearly the Braves and everyone else..
Not really
Springer AND Bauer are already on the Mets apparently!
So you think the the Mets are the only team that is in on Springer and Bauer? The Mets are doing a lot of chirping this off season and the new owner is trying to be a bad a^^ like the Yankees. McCann is an average to below average Catcher but he won’t make a huge difference. The Mets are just all talk so far.
I still like the braves as of now. I am not sold on the Mets aquiring Springer or Baur, let alone both. Just have a feeling that the Mets will gladly spend money, but it has to be value. A lot of teams in on those 2 so might take stupid money to get them. If not and Mets get them both then yeah, they are right there with the braves. Braves need Ozuna or close replacement.
Nats shouldn’t have signed Stras. Bad contract for them. Hard to rebuild when you have Soto so they are all in. But 3Rd best team in division at best, worse if their pitchers start to show their age or wear.
No I still like the Braves but the way the guy made it seem is just not true. Mets are closer to Braves than most of those fans want to admit.
Or…the mets are further away than YOU want to admit.
On paper with your additions? Because on paper now I see a Mets team that just lost cano and still might have the worst defense in the league. Yeah they have money but I think you are jumping the gun on how good the Mets are.
I also see a Braves team who lost one of their best hitters and only have 3 good hitters rn. When I say good I mean players that I’m worried about.
Ik two of them are elite but the Mets lineup rn would be better than the Braves lineup.
Lol no way 2 mvp Candidates in the line up plus Ozzie, Swanson and D’arnaud are all above average bats not elite but 100% above average. Not to mention Pache a top ten overall prospect in all over baseball starting this year.
Braves arguably have a top 5 rotation in baseball. The Mets have good pitchers but your a world behind the Braves. Look at the Mets team stats compared to the Braves your talking about the difference between the number one team in the division compared to maybe the 3rd best team in the division that’s just by the stats.
The Mets have a better lineup than the Braves and the Mets will likely add two starters. Idk if the Braves will replace Ozuna bat. You could very well lose the division to the Mets
“Everything will go awesome for the mets and bad for the braves and that’ll make my fantasy come true!”
Stop embarrassing yourself. The Mets will not be the best team in the NL East in ’21, and no one right now has them even making the playoffs. They finished 9 GB The Braves in a severely shortened season. Over a 162 game schedule, that would be 20+ GB The Braves, who had the worst luck regarding injuries to starting pitchers. Just because you’re drunk doesn’t mean that fat chick there in the bar is Rachel McAdams.
Its closed if they don’t add at least 2 quality bats.
@Boe….If Robles and Kieboom can improve at the MLB level, that thinking may premature.
Or maybe they only won in 2019 with the baby shark energy and you’re not that far off
If Nats fill holes they will be WS contenders. If not we save money and we will save big until soto and trea are free agents then build big when resigned
Nats still have Yan Gomes behind the plate and even if they lose Suzuki they could find a left handed hitter to pair him with (Avila, Castro, Vogt)
There are plenty of inexpensive First Base options. Starlin Castro will figure into one of either 2B or 3B depending on how the Nats wish to proceed with Kieboom. They need help in the OF because even though Adam Eaton and Michael Taylor didn’t exactly set the world on fire they gave them depth. Andrew Stevenson would be the Right Fielder if the season started today
Gomes said he was told to expect to play 100 games. Which might be most of the season.
If you want a miserable spoiled fan base, you spend big every year, and if you want a miserable fan base, you don’t.
They’ve wanted Ross to be something for what feels like a decade now-
This should be a good market to pick off some 1 yr band-aids for Wash tho- I dont see many, if any multi yr deals coming from this org…I think they have a lot to evaluate in this short window and want to keep it tight right now
I wonder if out at the break they put Max on the market……. He’d get a nice fetch no doubt and would have plenty of suitors
Sorry whyhay was suppose to be stand alone post, dont know why its under your thread
Max is up there in years and he has a back ended deal with enough deferred future dollars that would choke a whale. He’s untradeable.
You might think that a player is “untradeable”, but when you see David Price get traded with Mookie Betts you see how to add salary to a deal.
That’s not how deferred dollars work. The Nats are already on the hook for the portion of deferred dollars associated his first 6 years of the contract. The new team would only be responsible for his current 7th year salary and deferred dollars associated with that year if they traded for him now.
He’s an ace on a reasonable one year contract, they don’t take on all the deferred money.
Untradeable you say? Andrew Freidman has entered the chat.
Thank you Joe you saved me the time –
The new team at deadline would owe about 12~13 mill to Max for the rest of the year and thats it –
Now if their out by then, I see it a strong possibility and something I thnk about 15 other teams would have strong interest in (providing hes still regular Mad Max)
His contract ends in 2021. The money has all been counted against payroll already despite cash being deferred. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Didn’t see your response before I added mine. You are correct. Same for the Corbin deal.
I’d be in on Pederson and Moreland. Schwarber possible. Maybe trade for Bell if price is right. He is awful at 1st but nice gambling on his bat bouncing back. Tons of pitchers, I would bring in 2 cheap ones.
Love Rizzo. Like any good GM, he uses the media to send smoke signals to agents. Don’t put too much stock into what he tells reporters. But there’s no denying that they need a big bat to protect Soto in the lineup. We saw how pitchers began pitching him differently after Howie went down.
It would okay if Turner is the cleanup hitter.
Andrew Stevenson can and will be in the Nats starting lineup next season. They will sign some .5 WAR veteran just to appease the fan base and will be benched by the second month of the season, being outplayed by Stevenson. He will then out produce KeBryan Hayes on Pit. Mark it dude.
You were over the line. Sorry Smoky this a league game!
Rizzo seems to have an obsession with over the hill veterans. My prediction is he will sign Ryan Braun + Neil Walker and think the offense is fixed.
OK, what?! Rizzo is going to sign a .5 WAR veteran to appease the fan base? If you want to “appease” the fan base, than why would you sign a measly .5 WAR veteran? And if Andrew The Stork Stevenson is going to be in the starting lineup as you say, mind telling us why Rizzo just ID’d corner OF as a “position of need”.
Because that’s what he does! But the signee will get outplayed and Stevenson will take over. This is a league game, there are rules!
Nats have a window closing and theyve got enough on the line with giving playing time to unproven kids like Kieboom & Garcia. Stephenson can wait til after the window closes. And even then the most starting time he’ll probably ever see is either due to an injury to a starter, or because he joined a county softball league.
Nats should sign Joe Mauer and Pudge
If only all big money contracts could age like a fine wine like Max Scherzer.. funny how it worked out even longer with his deferred salary.
Just took a walk through Washington Nationals payroll of the future and now I completely understand why they are continuing to go for it. The bill for all those big contracts with deferred money is coming up due and it’s nasty.
2023 Scherzer- $15M
Strasburg- $23.5M
Corbin- $45M
2024 Scherzer- $15M
Strasburg- $23.5M
Corbin- $35M
2025 Scherzer- $15M
Strasburg- $23.5M
That 2023 money might be larger than the Devil Rays entire payroll for that year all by itself. The deferrals keep going on for a while because the 2025 money to Strasburg doesn’t start until a little later.
If anyone doubts me, I used spotrack to total the numbers as well as a couple articles from CBS and USA Today to understand what I was looking at a little better.
Believe it or not, I don’t feel like bashing the Nationals for this. They won a world series and have maintained a playoff window that goes all the way back to 2012 and despite their last place finish I still think they are a playoff threat. I can’t dismiss the Nationals because of their 2020 season, particularly when they ended that shortened season taking 7 wins out of their last 9 games.
The Nationals should go for it. They kind of have too.
They will. The nats were 19-31 and can pull of another miracle.
Sorry but you have the numbers wrong. The Scherzer contract ends after 2021. The numbers you cite are deferred cash that he will be getting for the next seven years. However the money was already counted against payroll in prior years.
Of the oft mentioned higher profile Free Agents there are 2 sleeper [as far as the media] that have some roster flexibility that fit the Nationals potential roster needs.
Joc Pederson is a corner Outfielder whom the Dodgers indulged in a stint at first base in 2019. Pederson requested the opportunity, so there is a desire to try it. The Nationals could develop him over a longer period using him in the OF at first. As he learns the position he can be eased into a platoon.
Similarly, Kyle Shwarber has some experience behind the plate. At the very least he could become the emergency catcher and could be developed into a back up with pop.
I will acknowledge at this point that both did not do well enough in their original stints at these position to play them in MLB. But this post is just fodder for pondering
In 2019 Pedersons OPS vs RHP was .920 and vs LHP was .505. He looks lost vs RHP
Typo on my comment about Pederson. He looks lost vs LHP.
Braves are the class of the division, and it really isn’t that close. Put the other four teams in a hat. You can make a case for any of the other teams for next best. Of course, winning the division guarantees nothing in the playoffs, as we saw in 2019.
Rizzo should be looking to trade either Scherzer or Stratsburg along with Trea Turner to the Yankees for G. Torres, D. Garcia, M. Andujar and 2-3 more top young prospects. Then take some of the money saved and spend it on pitching. The Nats need to spend less on starting pitching. They got the World Series once by doing it but it is not always gonna work.
The Nats’ window is still open, and Rizzo is not looking to trade away 3 of his most important players. Check back next year.
Hard to trade Strasburg with the salary and injury history. Trade Scherzer if they are out of it.