1:14pm: The Nationals have officially announced their signing of Dickerson.
7:30am: The Nationals and free-agent outfielder Corey Dickerson are in agreement on a one-year deal worth $2.25MM, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The Excel Sports Management client can earn another $750K via performance incentives. The Nats Report first reported that Dickerson and the Nationals were in agreement on a deal.
Dickerson, 33, will join his eighth big league team with this agreement — and his third in the National League East, having played prior stints with both the Phillies (2019) and Marlins (2020-21). His 2022 season was spent with the Cardinals, where he logged a .267/.300/.399 slash with six homers, 17 doubles and a triple in 297 plate appearances. That slash is at least somewhat skewed by an awful start to the season which saw him bat .180/.237/.213 through his first 97 plate appearances; from June 1 through the end of the 2022 campaign, Dickerson recorded 200 trips to the plate and posted a hefty .307/.330/.484 batting line.
In reality, Dickerson’s true talent level likely lies somewhere between the two extremes. The 2017 All-Star and 2018 Gold Glove winner is a lifetime .281/.324/.481 hitter but has settled in closer to a league-average bat since the 2020 season, slashing .266/.313/.403 in 872 turns at the plate.
The left-handed-hitting Dickerson carries a fairly sharp platoon split, with the majority of his power coming versus right-handed pitching. Dickerson’s 25.8% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate against lefties are also demonstrably worse than his respective 18.9% and 6.1% marks when holding the platoon advantage. Overall, Dickerson has held his own in terms of batting average against lefties (.259) but has paired that with a bleak .299 on-base percentage and just a .394 slugging percentage. Against righties, however, he’s slashed .287/.331/.505.
For a rebuilding Nationals squad with an all-right-handed-hitting outfield of Alex Call, Victor Robles and Lane Thomas, adding Dickerson on an affordable one-year deal is eminently sensible. His days as a center fielder should be behind him, but Dickerson can take plate appearances against right-handed pitching off the plates of each of his new fellow outfielders. Robles, in particular, was anemic against righties in 2022, slashing just .188/.238/.258 in 240 plate appearances. It’s also worth noting that Call was a 27-year-old rookie in 2022, and while his production in the upper minors (and in his 47-game MLB debut) certainly merited the promotion, he’s not exactly locked in as an established, everyday big leaguer just yet.
Dickerson could also see some time at designated hitter, and the Nationals will surely mix in 2022 breakout slugger Joey Menseses — another right-handed hitter. Meneses could log time at first base, spelling recent signee Dominic Smith against lefties, and he’s an option in the outfield corners and at designated hitter.
There should be plenty of at-bats to go around, and given the short big league track records of Call, Thomas and Meneses — to say nothing of Robles’ continued offensive struggles that now span the past three seasons — Dickerson should fit in nicely and raise the floor for a lineup that’s light on proven hitters. He’ll also give the Nationals a potential trade chip at the deadline. Dickerson alone isn’t going to fetch a prominent, top-tier prospect, but he can still net the Nats some minor league talent if he’s healthy and performing well.
With Dickerson in the fold, the Nationals’ payroll will inch beyond the $104MM mark. It’s a far cry from the $197MM Opening Day payroll the team trotted out in 2019, when they went on to win the World Series. However, this iteration of the Nationals is more focused on building up the farm and setting the stage for future seasons, and the front office’s rebuilding effort is taking place in conjunction with ownership’s exploration of a potential sale of the team.
Be that as it may, the generally slashed payroll leaves the Nats with plenty of latitude for additional spending, should further deals to their liking present themselves. Beyond Dickerson, Washington has thus far agreed to Major League deals with the aforementioned Smith (one year, $2MM), third baseman Jeimer Candelario (one year, $5MM), swingman Erasmo Ramirez (one year, $1MM) and right-hander Trevor Williams (two years, $13MM) in free agency. There’s still room for another veteran starter, and the bullpen has plenty of uncertainty that could be offset by the addition of a more reliable name.
Thought him or Belt were both good fits for Jays DH at bats.
J’s Signed Belt
Saw that prior to commenting. Was just saying before the signing I thought either made sense for the RHP DH at bats.
For the price of Belt wouldve prefered Dickerson
Forever-Pirates-hittter-who-hits-ball-in-the-dirt-while-actually-getting-a-hit-.-
Burleson is ready for his spot and it’s just a matter of time before Walker is in STL so barring a trade there was no room for him.
Makes no sense why the Cardinals didn’t resign him for such a miniscule amount of money.
I was thinking the same thing. In today’s baseball, 2.5 mil is nothing. He had a good year with the Cardinals so there could be another reason why they didn’t re-sign him.
He didn’t have a good year with the Cardinals. An outfielder with limited defense who can’t muster a .700 OPS? No sense paying such a player
Agreed that he did not have a good year with Cardinals. He couldn’t hit at all the first month of season, then got injured when they really needed him. After Nootbaar made his spot redundant, he came back and had a fantastic week where at one point he had something like 11 straight hits. Then he finished the year doing ok in limited at bats and swinging at everything. The final numbers are ok because of that one brief streak but overall he was underwhelming.
Spot on. His presence only muddied the waters. It was a bad signing from the start. Noot had earned a chance to play everyday with a strong finish in ’21 and instead we wasted 2 months force feeding at bats to Dickerson. He got super hot in August (like everyone else in the lineup) and faded throughout September. No value as a defender. We would have been better served all season giving his AB’s to younger players.
There is a reason he has been on 8 different teams.
Its called “veteran presence”
The reason he’s played for so many teams is twofold
He’s in demand and is inexpensive
He’s cheap and has a career .280+ AVG low K rate and 120 WRC+ against RHP
Absolutely correct. I always liked Dickerson; early on it appeared that he had a shot at being a very good full time player, but he basically evolved into a a strong side of the platoon bat in the corner OF. Used to play an average to slightly plus level on defense as well although that has probably gone backwards with age.
His splits on the strong side are very solid, he is a pro and as pointed out he is inexpensive. He probably chose the Nats for playing time over other offers.
Wow. Don’t get this. He had to of had a comparable offer or 2 from teams competing in 23? Unless the Nats guaranteed him regular not platoon action? Nice pick up Nats.
Cheap cheap! Cheap cheap!
I’ve always liked Corey as a player. He’ll give you solid at bats and good effort.
Hmmm. I suppose Rizzo feels he got a decent journeyman at a good price somewhat late in the offseason, who can also offer some veteran presence. Hope it works out.
White Sox probably could have used him as a platoon over right field, but who knows what’s going on in that front office. I guess they’re all in on Colas in right ffield.
I didn’t realize Erasmo Ramirez was this cheap! Idk how Texas spends so much on guys they don’t need, like Eovaldi and then nothing on arb-rate above average guys they could use. Obviously, it has been an amazing offseason regardless, but still.
So who will lose his 40-man spot to Dickerson? Could be Call or Garrett, or maybe one of the pitchers. Nationals can eventually move Rainey and maybe Strasburg onto the 60-day IL but not until Spring Training begins.
Abbott or one of the RPs… signing Dickerson gives guys like Call/Garrett/Chavis more opportunity against LHP.. he’s a platoon player
Garrett has a major league deal.
Garrett has options. Meaning they can still start him in the minors possibly
He’s a solid ball player that surely has a spot on any roster, especially at this cost. Not a bad move
Dickerson is short for Richarderson which is the R in WAR
LH DH and mentor on young team. Not terrible and if he hits anything can be flipped at the deadline
I have been a fan of him since Colorado…. when he went to the Pirates, he proved that his batting average in Coors was no joke…. he is actually on his 4th NL East team… and he’ll do well if he gets into more than 100 games this season instead of just the 96 he played with the Red Birds…..
This dude loves the NL east
So no more playing time for Yadiel Hernández? Offensively seems like a wash, but Dickerson a better outfielder. I liked watching Yadiel, but I’d rather see one or two more wins.
I would like to see him go to the braves. (Ima a braves fan btw) but losing freeman,Swanson and Contreras. I think we need another big bat for more insurance.
I kinda wish he would go to the braves