The Nationals have taken a trio of players off the 40-man roster. Infielder Michael Chavis, outfielder Blake Rutherford and reliever Hobie Harris all cleared outright waivers, according to Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (X link). Rutherford and Chavis have elected minor league free agency, as is their right as players who have been outrighted multiple times in their careers.
Chavis signed a minor league pact with the Nats last offseason. He made the Opening Day roster and ultimately in 48 games as a depth infielder. Over 96 plate appearances, the former highly-regarded Red Sox prospect hit .242/.281/.341 with a pair of home runs. He struck out at a 34.4% clip.
The 28-year-old has appeared in parts of five seasons at the highest level. He logged 129 games with the Pirates a year ago, his heaviest workload to date. Chavis is a career .238/.283/.401 hitter in a little under 1200 trips to the dish. He can play any of first, second or third base. He would have been eligible for arbitration had the Nats kept him on the roster. Now that he’s back on the open market, he could find minor league interest this winter.
Rutherford is a former Yankees first-round draftee who reached the big leagues this past season. The lefty-swinging outfielder had hit .336/.393/.571 in 74 games between Washington’s top two affiliates after singing an offseason minor league deal. The 26-year-old was selected to the majors for the first time in early August. He got into 16 games, hitting .171/.194/.171 across 36 plate appearances.
Harris is also a one-time Yankee draft choice who debuted with Washington in 2023. The 30-year-old righty pitched in 16 games, allowing 12 runs (11 earned) through 19 1/3 innings. He walked 13 while striking out nine. Harris had a 5.57 ERA while striking out 15.2% of batters faced across 32 1/3 frames at Triple-A Rochester. This is his first career outright, but he has sufficient minor league service time to become a free agent at the start of the offseason.
Washington needed to clear three 40-man spots within five days of the end of the World Series to clear space for players returning from the 60-day injured list. They’ll go into the winter with the roster at capacity.
Makes sense, those three are merely depth players.
Chavis and Rutherford… trade your prospects if they aren’t rated 1 or 2 in your system.
Rutherford never deserved to be a ranked prospect. And he’s proven that by never improving.
Rutherford is former 1st rounder w/yankees
yeah it sort of says that in the article
Wakey wakey bring back Blakey
Clarence (Lumpy) Rutherford is also no longer on the 40 man roster….
Does anyone get claimed from waivers this time of year?
Chavis broke camp with these guys and managed 96 PA??? If I were the Nats I would’ve at least tried to see if he could catch fire during the first half and deal him for anything, much like they did with Candelario
He was on the squad literally all year too. Maybe the least I’ve seen a guy used ever.
Call the White Sox, they’ll be interested, you might start, who knows
Another Yankee 1st round bust. One day they’re going to start actually developing their young players.
Nationals have 42 guys on the 40 man, counting free agent to be Carl Edwards Jr. That means they only need to clear 1 more spot after the World Series. Plenty of guys left to move on from so that shouldn’t be difficult.
I liked Chavis when he first came up. Played with a lot of heart and emotion. Seemed to genuinely appreciate becoming a MLger. You would think that with all the teams he has played for in both the Majors and Minors, someone would have figured out the pitch recognition issue with him and corrected it.
Time to bring back the Ice Horse!
Oh, what a monumental day for baseball! The Nationals have taken out the trash by outrighting Michael Chavis, Blake Rutherford, and Hobie Harris. I mean, who wouldn’t want a career .238 hitter with a whopping 34.4% strikeout rate on their team? And let’s not forget about Rutherford, who graced us with his .171 batting average and a slugging percentage that could only be described as “zero.” But wait, there’s more! Hobie Harris, the 30-year-old legend, with his 5.57 ERA and an impressive 15.2% strikeout rate in Triple-A, is now a free agent. I’m sure teams are lining up to sign these future Hall of Famers as we speak. The baseball world will never be the same without them!
…and they still did more on a major league baseball field then you ever will. So whose the real trashbag in this scenario?
@Tom the ray fan
While it’s important to respect the achievements of professional athletes, it’s also essential to acknowledge that critiquing a team’s performance or a player’s actions is a part of sports discourse. Everyone is entitled to express their opinions, and professional athletes and teams are not exempt from criticism when they don’t meet expectations. It’s all in the spirit of passionate sports fandom and healthy debate.
so what exactly is so different in Tom’s reply to OldYork from OldYork’s comment that caused you to call out Tom?
aren’t they both engaging in healthy debate in the spirit of passionate sports fandom?
sure, Tom implied OldYork might be trash related and has no redeeming sports history to make note of, but Old York brought that into the conversation by referring to several MLB players as “trash” in the first place.
you might be ‘right’ in calling out Tom, but i’d say that you’re hypocritical to leave out OldYork as both of them may have crossed the line of “healthy debate” into personal attacks.. but it’s all subjective isn’t it?
Dang… Rutherford was a 5 star future hall of famer.
Drafting kids out of high school is such a crap shoot. They are playing against high schoolers, and the scouts have to project how much will grow and mature over 3 to 5 years, and project how they might be able to handle MLB pitching and batters. Obviously there are way more misses than guys who are every day MLB starters.
Red Sox 2014 draft
Chavis has been a bench player for most of his career. The only other notable players from that draft were Kopech (traded to the White Sox in the Sale trade, and Beeks traded to TB for Nathan Eovaldi before the 2018 World Series.
1 26 Michael Chavis
SS, Sprayberry (GA) HS $1,870,500 $1,870,500 Clemson 21 26 20
1 33 Michael Kopech
RHP, Mt. Pleasant (TX) HS $1,678,000 $1,500,000 Arizona 41 37 48
2 67 Sam Travis
1B, Indiana JR $846,800 $846,800 — 63 56 66
3 103 Jake Cosart
RHP, Seminole St. JC1 $509,400 $450,000 — 99 97 102
4 134 Kevin McAvoy
RHP, Bryant JR $377,600 $300,000 — — — 356
5 164 Josh Ockimey
1B, Neuman-Goretti (PA) HS $282,800 $450,000 Indiana — — —
6 194 Danny Mars
CF, Chipola JC2 $211,800 $211,800 Florida
State — 338 200
7 224 Reed Reilly
RHP, Cal Poly-SLO JR $163,500 $107,500 — 156 181 229
8 254 Ben Moore
C, Alabama JR $152,700 $152,700 — — 315 315
9 284 Kevin Steen
RHP, Oak Ridge (TN) HS $142,600 $255,000 Tennessee — — 467
10 314 Cole Sturgeon
OF, Lousiville SR $137,600 $10,000 — — — —
11 344 Karsten Whitson
RHP, Florida JR $100,000 $100,000
$0 — — 290 140
12 374 Jalen Beeks
LHP, Arkansas JR $100,000 $150,000
$50,000 — 174 125 364
13 404 Chandler Shepherd
RHP, Kentucky JR $100,000 $90,000
$0 — — 372 286
14 434 Jordan Procyshen
C, N. Kentucky JR $100,000 $50,000
$0 — — — —
15 464 Trenton Kemp
CF, Buchanan (CA) HS $100,000 $250,000
$150,000 Fresno
State 111 — 398
16 494 Michael Gunn
LHP, Arkansas JR $100,000 <$100,000
$0 — — 337 —
17 524 Jeremy Rivera
SS, El Paso CC JC1 $100,000 <$100,000
$0 — — — —