The Nationals have avoided arbitration with outfielder Victor Robles and right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey, the team announced. Robles, 26, was eligible for his final year of arbitration, while Rainey, 30, will be arbitration-eligible one last time next winter.
Rainey will earn $1.5MM in 2024 (per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post), which doesn’t come as any surprise; he made the same salary this past season in a year almost completely lost to injury, and arbitration-eligible players rarely receive raises after lost seasons. No dollar value has been reported for Robles, although he was projected to earn $2.7MM in arbitration. The center fielder made $2.325MM last year, and the Nationals turned down a $3.3MM club option for his services in 2024. His new deal most likely falls somewhere in between those two figures.
Around the end of the regular season, Washington agreed to a contract with veteran utilityman Ildemaro Vargas, who was eligible for his second year of arbitration. The team now has four players who could still go to arbitration this winter: outfielder Lane Thomas, closer Kyle Finnegan, set-up man Hunter Harvey, and former top prospect Luis Garcia. The Nationals have already DFA’d several arb-eligible players ahead of the non-tender deadline on November 17, including first baseman Dominic Smith, right-handed reliever Victor Arano, and utility player Michael Chavis.
Surprised Robles didnt get non- tendered
If I were the nats id tender him a contract. I’d want to see what he can do with the new rule changes. Plus, how many outfielders are available that can play passable CF? Bader will probably make 4-5x what Robles gets this year, and I’d rather have Robles. Fewer years and fewer dollars, plus if he is doodoo it’s easy to cut him.
His arbitration calculation had him owing the nats 130k based on his performance last year
Based on my calculations, the nationals owe taxpayers and local businesses $35.6 million based on their performance last year. Too few tourists to watch a baseball team equivalent of a dog turd rolling down a hill.
Attendance was down for sure, but compared with the rest of MLB, the Nats have never been the biggest draw.
Even when they were good they weren’t cracking the top 10 (No. 11 in a couple of years during the last competitive run from 2012-19).
And yeah, the team was not good, but it was like ambrosia after last year and the year before.
Other barriers to tourists seeing ballgames are stuff like games at 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, gotta change trains to get to Nats Park from the mall, still no great family-friendly pre-game options anywhere near the park, despite the sprawling build-outs of the last several years.
I don’t understand it either. Jacob Young and Robles had the same number of at bats this year playing the same position. Robles had four more plate appearances. Robles had a wins above replacement of -0.1. Young had a wins above replacement of 0.6. It just shows you he is not at all valuable.
The Stephen Strasberg contract is brutal. It’s going to be tough for the Nats to compete for a few years in that division with the Braves and Phillies.
The deal sending Soto to the Padres will help with rebuilding.
I can see them competing with the Phillies pretty quickly. In the new system, you can be kinda bad for long stretches and catch on fire in the post-season. Seen it before in Washington.
Robles can thank his lucky stars the Nats’ window isn’t open quite yet otherwise he’d be out there looking for a minors invite. This is your last shot, Victor. Make the most of it.