The Nationals announced this morning that they’ve selected the contracts of right-hander Matt Barnes, outfielder Eddie Rosario, and outfielder Jesse Winker. In corresponding moves, right-hander Mason Thompson and left-hander Jose A. Ferrer have been placed on the 60-day injured list. The club’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.
That Barnes made the roster is hardly a surprise. A veteran of ten major league seasons, the 33-year-old is coming off a down season with the Marlins that saw him struggle to a 5.48 despite a decent 4.15 FIP. Prior to his down 2023 campaign, however, Barnes had long been one of the more reliable late-inning relief arms in the game with the Red Sox. Barnes posted a 3.91 ERA with a 3.42 FIP from 2016 to 2022, striking out an excellent 31.3% of batters faced during that time while walking 11.3%. Those seven seasons saw the right-hander pick up 47 saves and 96 holds as a mainstay toward the back of the club’s bullpen. Barnes figures to receive another chance at a late-inning role in D.C. now that he’s made the team, where he’ll compete for high-leverage work with fellow veteran arms Hunter Harvey and Tanner Rainey ahead of closer Kyle Finnegan.
That both Rosario and Winker made the roster is somewhat more surprising. After all, both are defensively limited left-handed hitters who profile best as part of a platoon. That overlap didn’t deter the Nationals from rostering them both, however, and both outfielders certainly have a case to make the roster in isolation. Rosario has typically been a roughly average hitter throughout his career, as exemplified by him .255/.305/.450 with a wRC+ of exactly 100 in 142 games with the Braves last year. Those numbers are more or less in line with his career output of .268/.305/.460 (102 wRC+), though its worth noting that his career numbers are dragged down somewhat by a brutal 2022 season that saw him hit a paltry .212/.259/.328 while he battled vision problems. That issue appears to have been rectified by a laser eye procedure, however, and Rosario seems to be a good bet to produce average numbers as a regular in left field, even as his 23.6% strikeout rate last year is a far cry from the 16.5% figure he posted during his peak seasons with the Twins from 2017 to 2020.
As for Winker, the 30-year-old was among the more productive hitters in the league during his five-year tenure with the Reds, slashing an excellent .288/.385/.504 in 413 games from 2017-21, which included an All Star nod during the 2021 season. Winker was shipped to the Mariners ahead of the 2022 season, however, and took a step back at the plate during his time with the club as he hit a roughly league average .219/.344/.344 during his time with the club. Winker fell even further upon being traded to the Brewers prior to last year, as he struggled to a .199/.320/.247 slash line while battling neck injuries. While Winker doesn’t offer the same reliable production as Rosario, he could be the far more impactful bat if he can regain the form he enjoyed during his time with the Reds.
With young outfielders Alex Call and Jacob Young having been optioned to Triple-A last night and manager Davey Martinez telling reporters (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post) that Stone Garrett will begin the season on the injured list, however, the club clearly feels comfortable entering the season with an outfield mix that will prominently feature both Rosario and Winker. With Lane Thomas and Victor Robles entrenched as regular options in right and center field, respectively, Winker and Rosario will join first baseman Joey Gallo as left-handed hitters in the club’s lineup with Joey Meneses serving as a right-handed complement to all three. Assuming Gallo will be afforded regular at bats at first base, that would leave at least one of Rosario or Winker to remain in the lineup against left-handed hitters. Given Winker’s abysmal .205/.321/.338 slash line against southpaws, it seems likely that the bulk of starts against lefties will go to Rosario, at least until Garrett returns from the injured list.
That Ferrer and Thompson will start the season on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. Thompson is rehabbing Tommy John surgery while Ferrer is dealing with a back strain that Martinez (as relayed by Nusbaum) has indicated will keep him from throwing for another 4-6 weeks.
The way that MLB the Show handles roster moves is maddening. You cannot make an offer to free agents without first clearing a roster spot as if one thing has to do with another. Then you need to make two selections before placing the free agent on your ML roster. First you she’s to go in the menu to put him on the 40 man then go back in the menu to promote him to the majors. Promote to majors should automatically place him on the 40 man, but if you click that you get an error telling you he must first go on the 40 man roster.
Theres moves all the time when guys sign and the 40 man is full. You’re thinking during the season.
It won’t allow you to submit an offer if the 40 man is full. That’s the issue with how the game is set up.
You should be playing out of the park baseball if you want to truly control all aspects of running a baseball franchise. Although its only on PC. (or steam deck). I enjoy MLB the Show for actually playing (video game) baseball but OOTP is the best franchise sim Ive ever played.
Awww poor Cyrano.
If you are selecting 3 veterans to your team this is pretty decent.
Can’t be woist than Gallo though….both
Winker can’t be any worse than he was last year. Appalling that he wasn’t released
Still glad to see Jesse get another shot at the big show. Even more happy that it’s not with the Reds.
If this was 2018, there would be reason to get excited for Nats fans.
What about Derek Law?
Law made the team. The final spot is between prospect Trey Lipscomb and rule five draftee Edwin Nunez, who has looked terrible this spring.
Law’s a good pitcher. Was sad to see the Reds non-tender him.
Winker has looked good this spring. Hopefully he is fully over his injuries and can get back to near what he was in Cincy. He was fun to watch there. If he does he will def be a flippable piece. If he plays like he did last year they can cut him and won’t be out a ton. Good flier.
Plus the bit about being crushed from being separated from his newborn kid (I think that’s what Rosencrans suggested). He seems to have a bit of moxie that a rebuilding team needs. I genuinely wish him good luck.
What’s going on with the Stephen Strasburg situation? He’s still listed on the 40-man roster and not the 60-day IL.
“What’s going on”…I don’t understand why they cannot come to a Strasburg buyout resolution. He’s done playing and they still have to pay him, but I don’t understand why he won’t take a 10%(or so)discount to be done with the charade of “rehabbing” to play again. This happens in the NBA all the time.
While on the IL he gets full salary, Would you take 10% to stay home or 100%? It’s not his job to provide salary relief.
I don’t understand how Winker fell off so hard. He was well above average offensively for a while and as soon as he left Chicago it all fell apart. There has to be something there, right?
Emotional hangover? Hard to be that ill-tempered without suffering some emotional baggage after the fact. Kinda like PTSD.
Winning a World Series only to have a .433, .401, .340, and .438 winning percentage the next four years is criminally inept
“Winning the World Series” – you can stop there. Talk to fans of better teams such as the Yankees, Mets, Orioles, Brewers, Twins, Padres, etc. Would they trade results for the last 5 years? They should want to. The Nats are recovering, and Flags Fly Forever.
Every team you mentioned outdrew the Nats last year. I’d say the fan bases of those teams show up with the legitimate hope of winning and to see competitive baseball year after year. They don’t buy a ticket to a game just to see a flag from 2019 blowing in the wind.
Rooting for the Washington ex-Reds: Senzel, Winker and Young.
I don’t think Jacob Young was ever in the Reds organization. But Josiah Gray and Tanner Rainey were both Reds prospects. And Derek Law pitched for Cincy last year and may still end up on the Nats this season.
Don’t forget Dylan Floro, a former Red.
Professionals doing professional things. Sometimes you can’t discount what experience can do for a team.
Winker the wanker.
For whatever it’s worth, Winker has had his best spring training since 2021, which was also his last good season so maybe the Nats will luck out with him this season
If Robles gets ends injured they’d call up Young or Call as a replacement. But who’s the backup CF if they need just a few innings or a couple of games? Lane Thomas? Nick Senzel?
Rosario. He’s been taking reps there during spring training. Notice I didn’t say he was a good option, just an option.
Winker going from the hitters park in Cincinnati to Seattle and people are surprised his hitting fell off?
There no way a decrease that huge is only because of park, unless we are talking Vinnie Castilla or some other older Rockie.
Frankly I find the opposite to be true, that the only real surprise is Barnes and the other two were a given, but this is WAS we are talking about. I mean Winker could be somewhat surprising too, but Nats like trying to get value from those type of players, possibly to trade them.
I mean I know people dislike Rosario as a player but how many league average players does WASH have? If he was decent enough to be on Braves last year surely we shouldn’t be remotely surprised WASH selected his contract.
I agree. Other than Lane Thomas, Meneses (as a hitter) and maybe Abrams are about the only league average players they really have.
James Wood is going to force his way into this OF by May if he keeps hitting anywhere close to the way he did all spring training. He struggled a bit in AA last season, but he looked like the real deal this spring. Too early to call him the left handed Aaron Judge, but it’s hard not to see the comparisons.