Nationals Option Dylan Crews
The Nationals announced that outfielder Dylan Crews has been optioned to Triple-A Rochester. That seems to set them up to have an Opening Day outfield mix consisting of James Wood, Jacob Young and Daylen Lile, perhaps with Joey Wiemer and/or Christian Franklin on the bench.
Crews, now 24, was once one of the top prospects in the league. The Nats took him with the second overall pick in the 2023 draft. He shot through the minors and was up in the big leagues by August of 2024, barely a year after being drafted. At that time, he was considered one of the five to ten best prospects in the whole league.
The shine has come off a bit since then as he hasn’t shown success at the major league level yet. He missed about three months of the 2025 season due to an oblique strain. To this point, he has 454 big league plate appearances with a .211/.282/.352 line. His defense has been good and he has already swiped 29 bags but the Nats clearly expected more offensively. Crews had a monster .380/.498/.689 line for Louisiana State University and then hit .275/.351/.455 in the minors before his 2024 call-up.
Despite his lack of major league success, it was expected that he would get some runway in 2026. The Nats are rebuilding and don’t plan to contend soon, as evidenced by their offseason deals of MacKenzie Gore and Jose A. Ferrer. But Crews put up an awful .103/.206/.103 line in spring training this year, striking out in 11 of his 34 plate appearances, a 32.4% clip.
It’s possible the demotion is about playing time, as Crews would ideally be getting regular reps to get back on track after his injury-marred 2025. At the big league level, Wood is one of the best players on the club and will certainly be out there. Young doesn’t hit much but is an elite defensive center fielder. Lile debuted last year and was rough on defense but hit .299/.347/.498.
Wiemer is a good fit as a fourth outfielder since he’s a strong defender and his right-handed bat could help him form a platoon with the lefty-swinging Lile. Franklin hasn’t yet made his major league debut but he’s considered a well-rounded player who is decent at just about everything, so he could slot into the mix in various ways if he makes the team, either as a defensive replacement, pinch hitter or pinch runner. Both Wiemer and Franklin are optionable, so it’s possible one of them ends up getting sent down in the coming days but the Nats also might roster five outfielders.
Jamming Crews into that mix would have perhaps meant taking a bit of playing time away from everyone, so the Nats have decided it best to let Crews rediscover himself at the Triple-A level. He will join Robert Hassell III in that regard. Hassell is also a former first round pick who has struggled at the major league level. He was optioned to the minors earlier this week.
The move could have implications for Crews, depending on how much time he ultimately spends down on the farm. He currently has one year and 35 days of service time. If he stayed up in the majors, he would be under club control through the 2030 season. If he spends about two months or more on optional assignment, he wouldn’t get to the two-year mark in 2026, therefore pushing his path to free agency by a year. His path to arbitration could also be impacted.
Those will be concerns to be worked out in the future. For now, the Nats and Crews need to find a way for him to reach his potential and establish himself as a major leaguer. As mentioned, the Nats don’t really hope to be good in 2026 but their future chances will improve if young players like Crews can take steps forward.
Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Imagn Images
Nationals Notes: Wood, Cavalli, Williams
Spring Training is a time for players to work at different positions in low-stakes settings. Perhaps the most interesting development from the first week of Nationals camp is that All-Star outfielder James Wood has made a couple starts in right field. Two of his first three Spring Training appearances have come at the position.
The 23-year-old has not played right field in a regular season MLB game. Wood had a little over 400 innings there in the minor leagues. He has been exclusively a left fielder or designated hitter over his season and a half in the majors.
Nats manager Blake Butera hasn’t made any declarations about a position change. There’s no harm in reintroducing Wood to the position even if they intend for him to see the majority of his regular season work in left. The Nationals didn’t get him any action in right field during Spring Training 2025.
Daylen Lile was the primary right fielder after he came up in May. Lile hit the ground running offensively, batting .299/.347/.498 through his first 91 MLB contests. It was a different story on the other side of the ball. Lile was among the worst defensive outfielders in the league. He’s a good athlete with plus speed but turned a handful of easy outs into hits with poor routes or questionable decisions to let catchable balls drop in front of him.
Lile made 21 starts in left field and 52 in right. He didn’t grade well at either position. Wood has also had poor defensive metrics, albeit not to the same extent. If the Nationals feel he’s the better corner defender of the two, they could prefer to have Wood in right field against lineups that skew left-handed. They’ll each get a decent amount of DH work as well.
Dylan Crews can play anywhere in the outfield, though he doesn’t have much left field experience in pro ball. Jacob Young is easily the team’s best outfield defender. He’ll be in center whenever he’s in the lineup but fits best in a fourth outfield role because of his light bat.
However the outfield sorts itself out, those four players all go into camp with spots on the MLB roster secured. That’s not true of many players on the pitching staff. Free agent signees Miles Mikolas and Foster Griffin join Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray as likely members of the season-opening rotation. Gray missed all of last season recovering from July 2024 internal brace surgery. Cavalli came back from Tommy John surgery of his own last year. He made 10 starts late in the season, pitching to a 4.25 ERA across 48 2/3 innings.
Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner wrote about the pitchers’ respective rehab processes this week. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni told reporters that Cavalli is “full go” this spring. That might also include a repertoire adjustment.
The 27-year-old righty said he worked with pitching coaches Simon Mathews and Sean Doolittle to incorporate a sweeper. Cavalli’s primary breaking ball is an 86 mph knuckle-curve that has more of a vertical shape. A sweeper would give him something with an east-west profile that he can run away from right-handed hitters. Cavalli tossed two scoreless innings in his exhibition debut this week.
Gray has yet to get into a Spring Training game, though he’s expected to be fully built up by Opening Day. If he secures the fourth starter role, that’d leave one spot available for a group including Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, Brad Lord, Andrew Alvarez and Jake Eder.
Veteran right-hander Trevor Williams is midway through his own surgical rehab. He underwent an internal brace procedure last July and figures to be out at least through the All-Star Break. As Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal wrote recently, Williams paused his throwing program and went for precautionary imaging after feeling some elbow soreness last weekend. It’s common for pitchers to have pauses along the way in their return from elbow ligament procedures. Butera downplayed the team’s concern on Saturday, though the Nationals haven’t provided any specifics on the MRI results.
The Nationals Need To Lean Further Into Their Rebuild
This wasn't how the Nationals hoped their rebuild would play out. When now-former GM Mike Rizzo traded Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers back in 2021, the hope was that dismantling a stacked roster could lead to an accelerated turnaround. In the span of just over a calendar year, Washington traded Scherzer, Turner and Juan Soto, in addition to short-term veterans like Kyle Schwarber, Jon Lester, Brad Hand, Yan Gomes, Daniel Hudson, Josh Harrison, Josh Bell, Jeimer Candelario, Dylan Floro and Hunter Harvey.
It obviously takes years to fully evaluate the extent of any given trade, but it's more than fair to say the slate of moves largely hasn't panned out. Rizzo's return for Soto/Bell has been terrific, with the Nats netting James Wood, MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana. The first four are current big leaguers -- the first three are stars or close to it -- and Susana is now a consensus top-100 pitching prospect. The trade of Lester brought back Lane Thomas, who was a solid regular for a few years before being traded to Cleveland last summer in a deal that netted the Nats current big league infielder Jose Tena and left-hander Alex Clemmey -- currently their No. 3 prospect at Baseball America. It's a nice return for one-plus seasons of Thomas.
The rest of the Nationals' haul, however, hasn't really panned out. Washington doesn't have any above-average regulars to show for the rest of that slate of trades. If they'd focused squarely on low-level minor leaguers who were still bubbling up to the top of a stacked farm system, that'd be one thing .... but it's not the case. Washington's farm system ranks 21st in the majors, per Baseball America, and that's after benefiting from the No. 1 pick in this summer's draft. ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranks their farm 22nd. The MLB.com team ranks them 23rd. For a last place team that's been rebuilding for more than four years, that's not sufficient.
Let's dive into what the Nats received from that group of trades, what critical decisions lie ahead in the offseason, and how boldly they could act in order to turn things around.
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Nationals Not Planning To Trade From Young Core At Deadline
It has been two weeks since the Nationals sent shockwaves through the organization by firing longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez. The timing of the shake-up (a week before the draft and within a month of the trade deadline) caught many by surprise, though it looks like the change in leadership won’t lead to any major changes in direction for the club’s deadline plans. Interim GM Mike DeBartolo told the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden and other reporters on Saturday that the Nats want to build around such players as James Wood, CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews, and MacKenzie Gore, rather than shop them at the deadline.
“I’m looking to keep the young, core group of our best players together,” DeBartolo said. “Certainly [with] my job, if someone calls, you always listen to what they have to say. But trading away our really high-quality young players is not something I’m looking to do right now.”
DeBartolo made a point of including Gore within “that group in terms of our young, really talented players,” noting that it’s “not a focus of mine to move him.” Gore is both slightly older (26) and closer to free agency than the other members of the core, as Gore has two more arbitration-eligible years remaining before hitting the open market after the 2027 season.
Because of this timeline and the fact that Gore is represented by Scott Boras, there has been speculation that the Nationals could shop Gore if they feel they won’t be able to sign the southpaw to a long-term extension. Selling high on Gore while he is in the midst of a career year would likely bring a big return back to Washington, as Gore would instantly become perhaps the most sought-after player at the deadline. On the other hand, as Golden writes, “moving out Gore also would send the message that the Nationals are taking a step back and aren’t ready to contend in the near future.”
[Related: Washington Nationals Trade Deadline Outlook, for MLBTR Front Office subscribers]
The same logic applies to an even greater extent to Abrams (controlled through 2028) and Wood and Crews (each controlled through 2030). Trading from this group would be tantamount to restarting the rebuild altogether, which doesn’t seem feasible for a team that already hasn’t had a winning season since 2019. Though DeBartolo has been with the organization since 2012, it also doesn’t appear likely that an interim GM would make the call to deal a building block player, as such a major decision would likely be saved for whomever the Nationals eventually name as the new full-time head of baseball operations.
“My goal in this role, whether it’s interim or otherwise, is to build a competitive team every year,” DeBartolo said. “As frustrating as it is to see where we are this year, my goal is to build future competitive teams and be in that playoff mix. So that’s what my focus is over the next few weeks — whatever we can do to bolster the future outlook of the Nationals and get in that playoff race as soon as we can.”
This focus likely means that the Nationals will be looking to move shorter-term players who aren’t part of that longer-term future. Unsurprisingly, the Nats have made impending free agents Kyle Finnegan, Josh Bell, Michael Soroka, and Amed Rosario available in trade talks, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes, and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe (who is arb-controlled through 2026) is also within that group of trade chips. Finnegan and Soroka will likely garner the most attention given how many contenders need pitching help, and the Nats figure to be a team to watch as one of the few teams in full-fledged sell mode.
Poll: NL MVP Race Check-In
While days off and postponements leave clubs around the league without a uniform number of games played, one of the games in this week’s slate will represent the halfway point in the season for every team across MLB. Who are the frontrunners to claim the MVP Award this offseason? MLBTR’s look at the American League saw Aaron Judge come away with 55% of the vote, and today we’ll be checking out the National League:
The reigning NL MVP hasn’t slowed down much after his 50-50 2024 campaign. Ohtani is slashing an incredible .289/.388/.627 (174 wRC+) through 78 games this year, with 27 home runs and 11 steals during that time. His status as a DH holds him back somewhat in terms of WAR, but he’s still second in the NL among hitters according to Fangraphs. He leads the league in homers and slugging percentage and clocks in within the top five in terms of on-base percentage. Ohtani’s expected numbers are quite good as well, as his .435 xwOBA is actually better than his wOBA and trails only Juan Soto among NL hitters. Of course, the real ace in the hole for Ohtani is the fact that he’s returning to pitching this year. He’s only thrown two innings so far, but his stuff has looked good in those abbreviated outings and he figures to only ramp up the volume as the season progresses.
Ohtani’s unicorn status as the only true two-way player in the sport will likely make him a frontrunner for the MVP Award every season until he either starts facing significant decline or retires from pitching. That said, he does not currently hold sole possession of the NL lead for fWAR even when combining his pitching and hitting numbers this year. His offensive numbers have not been quite as robust as they were last year, and he notably is not stealing bases anywhere near as frequently as he did when he was the second most valuable baserunner in the NL last season. For a player who’s won an MVP award in three of the last four seasons, voter fatigue can be a consideration as well; just ask Ohtani’s former teammate Mike Trout about the 2015 season. Will those potential weak spots be enough to let another player overcome him?
The dynamic 23-year-old’s breakout has been one of the biggest stories in the entire sport this year. Despite entering the 2025 season as a career 82 wRC+ hitter across parts of two seasons in the majors, Crow-Armstrong has slashed .273/.310/.563 (140 wRC+) across 78 games. That’s a very low on-base percentage for an MVP candidate, but Crow-Armstrong makes up for that flaw by being elite in every other regard. He’s fifth in the NL with 21 home runs, his 24 stolen bases are second only to Oneil Cruz, and he’s one of the most valuable defenders in the entire sport with +10 Outs Above Average. Taken together, it’s enough to give Crow-Armstrong a 4.0 fWAR figure that leads the league among hitters, and is tied with Ohtani when the latter’s work on the mound is factored in.
For those less statistically inclined, the fact that his breakout has been key to the Cubs’ ascent from mediocrity to become one of the league’s heavyweights could hold value with voters who differentiate between the “most valuable” player in the league and the “best” player in the league. Even with all of that going for him, it’s hard to consider Crow-Armstrong the favorite. Ohtani’s star power and uniqueness as a two-way player is difficult to match, and if he’s able to pitch effectively throughout the second half, it will be very difficult for Crow-Armstrong to not fall behind on the WAR leaderboard. What’s more, advanced metrics are somewhat skeptical of his offensive performance this year, as his .356 xwOBA is 16 points lower than his actual wOBA of .372. Crow-Armstrong’s plate discipline issues go beyond his anemic walk rate; he swings more often than any qualified hitter in baseball but has a below-average contact rate both overall and more specifically on pitches within the strike zone.
He’s lagging behind both Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong at this point, but Wood has been every bit the phenom the Nationals hoped he would be when acquiring him as part of the Juan Soto trade back in 2022. He’s hitting .281/.377/.561 (158 wRC+) in 80 games to go along with nine steals and solid defense in left field. His underlying offensive metrics are also immaculate, with top of the scale expected numbers, elite bat speed, and a 99th percentile barrel rate. It’s an exciting offensive performance, particularly from a player who’s just 22 years old. Some MVP voters could also hold the fact that Wood and his Nationals are not contenders against the budding young star.
Tatis is a familiar face in the NL MVP race, as he finished fourth for the award in 2020 before coming in third the following year. Injuries, a PED suspension, and a move from shortstop to right field have all changed the way Tatis is viewed around the league in the years since. That hasn’t stopped him from remaining a force within the Padres lineup, and this year he’s been one of the better all-around players in the NL. He’s slashing .264/.352/.459 (129 wRC+) with 15 homers and 15 steals, and his defensive value is second only to Crow-Armstrong among NL outfielders. Tatis also benefits from strong underlying numbers; his .390 xwOBA is 37 points higher than his .353 wOBA, and if he can play closer to those expected numbers in the second half, he could push his way up to the top of some ballots.
Other Options
While Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong appear to be the clear frontrunners at this point, Wood and Tatis aren’t the only potential challengers. Corbin Carroll is in the midst of a sensational season and was right there in the mix with the top two until news a wrist fracture yesterday left it uncertain when he’ll take the field next. Trea Turner and Kyle Tucker have both been excellent and could find themselves more firmly in this conversation if things break right in the second half. Will Smith is one of the league’s top hitters this year with a 170 wRC+ made all the more impressive by his status as a regular catcher, but he’s only played in 63 games so far.
Juan Soto‘s first half has been somewhat disappointing by his standards (147 wRC+), but he’s on an absolute tear right now and his .458 xwOBA is right in line with last year’s monster performance. Elly De La Cruz is flirting with pace for a 40-40 season but hasn’t been nearly as rangy at shortstop this season in the eyes of defensive metrics, which has weighed him down a bit. He could still easily emerge as a candidate with a big second half. Paul Skenes, Logan Webb, and Zack Wheeler are all in the midst of dominant seasons on the mound, but it’s somewhat rare for a pitcher to win the MVP award.
Who do you think will ultimately come out on top in NL MVP voting? Will Ohtani reign supreme once again, or could another challenger like Crow-Armstrong step up to claim the trophy? Have your say in the poll below:
Who Will Be The NL MVP In 2025?
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Shohei Ohtani 57% (3,211)
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Pete Crow-Armstrong 26% (1,457)
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Other (Specify In Comments) 7% (406)
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Fernando Tatis Jr. 5% (279)
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James Wood 5% (263)
Total votes: 5,616
The Biggest Trade In Nationals History Looks Better Every Day
The 2022 Nationals found themselves at a crossroads. Washington had sold at the prior year's trade deadline, shipping Max Scherzer and Trea Turner to the Dodgers, sending Kyle Schwarber to the Red Sox, dealing Daniel Hudson to the Padres and trading Jon Lester to the Cardinals. The organization's steadfast hope had been that even while rebuilding, Juan Soto would be at the heart of those efforts to build back up. Longtime general manager Mike Rizzo acknowledged as much in June, plainly stating on the record that he had no intention of trading Soto.
The Nats offered Soto an extension reportedly worth $440MM in guaranteed money. It would've been the largest deal in MLB history at the time. Only after Soto turned that offer down -- drawing plenty of criticism for doing so -- did Washington begin to seriously explore the possibility of trading him. Moving the game's best young hitter when he had two and a half seasons of club control remaining was no small undertaking. It'd require a seismic haul of young talent -- the type of prospect package that several interested parties simply didn't have the inventory to assemble. Most other clubs simply couldn't stomach the asking price.
A limited market of suitors for Soto emerged. To no one's surprise, the hyper-aggressive Padres entered the bidding and made a strong push. San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller throws his hat in the ring when nearly any star-caliber player is available. From the moment Soto hit the market, the Padres -- then armed with one of baseball's best farm systems -- were among the most logical landing spots.
San Diego indeed wound up reeling in their big fish, and it took the type of trade haul we might not see again for years to come. Soto and Josh Bell went from the Nats to the Padres in exchange for shortstop CJ Abrams, left-hander MacKenzie Gore, outfielder James Wood, outfielder Robert Hassell III and right-hander Jarlin Susana. The Padres also sent first baseman Luke Voit to the Nats as something of a financial counterweight, and in a separate deal they shipped Eric Hosmer -- who'd invoked his no-trade rights to block his inclusion in the Soto trade -- to the Red Sox.
It was a jaw-dropping haul. Abrams, Gore and Hassell had all been top-10 draft picks within the past five seasons. Abrams was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport at the time. Gore had struggled through some mechanical issues in the upper minors but was only a few years removed from being one of the consensus top pitching prospects in the game. Wood was a 19-year-old who was just a year removed from being a second-round pick, and his stock was firmly on the rise at the time of the swap as he ripped through A-ball. Hassell entered the 2022 season as a top-40 prospect in the game. Susana was only 18 at the time of the trade and was in his first season of pro ball after signing out of his native Dominican Republic; Baseball America likened his upside to that of a high schooler who might go in the first round of the MLB draft.
While not every blockbuster trade pans out -- Washington hasn't gotten a ton of value from that Scherzer/Turner stunner, for instance -- the Soto trade has produced a bumper crop that seems likely to form the nucleus of the next contending Nationals club.
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Nationals Notes: Soroka, Wood, Garcia
After moving to the bullpen with the White Sox down the stretch last year and finding great success with a 2.75 ERA and a 39% strikeout rate in 36 innings of work after converting to relief, right-hander Michael Soroka now figures to get another crack at starting in D.C. after signing a one-year deal worth $9MM. Soroka made his spring debut for his new club yesterday, posting three scoreless innings while walking one and striking out three.
Those strong results aren’t especially meaningful given the nature of Spring Training, but MASN’s Bobby Blanco noted yesterday that Soroka’s velocity was up substantially during the outing. Per Blanco, Soroka “nearly” averaged 95mph throughout the outing and topped out at 96.2mph. That’s a big step up from previous years of his career, where the right-hander has typically averaged around 93mph on his heater, with last year’s 93.5mph figure standing as his current regular season peak. One outing of just 39 pitches hardly guarantees that Soroka will be able to keep up mid-90s velocity throughout the regular season, but both Soroka himself and manager Dave Martinez appeared encouraged by the start, the latter of whom called it “very encouraging.”
“Yeah, absolutely. I think I knew I could,” Soroka said when asked about maintaining his velocity deeper into games, as relayed by Blanco. “In relief last year, for the most part, I was still throwing multiple innings. And to be honest with you, the feeling of where the fastball got to at the end of inning three was really exciting, because it feels like I can replicate it over and over again. It’s definitely the easiest I’ve ever thrown in the mid-90s… And yeah, I think after today, especially, I know I won’t have a problem, at least holding somewhere close to that.”
Soroka figures to be a fixture of the Nationals rotation this year if healthy, alongside southpaw MacKenzie Gore. Right-hander Jake Irvin, left-hander DJ Herz, lefty Mitchell Parker, veteran Trevor Williams, and NPB southpaw Shinnosuke Ogasawara are among the other candidates for the club’s Opening Day rotation as things stand. It’s a deep group of young and interesting arms, but none has posted a season that compares to Soroka at his best. A former first-round pick by Atlanta, the right-hander’s rookie campaign in 2019 was nothing short of dazzling as he posted a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts en route to a second place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Soroka’s been derailed by injury woes in the years since then, but he’s still just 27 and is coming off a healthy 2024 campaign, lending optimism to the possibility he could return to form.
Elsewhere on the roster, young outfielder James Wood is still working his way back from a bout of quad tendinitis that slowed him in the early days of camp. The injury hasn’t impacted his swing, allowing him to continue to get reps as a DH, and Spencer Nausbaum of the Washington Post laid out the club’s plan for Wood to return to the field. Wood is expected to DH in today’s spring game, and with a team off-day on Monday the club plans to get Wood some outfield work on the backfields to test his ailing quad. If that goes well, it’s possible Wood could then return to the outfield in games. Wood, 22, figures to serve as the club’s everyday left fielder in 2025 after a strong debut season where he hit .264/.354/.427 across 79 games.
Elsewhere on the diamond, infielder Luis Garcia Jr. was a late scratch from yesterday’s spring lineup and was sent home from camp due to illness. As noted by Blanco, Martinez told reporters that he wasn’t yet sure when Garcia would return to action, as the Nats don’t want Garcia passing his fever around camp. Fortunately, it seems unlikely that the illness will have any serious impact on Garcia’s ability to ramp up for Opening Day later this month. The lefty enjoyed a strong season last year as he slashed .282/.318/.444 in 528 trips to the plate.
NL East Notes: Sale, Montas, Wood
Braves left-hander Chris Sale just had a tremendous bounceback season. He made 29 starts with a 2.38 earned run average, earning a National League Cy Young award. He was largely injured and/or ineffective from 2019 to 2023, which had him pondering retirement.
“I thought that it was gonna be my last year,” Sale said to the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast about where he was at before getting traded to Atlanta. “So I went into that offseason on a mission like ‘one more year left.’… ’cause in my mind, I wasn’t walking away from baseball. I was walking away from getting hurt.”
The Red Sox traded Sale to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom in December of 2023. At the time, as mentioned, he had been battling significant injuries for five years. Tommy John surgery in 2020 was the big one but Sale also had a stress reaction in his ribs, a fractured finger, a broken wrist suffered in a bicycle accident and a stress reaction in his shoulder blade over that span. He had a 4.16 ERA in 298 1/3 innings over those five seasons.
2024 was the final year of his extension with the Red Sox and the mounting injuries apparently had him looking towards hanging up his spikes. But he was traded to Atlanta, signed an extension that covered 2024 and 2025 with a club option for 2026, and then went on to have an excellent season in 2024. It makes for an interesting “what if” but Sale is clearly in a better spot now. The injury bug hasn’t left him entirely alone, however. He missed the final two weeks of 2024 due to back spasms and was also left off Atlanta’s postseason roster. 2024 was still a big improvement over prior years but time will tell if he can keep the good health going into his age-36 season.
Some more spring training tidbits from the NL East…
- It was reported earlier this week that Mets righty Frankie Montas has a lat strain and will be shut down for six to eight weeks. The righty is apparently a bit more optimistic than his club, however. He told members of the media today, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that he’s already feeling better from his platelet-rich plasma injection and expects to be throwing again in four to six weeks. That’s still a notable period of time but it’s a bit less dire than the other timeline. He had a 4.84 ERA last year and then signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the Mets this winter. He will have the chance to opt out after the first year, though returning healthy and productive will be important if he is to consider that possibility. For now, the Mets’ rotation mix includes Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill.
- Nationals outfielder James Wood has some quad tendinitis, per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. It doesn’t bother him when he hits, so he’s been able to take batting practice but has skipped some defensive drills. Per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, Wood says he has “zero” concern but the club did send him for an MRI, which showed no structural damage. With still over a month before Opening Day, there’s plenty of time to get things in order, with Wood and the Nats both surely hoping for a clean bill of health by then. Now just 22 years old, Wood hit .264/.354/.427 in his major league debut last year and is slated to be a big part of the club’s future.
MLBTR Podcast: The Rays Could Deal Starters, Garrett Crochet, James Wood And Free Agent Power Rankings
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- MLBTR’s June update to the 2024-25 Power Rankings (3:00)
- The Rays could* trade starting pitching without truly selling (14:25)
- The Mets also could end up making starting pitching available even if they are buyers (20:40)
- Garrett Crochet of the White Sox and his unique trade candidate status (25:35)
- The Nationals promote James Wood (33:05)
* This podcast was recorded on the evening of July 2, before the Rays traded Aaron Civale to the Brewers.
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- What are the Astros going to do at the deadline? (42:15)
- The Rangers are terrible but are World Series champions for the first time. Can they sell even if it’s the best thing for the team? (46:50)
- Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris says the club could buy or sell. What do the final months of the season look like in Detroit? (54:30)
Check out our past episodes!
- Injured Trade Candidates, The Cristopher Sánchez Extension And Blue Jays’ Woes – listen here
- José Abreu’s Release, Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Hit The IL And Even More Injuries – listen here
- Injured Astros, The Chances Of Bad Teams Rebounding In 2025 And More – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Nationals Promote James Wood, Designate Eddie Rosario For Assignment
The Nationals have made top prospect James Wood‘s previously reported promotion to the major leagues official, formally announcing the selection of his contract from Triple-A Rochester. In a corresponding move, veteran outfielder Eddie Rosario has been designated for assignment.
Wood’s promotion to the majors was reported last Friday, and MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald broke down the vaunted outfielder’s impending ascension to the majors at the time. The 21-year-old had laid waste to upper-minors pitching this season, delivering an outrageous .353/.463/.595 slash with 10 homers, 16 doubles and nearly as many walks (40) as strikeouts (42). Wood has drawn a free pass in a massive 17.3% of his trips to the plate and chipped in a 10-for-11 showing in stolen base attempts as well.
A second-round pick of the Padres back in 2021, Wood has elevated his status to the point that he’s widely regarded as the top yet-to-debut prospect in the sport. Baseball America and MLB.com both rank him as the game’s No. 3 prospect, but the players ahead of him between those two lists (Paul Skenes, Jackson Holliday, Junior Caminero) have all reached the majors at least briefly. Based on the timing of his promotion, Wood will now be under team control through at least the 2030 season and won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason.
Wood now joins top Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams as potential core pieces acquired by the Nationals in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to San Diego two summers ago. The Nats still have minor league outfielder Robert Hassell III and minor league lefty Jarlin Susana working their way through the system as well. Neither is viewed as having the type of ceiling Wood, Abrams and Gore have already shown, but Hassell is still just 22 and reached Double-A this year, while the 20-year-old Susana is in his second season at Low-A. Both players could yet reach the big leagues in the next few years.
Turning to the 32-year-old Rosario, he’s long been seen as a potential casualty of Wood’s big league promotion. The former Twins, Braves and Guardians outfielder signed a minor league deal with a $2MM base salary during spring training and made the team’s Opening Day roster despite a poor showing in nine spring contests. Rosario had an awful first month of the season (.088/.137/.162 through the end of April), followed by a blistering May (.253/.319/.530) before falling into another major swoon (.191/.200/.250 in June).
Overall, Rosario’s time with the Nats will draw to a close with a .183/.226/.329 batting line. That’s 46% worse than league-average production, by measure of wRC+ (54). Rosario’s 5.5% walk rate was his lowest since 2019, while his 23% strikeout rate is roughly in line with the 2022-23 rates he showed in Atlanta (but a far cry from the 16.1% mark he turned in from 2017-21).
The Braves acquired Rosario in a 2021 salary-dump deal with Cleveland and immediately saw him go on a magical run down the stretch, slashing .271/.330/.573 with seven homers in 106 plate appearances. He went on to deliver a legendary 14-for-25 performance with three home runs during the National League Championship Series, taking home NLCS MVP honors in the process, before slumping in the World Series.
Rosario’s late surge with Atlanta prompted the team to re-sign him on a two-year, $18MM contract that proved regrettable. He hit .212/.259/.328 in his first season of that contract, and while Rosario bounced back with 21 homers in 2023, his overall batting line was effectively league average (100 wRC+) while his defense continued to receive lackluster grades. Rosario was a productive everyday outfielder with the Twins from 2017-20 but in four seasons since that time he’s turned in a .236/.283/.403 batting line with poor defense and mounting strikeout rates.
The Nats will have five days to trade Rosario, release him or place him on outright waivers, though a veteran with Rosario’s service time would surely just reject an outright assignment to Triple-A anyhow. It’s unlikely that any team would claim even the modest remainder on Rosario’s contract. The likeliest outcome is a release, at which point Rosario will be free to sign with any team. A new club could owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That sum would be subtracted from what the Nats still owe him, but Washington will be on the hook for the majority of his contract at this point.