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Nationals Decline Their Side Of Joey Gallo’s Mutual Option

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The Nationals announced that they declined their end of Joey Gallo’s $8MM mutual option for the 2025 season.  Gallo will instead receive a $2.5MM buyout as he heads into free agency for the third consecutive winter.  Last offseason, Gallo signed a one-year deal with Washington worth $5MM in guaranteed money, broken down as a $2.5MM salary and then at least $2.5MM via the buyout.

The rebuilding Nats have made a habit of signing veterans to short-term deals and then looking to flip them at the trade deadline, though multiple injuries and Gallo’s overall struggles scuttled any trade value.  Gallo hit only .161/.277/.336 with 10 home runs over 260 plate appearances, translating to a 76 wRC+ and a below-replacement value of -0.2 fWAR.

Gallo’s 12.3% walk rate and 13.1% barrel rate were still solid in comparison to the rest of the league, if well below his career averages (14.6BB%, 19.6% barrel rate).  His 39.2% strikeout rate was slightly higher than his career average, yet the third aspect of Gallo’s “three true outcomes” approach failed him greatly.  Gallo’s .175 Isolated Power number was his lowest in any full season.

On the health front, Gallo missed about three weeks due to an AC sprain in his left shoulder, and then over two months due to a hamstring strain.  It might be fair to chalk up Gallo’s shaky production to these injuries, though his overall performance has been very up-and-down over the last five seasons, evening out to almost a perfectly average 99 wRC+ in his last 1844 plate appearances.

This inconsistency has led to Gallo playing for five different teams in the last four years, going from the Rangers to the Yankees to the Dodgers in trades, and then to free agent deals with the Twins and Nationals.  He might have to settle for a minor league contract in the wake of his rough 2024 campaign, though Gallo should still draw some attention based on his past track record.  Gallo is a veteran of 10 MLB seasons but is still only just a few weeks away from his 31st birthday.

Gallo primarily served as the left-handed side of the Nationals’ first base platoon, with a few appearances in both corner outfield slots and at DH.  It was no surprise that Washington would be passing on Gallo’s mutual option, as it is widely assume that the Nats will be looking for a big upgrade at first base this winter.  This could manifest itself as a full-time regular, or perhaps another left-handed bat to split time with Juan Yepez.

Daniel Hudson Announces Retirement

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Following the Dodgers’ decisive victory over the Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series last night, veteran reliever Daniel Hudson announced to reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that he will retire from playing as a champion. The veteran of 15 big league seasons has played for the Dodgers, Padres, Nationals, Blue Jays, Pirates, Diamondbacks, and White Sox throughout his lengthy career.

Hudson, 37, was selected by Chicago in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. Then a starting pitcher, the right-hander was a fast riser to the majors who made his big league debut just one year after being drafted, in 2009. He made just nine appearances for the team that drafted him across two seasons before being shipped to the Diamondbacks in a deal for Edwin Jackson. Hudson slotted into the Diamondbacks rotation down the stretch and put on a dazzling performance for fans in Arizona, with a 1.69 ERA and 3.22 FIP in 11 starts spread across 79 2/3 innings of work.

That dominant late-season performance suggested the Snakes had landed a quality starter ready for a full season’s workload in the majors. The right-hander’s first full season with the Dbacks seemed to support that, as he posted a solid 3.49 ERA while logging 222 innings across 33 starts for the club in 2011. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse from there. Hudson’s 2012 season saw him post disastrous results through nine starts before going under the knife for Tommy John surgery that July. He’d miss the entire 2013 season while rehabbing and made it back to a big league mound only at the tail end of the 2014 season.

Hudson’s elbow troubles marked the end of his career as a starter, but his time in the majors was just getting started as he began to fashion himself into a reliever. His first season out of the bullpen in Arizona was relatively pedestrian, as the then-28-year-old pitched to a 3.86 ERA in 67 2/3 innings of work while striking out 24.5% of opponents. It was more of the same for the right-hander over the next several years, as he bounced from team to team as a solid but unspectacular middle reliever. From 2015 to 2018, Hudson suited up for Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles with rather pedestrian results. His 96 ERA+ was just below league average during that time, and he struck out 23.3% of opponents.

Things changed for Hudson in 2019, however. After latching on with the Blue Jays on a one-year deal, Hudson looked quite good for the rebuilding club in the first half of the season as he posted a solid 3.00 ERA in 48 innings of work. That solid performance was enough to draw interest from the Nationals, who at the time were in a tight race with the Phillies, Brewers, and Cubs for two NL Wild Card spots. The bullpen had been a sore spot for D.C. throughout the year, but Hudson helped to change that with a dominant late-season run that saw him post an eye-popping 1.44 ERA in 24 late-season innings for the Nationals.

That incredible work led Hudson to join closer Sean Doolittle as one of only a handful of trusted pitchers on Dave Martinez’s staff during the postseason. Hudson managed scoreless appearances in seven of his nine outings for the Nationals during that playoff run, highlighted by his save in the NL Wild Card Game against the Brewers to and his scoreless frame of work to close out Game 7 of the World Series and earn the Nats their first World Series championship in club history. After securing his first ring, Hudson remained with the Nationals for two more seasons. After a difficult 2020 campaign, he pitched well enough during the 2021 season to get traded to the Padres down the stretch, though San Diego ultimately missed the postseason.

The final act of Hudson’s career began in 2022 when he signed on to return to the Dodgers. During his second stint in Los Angeles, Hudson was nothing short of electric when on the mound, with a 2.69 ERA a 26.9% strikeout rate when healthy enough to take the mound. Staying healthy proved to be a challenge, however, as ACL and MCL injuries limited the veteran to just 27 1/3 innings of work over the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He remained with the Dodgers on a minor league deal last winter, however, and was part of the club’s Opening Day bullpen. Now that he was finally healthy, the 37-year-old impressed with a 3.00 ERA in 63 innings of work while collecting ten saves with the Dodgers throughout the year. While a difficult outing in Game 4 of the World Series skewed his overall postseason numbers, Hudson was a generally effective relief arm for the club throughout their playoff run this year, throwing scoreless frames in five of his seven outings en route to his second career championship.

Altogether, Hudson posted a 3.74 ERA (111 ERA+) and a nearly-matching 3.76 FIP over 855 1/3 career innings during the regular season (to go with 21 postseason innings). He won 65 games and saved 43 while striking out 817 batters and appearing in 537 total contests. Those of us at MLB Trade Rumors salute Hudson on a fine career and wish him all the best in whatever comes next for the two-time World Series champion.

Quick Hits: Nationals, Merrill, Athletics, Rays

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As the Padres and Nationals were negotiating the blockbuster Juan Soto trade in advance of the 2022 trade deadline, the Nats were able to obtain such top-tier young talents as CJ Abrams, James Wood, and MacKenzie Gore as part of the six-player trade package.  One player Washington didn’t land was Jackson Merrill, though Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the Nationals asked about Merrill as part of the trade talks.

Though Merrill was the 27th overall pick of the 2021 draft, his prospect stock didn’t really start to take off until he started to post big numbers for the Padres’ rookie league and A-ball affiliates during the 2022 season.  In fact, injuries limited Merrill to only 25 games in 2022 at the time of the Soto trade, so the Nationals weren’t working off a lot of scouting information when they checked into Merrill’s possible availability.  Though the Friars gave up a lot to bring Soto to San Diego, it looks like they made a canny move in keeping Merrill, as his tremendous rookie season helped lead the Padres to the NLDS this season.  Merrill hit .292/.326/.500 with 24 home runs over 593 plate appearances, and (even more remarkably) played strong defense as San Diego’s everyday center fielder despite never before playing center during his pro career.

Some other items from around baseball…

  • Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park will remain a natural-grass stadium when the Athletics begin play next season, a league spokesperson told the media (including The Athletic’s Evan Drellich).  Since the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate will continue sharing the ballpark with the A’s, the initial idea was to install an artificial surface for 2025 and beyond, as a grass field will take quite a bit of wear-and-tear from two full schedules’ worth of games.  However, players still preferred even a beaten-up grass surface to turf, as playing on an artificial surface outdoors in California would’ve routinely raised on-field temperatures to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, even for some night games.  “In light of the players’ clear preference for natural grass, and after weighing with the MLBPA the potential risks and benefits of maintaining natural grass versus replacing the playing surface with synthetic turf, all the parties are aligned in moving forward with a natural grass field for Opening Day 2025,” the spokesperson said.
  • In other stadium news, the Rays’ immediate landing spot isn’t yet clear as the club continues to assess how badly Tropicana Field was damaged by Hurricane Milton.  Amidst speculation that the Rays could at least open the 2025 season in any number of different cities, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made it clear in an interview on the Varsity podcast that the league’s preference is to keep the Rays in the Tampa/St. Pete area.  “The easiest thing is always to stay in the market where the clubs are anchored, if we can manage it,” Manfred said, in terms of Tropicana Field, “we’re hopeful…the repairs can be done in a way that allows them to resume playing.”  That said, Manfred is aware of the “complication” of how the city could balk at a large repair bill for a stadium that will soon be abandoned entirely, as the Rays’ new ballpark is slated to be ready for Opening Day 2028.  (Hat tip to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.)

NL East Notes: Marlins, Urueta, Albernaz, Painter, Yepez

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The Marlins are reportedly considering former bench coach Luis Urueta and Guardians bench coach Craig Albernaz for their managerial vacancy, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.  Urueta is perhaps something of an unusual candidate since the Marlins already fired him as part of their wide-ranging purge of the coaching staff, training staff, and clubhouse attendants, though reports indicated that Urueta and Jon Jay were the only two coaches Miami had interest in bringing back.  It isn’t known if the Marlins have conducted formal interviews with Urueta, Albernaz, or any other candidates, though in Albernaz’s case, his availability is limited until the Guardians’ playoff run is over.

Urueta served as the Marlins’ interim manager for the final two games of the season after a family health matter forced Skip Schumaker to miss what was the last weekend of his two-season tenure in Miami.  Urueta was also the bench coach for those two seasons under Schumaker, and his previously MLB coaching job was a five-year stint on the Diamondbacks’ staff from 2018-22 (acting as bench coach for the last three of those seasons).

Albernaz is still in the midst of his first season as Cleveland’s bench coach, after previously working as a bullpen and catching coach for the Giants from 2019-22, and before that working in a variety of roles in the Rays’ farm system after his playing career ended in 2014.  As Heyman notes, this resume makes him a known quantity to Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix (previously Tampa Bay’s general manager) and to assistant GM Gabe Kapler, formerly the Giants’ manager when Albernaz was on the staff.  Albernaz was interviewed by the Guards last offseason about their own managerial vacancy before Stephen Vogt was hired, and thought enough of Albernaz to still bring him aboard onto Vogt’s staff.

More from around the NL East…

  • Andrew Painter’s first outing in the Arizona Fall League saw the Phillies prospect allow two runs over 29 pitches and two innings of work, with Jack Vita of the Philadelphia Inquirer noting that three of Painter’s fastballs hit the 100mph threshold.  It was the first game action of any kind for Painter since Spring Training 2023, when he suffered a UCL sprain that eventually led to Tommy John surgery that July.  “The arm’s healthy and that was the biggest takeaway,” Painter told Vita and other reporters.  “Everything felt like it was coming out good.  I felt like my old self, so that’s all I can really take away from that.”  While the surgery halted the progress of one of the sport’s top pitching prospects, Painter should be in line to make his MLB debut at some point in 2025, though obviously the Phillies will be cautious with his development.  Painter is slated to throw 20 innings in AFL play and will start next season in the minors — the right-hander has yet to reach the Triple-A level and has only 28 1/3 frames of experience in Double-A ball.
  • Juan Yepez, Joey Meneses, and Andres Chaparro are all right-handed hitting first basemen who are possibly best suited to DH duty, and these similarities make it unlikely that all three are on the Nationals’ roster next season.  Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com thinks Yepez probably has the best chance of the trio, as Yepez hit a solid .283/.335/.429 over 249 plate appearances for Washington in 2024 and had particularly good splits against left-handed pitching.  That might be enough to make the difference in deciding possible platoon or part-time roles for next year’s club.

34 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated Hitter

Pitchers

Offseason Outlook: Washington Nationals

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After more than three years of rebuilding, the Nationals enter the offseason with a very clean long-term payroll outlook, young core players emerging at multiple spots on the roster, and a front office that sounds motivated to get back into contention sooner than later.

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Nationals’ Rizzo On Offseason Spending, Rotation, CJ Abrams

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Nationals president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo said recently that his club will be on the lookout for middle-of-the-order bats this offseason, in an effort to supplement a growing young core. The Nats would reportedly “love” a reunion with Juan Soto — unsurprisingly so; who wouldn’t at least be interested? — and the free agent market will have big-name bats ranging from corner infielders Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman and Christian Walker, to shortstop Willy Adames, to slugging corner outfielders like Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernandez.

Multi-year free agent deals of any real magnitude haven’t been a focus for the Nationals throughout the past three years of their rebuild, but Rizzo suggested in his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s “Sports Junkies” show that a return to the deeper waters of free agency could be possible this winter (Audacy link to the entire 14-minute interview). Asked if ownership “will be open to going out and giving bigger money to guys who are established” (as opposed to the recent run of one-year deals and reclamation-project hitters), Rizzo replied:

“I think if the opportunity arises and the right fit arises, I don’t see any reason they wouldn’t. They’ve done it in the past when there’s players out there that are available that fit what we’re looking for.”

The Lerner family, which owns the Nats, has indeed been willing to spend at top-of-the-market levels in offseasons past. Washington has twice doled out more than $200MM on single free-agent deals: Max Scherzer’s seven-year, $210MM contract and Stephen Strasburg’s seven-year, $245MM pact. The latter of those two signings, of course, did not pan out. The former stands as one of the best and most successful major free agent signings in history. The Lerners have also given the green light to another pair of nine-figure signings in Patrick Corbin (six years, $140MM) and, way back in 2010, Jayson Werth (seven years, $126MM — a massive contract at the time).

Certainly, the Nationals haven’t spent at the level that will be required to sign Soto this offseason, but Soto figures to command a historic contract. No team has really gone to that length — arguably not even the Dodgers, given the unique and deferral-laden structure of the 10-year contract they gave to Shohei Ohtani last winter. (MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald and I discussed the possibility of a Nationals pursuit of Soto on this morning’s episode of the MLBTR Podcast, which was recorded prior to Rizzo’s comments.)

With regard to the rest of the free agent class, none of Bregman, Alonso, Santander, Hernandez or any of the other big bats in free agency figure to exceed the limits at which the Nationals have spent in the past. That doesn’t ensure that the Nationals will pony up for a top-of-the-market bat, but there’s precedent for them spending at or even in excess of most of those levels. Add in the fact that the only guaranteed contracts on the Nationals’ books beyond the current season are the remaining two seasons of that Strasburg deal and Keibert Ruiz’s eight-year, $50MM extension (spanning the 2023-30 seasons), and there’s room for the Nats to engage with any free agent they deem a fit — Soto included.

Rizzo noted that expenditures to bolster the lineup needn’t only come on the free-agent side of things. He listed both the trade level and the “development level” of player acquisition as well, noting that between the three he expects an “active, interesting winter” for his club. Rizzo stopped short of declaring the team’s rebuild entirely over and proclaiming the 2025 campaign a clear win-now season, but the general tone of his comments Wednesday painted a team on the rise with increased expectations of contending sooner than later.

Much of that has to do with the strides Washington has seen from its collection of in-house starting pitchers, for whom Rizzo effused praise. Right-hander Jake Irvin and lefties MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker will all finish with 30-plus starts and more than 150 innings. Southpaw DJ Herz, called up later in the season, will close out the year with 19 big league starts, in all likelihood.

All four pitchers currently have an ERA between 4.04 and 4.30. Broadly speaking, their earned run averages have ticked up late in the season as their workloads have reached previously uncharted waters. Each is already at least 27 innings past his previous single-season career-high mark. In Irvin’s case, his 183 1/3 innings are 40 more than his previous highwater mark. Some fatigue and growing pains are to be expected. Still, Rizzo made clear that the simultaneous development of that quartet is among the organization’s biggest successes this season and serves as “a great measuring stick going forward.”

Presumably, the Nats hope that top pitching prospect Cade Cavalli, who missed the 2023 season and much of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, can join that group in 2025. It’s a solid-looking collection of arms, although given the general volatility and attrition rate of pitchers, it’s easy to envision Rizzo and his staff considering at least one veteran addition this winter to supplement the group and safeguard against injuries and/or regression. Rizzo didn’t specifically call out rotation support as an area of need, but virtually any team would be reluctant to head into a season with five starters under the age of 28 and with three or fewer years of big league service atop the depth chart.

Rizzo was also naturally asked about the recent demotion of shortstop CJ Abrams, whom the Nationals optioned over the weekend. At the time of the move, the team only indicated that it was for an off-the-field issue. Subsequent reports have suggested that Abrams’ demotion was a disciplinary measure after he stayed out all night at a casino the night before a day game against the Cubs. Rizzo unsurprisingly declined to delve into specifics but confirmed it was an off-field issue and voiced support for Abrams moving forward:

“It was not performance-based. We felt it was in the best interest of the player and the organization to do so. It’s an internal issue that we’re going to keep internal. … It’s not the end of the world for CJ. It’s not the end of the world for the Nationals. It’s something that happens over the course of time, especially with young players. We love CJ. We care for CJ. We’re in constant communication with he and his agent, and we still have a great relationship.”

“…We have a standard here. We’ve had it for a lot of years. When players don’t reach those standards, we have to do what’s in the best interest of the organization. … And when players fail to reach those standards, we have to do something to get them back into the mode of Nationals, and teammate, big leagues. We felt that it was warranted in this case. Like I said, not the end of the world. Not the end of CJ Abrams. Not the end of the Nats.”

Abrams, who’ll turn 24 in a couple weeks, came to the Nationals alongside Gore, James Wood, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana in the trade sending Soto to the Padres. The former top prospect looked to be in the midst of a full-fledged breakout for the first half of the season, slashing .282/.353/.506 through early July. He’s since fallen into a protracted slump, hitting just .191/.254/.321 over his past 236 turns at the plate. (He’d picked up the pace again of late, going 11-for-28 with a pair of homers and three doubles in his past eight games.)

The demotion to the minors won’t cost Abrams in terms of big league service, arbitration trajectory or free agent timeline. He’d already accrued a full year of service in 2024 at the time he was sent down. He’ll finish the year with 2.130 years of service, making him a very likely Super Two player who’ll be eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three. The first of those four — assuming he indeed qualifies as a Super Two player — will come this offseason. He’s under club control through the 2028 season.

MLBTR Podcast: Final Days In Oakland, The Surging Tigers, And If The Nats Will Pursue Soto

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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…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What will the Yankees’ backup plan be if they don’t re-sign Juan Soto? (30:20)
  • Do you see the Pirates making any significant off season moves to put a good offense around Paul Skenes and Jared Jones? (39:30)
  • Which three teams will be the most interested in signing Willy Adames? Could he command $100MM over 4 years? (46:10)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Nationals Option CJ Abrams To Triple-A

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In a surprising move, the Nationals optioned shortstop CJ Abrams to Triple-A Rochester, the Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli reports (via X).  Infielder Trey Lipscomb is being called up in the corresponding move, as per The Washington Post’s Andrew Golden (X link).

Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters (including Golden and MASNsports.com’s Dan Kolko) that Abrams was optioned not for his play on the field, but rather “an internal issue” matter that Martinez didn’t discuss in further detail.  Abrams will report not to Rochester for the last two games of the Triple-A season but will instead go to the Nats’ spring camp in Florida to work out.  Martinez confirmed that Abrams wouldn’t appear in the majors again in 2024, but remains a big piece of the organization’s present and future.

It was just over two months ago that Abrams was representing the Nationals in the All-Star Game, as the 23-year-old was named to the NL squad as a reward for his outstanding first half.  Abrams hit .268/.343/.489 with 15 home runs in 398 plate appearances prior to the All-Star break, and looked all the world like a breakout player in his age-23 season.  As the sixth overall pick of the 2019 draft and the centerpiece of the trade package Washington received from the Padres in the Juan Soto trade, Abrams has long been seen as a future star, and the early returns of his 2024 season looked like a big step forward from his respectable performance in 2023, his first full MLB campaign.

Since the Midsummer Classic, however, Abrams’ production has tailed off.  The shortstop has hit only .203/.260/.326 in 204 PA during the second half, and gone yard only five times.  Abrams’ strikeout rate has risen from 20.1% in the first half to 23.53% in the second half, and his line drive rate plummeted from 23.6% to 7.8%.  This decline in hard contact indicates that Abrams’ .243 BABIP since the All-Star break is more than just bad batted-ball luck, and his .307 BABIP in the first half wasn’t too far above league average anyways.

This extended slump notwithstanding, it is clear that Abrams wouldn’t have been sent down if it wasn’t for this off-the-field issue.  Whatever the circumstances, the club deemed the situation serious enough to send this public message to Abrams as something of a wake-up call or a punishment.  There is bound to be some speculation that the Nats might now look to trade Abrams, yet Martinez’s comments about Abrams’ importance to Washington’s future seemed designed to end such speculation before it even got off the ground.  Going forward, Martinez feels Abrams “will be better” in the aftermath of the option.

Missing the last nine days of the 2024 season shouldn’t have any impact on Abrams’ Super Two eligibility.  As a reminder, “Super Two” players have less than three years of MLB service time, but sit in the top 22 percent of service time of all players between two and three years, and as such are awarded an extra year of arbitration eligibility.  Abrams entered the 2024 campaign with one year and 130 days of service time, and thus a full season on Washington’s active roster would’ve put him at the 2.130 mark — almost surely qualifying him for Super Two status based on the cutoff points over the last 15 years.

However, a player only needs to be on an active roster or the Major League injured list for 172 days of the 187-day season to qualify as having received one full year of official service time.  As such, since Abrams has already been with the Nationals beyond the 172-day threshold, he has achieved one full year of service time for 2024 and remains on track to be a Super Two player.

Nationals Activate Trevor Williams

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September 20: The Nationals announced today that Williams has officially been reinstated, as expected. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Zach Brzykcy and transferred Adon to the 60-day IL.

September 18: The Nationals are planning to reinstate Trevor Williams from the 60-day injured list on Friday, tweets Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The right-hander will get the start at Wrigley Field in his first MLB outing since the end of May. They’ll need to create a 40-man roster spot but could move Alex Call or Joan Adon to the 60-day IL if they don’t anticipate either player returning this season.

That would position Williams to make a pair of starts before the end of the season. It’s a bigger development for the pitcher than it is for the team. Washington is only trying to play spoiler at this point, but Williams is an impending free agent. The 32-year-old has been out for more than three months after being diagnosed with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. There’s only so much he can do in two starts to answer teams’ questions about his durability. That said, getting back on the mound and showing the caliber of stuff he had early in the season is certainly preferable to ending the year on the shelf.

The injury cut short one of the best stretches of Williams’ career. He worked to a 2.22 ERA in 56 2/3 innings covering 11 starts. He punched out an average 21% of batters faced while getting ground-balls at a 46% clip. Williams isn’t overpowering but he throws a lot of strikes and had dramatically changed his home run fortunes. He led the National League with 34 home runs allowed en route to a 5.55 earned run average over 30 starts last season. He’d surrendered just two longballs (0.32 per nine innings) through the first couple months this year.

There was some level of luck with Williams’ early-season results. He probably wouldn’t have maintained an ace-caliber ERA over a full season. Williams had clearly taken a step forward relative to last year, though, an improvement that coincided with an increased reliance on his breaking stuff at the expense of his four-seam fastball. The injury also robbed the rebuilding Nationals of a chance to flip Williams at the deadline. He won’t be a candidate for a qualifying offer, so they wouldn’t get any kind of compensation if he walks in free agency.

Washington has a rotation consisting of Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz and Patrick Corbin. Zuckerman notes that they’ll go to a six-man staff once Williams returns through season’s end. Corbin is playing out the final couple weeks of his $140MM free agent deal. The other four pitchers are under club control for an extended time.

Each of Irvin, Gore, Parker and Herz has turned in an ERA between 4.07 and 4.44 on the season. That group has tailed off in the second half, though, and none of them look like budding top-of-the-rotation arms. Gore probably has the highest ceiling, but he has yet to truly put everything together over an extended stretch. With Josiah Gray likely to miss next season and Cade Cavalli’s injury history, the Nats need to add at least one high-end starter if they hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2025.

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