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Offseason In Review: Washington Nationals

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In conjunction with this review, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk will be holding a Nationals-centric live chat later today to further discuss the team’s offseason.  Click here to submit questions in advance.

With a focus on inexpensive, short-term veteran contracts this offseason, the Nationals are still aiming for the future as the team continues its rebuild.

Major League Signings

2023 spending: approximately $16.25MM
Total spending: approximately $23.25MM

Option Decisions

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • Victor Robles, OF: One year, $2.325MM (Nationals hold $3.3MM club option for 2024; if option is declined, Nats still hold arbitration control over Robles for 2024)

Notable Losses

Ted Lerner, the Nationals’ first official owner after its move to Washington, passed away in February at age 97.  Though Mark Lerner (Ted’s son) has been in control of the franchise since 2018, the sad news of the Lerner family patriarch’s passing seemed to represent something of a symbolic end of an era for the Nationals as ownership questions continue to circle the organization.  It has been almost a year since the Lerner family started to explore the possibility of selling the ballclub, yet even though Ted Leonsis had seemingly emerged as the favorite, it remains to be seen if Leonsis or anyone will up finalizing a deal due to the still-unsettled dispute between the Nationals and Orioles over MASN broadcast rights.

The uncertainty at the ownership level is matched in the front office and in the dugout, since president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez are only under contract through the 2023 season.  And, as the Nationals enter the second full season of an all-out rebuild, it remains to seen if any of the club’s current young talents will break out and be part of the proverbial “next contending Nats team.”

To this end, Washington will give CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia, and Keibert Ruiz full runs as everyday players this season.  Lane Thomas, Alex Call, and Victor Robles are a bit older than those youngsters and Call was a rookie himself in 2022, but the three outfielders will get another opportunity to be lineup regulars.  (For Robles, this may be something of a last chance after three underwhelming years at the plate, though Robles had an excellent defensive season in 2022.)  The 30-year-old Joey Meneses is the relative greybeard of the group, and yet the Nationals will certainly give Meneses lots of playing time as the team evaluates just exactly what they have in a player coming off an unexpectedly dominant rookie season.

Meneses will be moved around the lineup as a first baseman, DH, and corner outfielder in 2023, and with Meneses providing pop with his right-handed bat, Washington brought a couple of lefty swingers to town as complements.  Corey Dickerson and Dominic Smith also figure to get their share of DH at-bats, with Dickerson also seeing time as a left fielder and Smith likely to play first base, though Smith also has a good deal of experience in left field.

Dickerson has a below-average 97 wRC+ over the last three seasons, hitting .266/.313/.403 in 872 plate appearances since the start of the 2020 season.  Beyond just the league-wide interruptions caused by the pandemic and the lockout in that time period, Dickerson also had to deal with injuries and some personal tragedy, so the veteran is certainly hoping to focus solely on baseball as he enters his age-34 season.  Washington is likely to use Dickerson almost exclusively against right-handed pitching, given how his numbers and playing time against southpaws have diminished in recent years.

In Smith, the Nationals hope they’ve found a bounce-back candidate who might be particularly motivated to produce for another NL East team.  Smith’s decade in the Mets organization was marked by a lot of tumult, as he faced trade rumors, questions about his conditioning, reduced playing time, defensive struggles as a left fielder (a position change forced by Pete Alonso’s emergence as the Mets’ next star first baseman), and finally a non-tender last November.

Still, Smith also delivered some production at the MLB level, with an impressive .299/.366/.571 slash line over 396 PA during the 2019-20 seasons.  Away from the New York drama and into regular playing time with a rebuilding team out of the spotlight, perhaps Smith can rebound with a change of scenery.  D.C. isn’t the only team that shares this belief, as the Royals, Rays, Cubs, and Padres all reportedly had some level of interest before he finally signed with Washington.

Ex-star prospects like Smith were a target area for Rizzo this winter, as the Nationals also added such former top-100 names as Michael Chavis, Franklin Barreto, and Anthony Banda on minor league contracts, while Jeter Downs was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox.  Getting a late-bloomer breakout from any of these players would count as a big win for the Nats’ rebuild, and there’s no real risk involved for Washington in taking a look at these players for minimal acquisition costs.

Jeimer Candelario is perhaps the only one of the Nationals’ veteran signings who is somewhat blocking one of the District’s young talents, yet Carter Kieboom is just starting to work as a DH in Spring Training as he continues to recover from the Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2022 season.  With Kieboom’s ability to play third base up in the air, the Nationals moved quickly to sign Candelario soon after he entered the open market in November.

Candelario is another player with some very recent success under his belt, as he hit .278/.356/.458 (125 wRC+) over 832 PA in 2020-21. He led the majors with 42 doubles in 2021.  However, both his slash numbers and most of his Statcast metrics fell off a cliff last season, as Candelario hit only .217/.272/.361 with 13 homers in 467 PA.  Projected for a $7MM salary in his final arbitration year, Candelario was instead non-tendered by a Detroit team looking for a fresh start under new president of baseball ops Scott Harris.

While the Nats certainly needed help all over the diamond, their lineup wasn’t as big of a problem as their rotation in 2022, yet the starting five is another area where the Nationals are counting on the youngsters.  Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, and MacKenzie Gore are all penciled in for regular turns in the rotation if healthy, with the Nationals hoping for some breakouts while being prepared to absorb more early-career growing pains from the trio.

Amidst the District’s spate of one-year contracts, Trevor Williams’ two-year, $13MM deal marked the only multi-year commitment of the offseason.  The right-hander has posted some respectable numbers as both a starter and reliever over his seven Major League seasons, primarily working as a swingman over the last two years with the Mets.  This flexibility could allow the Nats to eventually shift Williams to the bullpen if other rotation options solidify themselves, but he’ll work as a starter to begin the 2023 campaign.

Seth Lugo and Jordan Lyles were two other pitchers linked to the Nationals on the offseason rumor mill, and the team also brought back a familiar face in Erasmo Ramirez. but their other forays into the starting market resulted in minor league deals.  Wily Peralta and Chad Kuhl provide further rotation depth or possible swingman usage, depending on what the Nationals get out of the three youngsters, Williams, and the struggling Patrick Corbin, who is looking to recover from three consecutive mediocre seasons.

Unfortunately for Stephen Strasburg, he recently suffered a setback in his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, and he remains a wild card in the Nats’ plans since it isn’t certain when (or even if) he’ll be able to pitch again.  With only 31 1/3 innings on Strasburg’s record since the start of the 2020 season, it would count as progress just to get the former All-Star back onto the mound at any point this year.

Erasmo Ramirez is another pitcher with swingman ability, though Washington used him almost exclusively as a reliever in 2022 (with two “starts” that were essentially opener outings).  After signing a minor league deal last winter, Ramirez ended up as a nice bargain for the Nationals, as he delivered a 2.92 ERA and an elite 4.0% walk rate over 86 1/3 innings.  That performance earned him a guaranteed $1MM big league contract to return to D.C., and Ramirez is likely to again be deployed in a long relief role.

Ramirez joins another familiar face in Sean Doolittle, who also re-signed with the Nats on a minor league deal as he continues to work his way back from an internal brace procedure in his left elbow.  For a team that usually has something of a revolving door in the bullpen, Washington was relatively quiet on the relief pitching front this offseason, though Thad Ward (the first overall pick of the Rule 5 draft) and minor league signee Alex Colome represent some interesting additions.

Colome has been solid to excellent for most of his decade in the big leagues, apart from a rough 5.74 ERA over 47 innings with the Rockies last season.  A 4.46 SIERA and a .333 BABIP provide some indication that Colome was at least a little unlucky, and a high BABIP is particularly harmful to a pitcher with a hefty 55.6% grounder rate.  While Colome’s home/away splits were pretty equally mediocre last season, getting out of Coors Field might provide some help for the 34-year-old.

As per usual for any rebuilding team, any of these short-term new arrivals might find themselves on other rosters by the trade deadline.  Williams and Smith (via contract and arbitration) are both controlled through 2024, yet that might not be a big impediment if they’re playing well enough for another team to make a tempting trade offer.

If Washington’s plan for the trade deadline seems pretty set, the organization can only hope that it will have more clarity on the whole by the summer — whether that translates to the futures of Rizzo and Martinez, progress on a possible sale to a new owner, or just some simple on-field progress in the rebuild.  Given both the holes on the roster and the overall strength of the NL East, the Nationals will be hard-pressed to improve much on their 55-107 record from a year ago, and even avoiding a 100-loss campaign might count as a minor victory.

How would you grade the Nationals’ offseason? (poll link for app users)

NL Notes: Mancini, Doolittle, Martinez, Taylor

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Cubs right-fielder Seiya Suzuki is currently sidelined with a “moderate” oblique strain. The club has yet to provide an estimated timeline for his absence, but Suzuki has already withdrawn from the World Baseball Classic. It’s unclear if he will still be injured when Opening Day rolls around, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports that the club is looking to use Trey Mancini as the right fielder for any time Suzuki needs to miss.

Mancini was primarily a first baseman coming up through the minors but starting playing the outfield corners with the Orioles due to Chris Davis having the cold corner spoken for. That’s allowed Mancini to log 2,480 1/3 innings of outfield experience, but most of that came in the 2017-2019 period. Mancini missed the 2020 season while in treatment for colon cancer but has primarily been at first base since his return. That was the only position he played in 2021 and he only spent 248 innings on the grass last year.

Mancini’s outfield defense hasn’t been especially well graded in his career, but it’s possible it would only be a part-time solution anyhow, with Suzuki eventually coming back to retake the position. In the meantime, the alignment could allow the club to have both Mancini and Eric Hosmer in the lineup, with the designated hitter slot available for one of the club’s many younger infielders. Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner should be in the middle with Hosmer at first, but the third base and utility/backup infield positions figure to be shared by Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, Christopher Morel, Zach McKinstry, Miles Mastrobuoni and Edwin Ríos.

Some other notes from around the National League…

  • Lefty Sean Doolittle is in camp with the Nationals on a minor league deal, looking to return to health after he dealt with an elbow sprain last year that eventually led to an internal brace procedure. It was reported a few weeks ago that he seemed on track to be ready for Opening Day, but that might no longer be the case. Doolittle tells Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com that there was no real setback, just that the club’s medical team advised him to take a better-safe-than-sorry approach. “Nothing specifically happened,” Doolittle said. “I think when we started to look at what it was going to take to ramp up, and where I was at, I was ahead of schedule probably by almost a month. I did have some days when I was a little more sore than I had been throwing in the offseason. Nothing bad, but we started thinking about it. We’re so far ahead, let’s slow it down a little bit.” It seems that he may no longer be an option for Opening Day, but the slowed-down approach is fine by him. “Let’s be smart about it. It’s not a race,” he added. Manager Dave Martinez is onboard with the plan as well. “When he’s ready, we want him to be 100 percent ready,” Martinez said. “We need left-handed pitchers in our bullpen. When he’s healthy, he’ll be that guy.” Doolittle had a 3.02 career ERA through the end of 2019 but has missed significant time in two of the past three years, in addition to posting a 4.53 ERA in 2021. The Nats’ only southpaw relievers on the 40-man are Matt Cronin and Jose Ferrer, neither of whom have MLB experience yet. Once Doolittle is fully healthy, he should have a path open to get back on the roster.
  • It was reported in mid-December that the Red Sox were interested in a reunion with slugger J.D. Martinez, but he agreed to a deal with the Dodgers that very same day while the Sox agreed with Justin Turner the day after. However, it doesn’t seem as though Boston’s interest was ever that strong, at least according to Martinez, who spoke with Rob Bradford of WEEI about the situation. “The way they made it sound was that they were in on it,” Martinez said. “During the season we never talked. Just basic talk with Chaim, and stuff. It was one of those things where we never moved forward with it.” The alignment of his deal and Turner’s doesn’t seem to have been coincidental. “A situation occurred where at the time they had the offer out to JT… Everybody talks… This was an offer that came up seeing if it was something I was interested in doing. Obviously, it was a little bit of a pay cut, but if I held up maybe I could have gotten more. We were confident about that. But at the same time I wanted a team that was going to be in October, be in the swing of things all year and give me a chance to win.” MLBTR predicted Martinez to secure a two-year, $30MM, so it’s possible he’s correct that he could have gotten more than the one-year, $10MM deal he ultimately agreed to. However, it seems he placed a priority on competition by moving from a Boston club that won 78 games last year to the 111-win Dodgers.
  • Sticking with the Dodgers, they will have to consider backup plans at shortstop now that Gavin Lux is out for the year. Miguel Rojas will now be the atop the depth chart there, with super utility player Chris Taylor behind him. Manager Dave Roberts tells Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times that Taylor will play shortstop about 20-25% of the time. Taylor says he’s ready for the move, having started an infield throwing program prior to the Lux injury. “I’ve been throwing from the infield and the outfield,” Taylor said. “I was trying to anticipate something happening. So I was prepared.” Getting part-time work at shortstop will be nothing new for Taylor. He only got one inning there last year but averaged more than 250 innings per year over the previous four seasons. He’ll be looking to bounce back from a down year at the plate, as he missed a month with a foot fracture and hit .221/.304/.373 for a wRC+ of 93. Moving Taylor in from the grass on occasion will subtract from an outfield mix that’s a bit more uncertain for the club than in recent years. Mookie Betts should be excellent in right, with Trayce Thompson, David Peralta and Jason Heyward potentially taking the other spots, as younger players like James Outman and Andy Pages try to break in.

NL Notes: Song, Lee, Hamels

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The Phillies and right-hander Noah Song are going to attempt something unprecedented, as he is now in camp after spending the past three years in the Navy. Both Song and Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski spoke to reporters about the unusual situation today, including Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“The reality is it’s a gamble,” Dombroski said of taking Song from the Red Sox in November’s Rule 5 draft. “That’s what it is. I do not know when he picks up a ball and he starts throwing off the mound and puts something into it, once his arm is in good enough shape, I don’t know if he’s going throw 85 or 95. But we think it’s worth the risk.”

Dombrowski is certainly familiar with Song’s past pedigree as a prospect, since he was with the Sox when Song was drafted. Some evaluators considered the youngster to be a first-round talent at that time, but Boston was able to take him in the fourth because clubs were concerned about his commitment to the military. Dombrowski said that taking the gamble this winter was worth it, even though Song was still committed to the Navy at the time, since he could be a “top-of-the-rotation type pitcher” or a “star major leaguer,” the type of player that’s not usually available in the draft. “For us, the [Rule 5] draft price is $100,000, and if we return him [to the Red Sox], it’s $50,000, so that’s not much of a risk, financially,” Dombrowski said. “He’s not counted on our roster, so we haven’t even lost a player to put him on the 40-man roster. We thought it was worth the gamble with the high upside that he could bring.”

For now, the gamble has paid off, in the sense that Song has been transferred from active duty to the reserves. That’s allowed him to pursue baseball but it doesn’t seem he’s completely without limits, as Coffey relays that his transfer to reserve status means he’ll be putting in 12 years of part-time duty instead of six years of full-time. As part of that part-time duty, he’ll still have to serve one weekend per month and two full weeks per year. The logistics of how that will play out during the season remain to be seen.

Song last pitched professionally in High-A in 2019 and will now have to try to get back on track quickly. As a Rule 5 draftee, he has to stick on an active roster all season long or else be put on waivers and offered back to the Sox if he clears. “It felt rough,” Song said of his first bullpen since the news of his transfer. “It felt like I was trying to walk again. Trying to learn new things. But as far as expectations go, just trying to manage expectations, really. I don’t really know what my future or ceiling might be. But just trying to figure out what it is, what the new one is, I guess.”

Song’s journey has already been a unique one and his next stage will be one of the more fascinating spring stories to watch.

Some other notes from the Senior Circuit…

  • Nationals left-hander Evan Lee will be treated strictly as a reliever this spring, manager Dave Martinez tells Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Lee, 26 in June, came up primarily as a starter in his time in the minors, including a 2021 season where he pitched 77 innings in High-A with a 4.32 ERA, 31.4% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 47.8% ground ball rate. He was added to the club’s 40-man in November of that year to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He was able to make his MLB debut in June of last year, putting up a 4.15 ERA over four appearances, but he then went to the injured list with a flexor strain. He made some minor league appearances on a rehab assignment as the season was winding down but didn’t return to the majors and was outrighted off the roster in November. The Nats only have four lefties on their 40-man, with Patrick Corbin and MacKenzie Gore slated to the in the rotation, while Matt Cronin and Jose Ferrer have yet to reach the majors. Perhaps there is a path for Lee to get back to the big leagues but he’ll be competing with non-roster invitees like Sean Doolittle and Anthony Banda.
  • The Padres brought veteran lefty Cole Hamels aboard on a minor league deal recently but he won’t factor into their starting pitching depth immediately. Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the southpaw won’t pitch in games until extended Spring Training and will then head to the minors. If he progresses to game readiness and isn’t given a spot on the big league roster, he has monthly opportunities to opt-out of the contract. Hamels missed the past two seasons primarily due to shoulder injuries, in addition to other ailments. He also only made a single start in 2020. Prior to that, however, he was one of the best pitchers in the league for over a decade. “As an athlete, we know we can compete and we’ve done it for a long time,” he tells Acee. “It’s just a matter of (whether) your body will allow you to do it. I think that’s the part that we all battle as our careers kind of come towards those ending points. The body and will you be able to get out there and will you be able to get results? Will you be able to recover? And that’s where we’re at in this stage, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Read The Transcript Of Our Chat Hosted By Former MLB Hitting Coach Rick Eckstein

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Rick Eckstein’s playing career ended with the 1996 Florida Gators, where he played alongside his younger brother David.  Rick moved directly into a coaching role at the University of Florida, the beginning of what has become a respected career.

Eckstein eventually worked his way up the ladder to become the Nationals’ big league hitting coach for nearly five years, working under manager Davey Johnson from 2009-13.  Nats players Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman, and Stephen Strasburg won Silver Slugger awards under Eckstein’s watch.  After a stint with the Angels as player information coach, Eckstein became an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky.

Following a few years as the Twins’ minor league hitting coordinator, Eckstein was hired as the Pirates’ Major League hitting coach under managers Clint Hurdle and Derek Shelton.  He served in that job for nearly three years.  Rick currently serves as a consultant to MLB hitters, given his vast knowledge and experience in the game.

Rick joined MLBTR readers today for a live chat, covering the new shift rule, working with Davey Johnson, and much more.  Read the transcript here.

NL East Notes: Wright, Meneses, Rainey, Sosa

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Even if Kyle Wright is slightly behind in his throwing schedule, Atlanta is hoping he won’t have to start the regular season on the injured list, according to Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The right-hander produced comfortably his best season to date last year, breaking out after owning a combined 6.56 ERA. over the previous four seasons to go 21-5 with a 3.19 ERA over 180 1/3 innings.

The 27-year-old’s off-season prep was halted for three weeks in January following a cortisone injection in his right shoulder. That’s put him behind schedule as spring training begins, and Wright’s unlikely to make any starts for Atlanta over the first few weeks of Grapefruit League action in Florida. As Bowman reports, the hope is he’ll be able to increase his pitch count during the back half of spring training to a point where he can throw around 75 pitches in his regular season debut. That would probably mean he’d miss Atlanta’s opening series in Washington, instead targeting the trip to St Louis as a possible season debut.

Here’s some more notes from around the National League East:

  • The Nationals intend to use 2022 breakout star Joey Meneses in a utility role this season. Manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post) that Meneses would play “a lot of a little bit of everywhere.” That’ll mean he sees time at first base, left field and DH on the rebuilding Nats. As a 30-year-old rookie, Meneses slashed .324/.367/.563 with 13 home runs across 240 plate appearances last season, a small bright spot in a disappointing campaign for Washington. He was certainly helped by a .371 BABIP, but nonetheless it was an impressive debut stint in the big leagues for a player who toiled away for 11 years for reaching the bigs.
  • Sticking with the Nats for now, and reliever Tanner Rainey is targeting a return at the 12-month mark since his Tommy John surgery. As Jessica Camerato of MLB.com reports, Rainey is in the third week of his throwing program, and a return a year after surgery would have him slated to be back on the mound in the first week of August. Of course, there’s a lot that can happen between now and then, and with the Nats in the midst of a rebuild they’d certainly be unlikely to rush him back, but it’s an encouraging sign for the 30-year-old, who worked to a 3.30 ERA over 30 innings last season before going down.
  • Phillies infielder Edmundo Sosa is working on learning center field, according to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The plan is for the Phillies to get Sosa some center field reps during spring training in the hope he’ll be in a position for that to be an option during the regular season. Sosa has appeared in all of 3 1/3 innings in the outfield in his career, but the bulk of his appearances for the Cardinals and Phillies have come in the middle infield spots. After slashing .227/.275/.369 with two home runs, Sosa projects as an infield option on the bench in 2023, with Trea Turner and Bryson Stott manning the positions full time. Veteran Josh Harrison is also projected as a bench option that can cover the infield positions, so adding center field to Sosa’s repertoire would certainly help to deepen the bench options available to manager Rob Thomson.

Big Hype Prospects: Volpe, Wesneski, O’Hoppe, Harrison, Brujan

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This week on Big Hype Prospects, we continue our offseason tradition of focusing on players tangentially linked to news and rumors.

Five BHPs In The News

Anthony Volpe, 21, SS, NYY (AAA)
(AA) 497 PA, 18 HR, 44 SB, .251/.348/.472

True to their word, the Yankees never got around to solving their left field opening with an external addition. Nor did they upgrade Josh Donaldson after the veteran turned in his worst-hitting performance since 2012. The club has opted to go with internal depth like Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Also factoring into the calculus is the imminent arrival of Volpe.

The 21-year-old slugger has only 99 plate appearances of experience at Triple-A and posted a modest 91 wRC+ at the level. While minor league data isn’t comprehensive, there’s evidence Volpe was too patient with pitches inside the strike zone. A repeat at the level makes sense given the personnel already on hand in the Majors. It would require an incredible Spring Training for Volpe to crack the Opening Day lineup. In the interim, with Gleyber Torres participating in the World Baseball Classic, Volpe should have more opportunities for middle infield game reps.

Hayden Wesneski, 25, SP, CHC (MLB)
(AAA) 110.1 IP, 8.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 3.92 ERA

With Kyle Hendricks expected to begin the season on the injured list, the Cubs have a battle for the fifth rotation slot. The most intriguing entrant is Wesneski, a right-hander who showed a knack for avoiding hard contact in a brief 33-inning trial last season. Wesneski features a five-pitch repertoire including three distinct fastballs, a slider, and a changeup. While he doesn’t project to run rampant strikeout totals in the Majors, Wesneski is stingy about allowing hits and walks. It’s a Jameson Taillon-like profile, and it’s probably no accident the Cubs acquired both players in the last calendar year.

Logan O’Hoppe, 23, C, LAA (MLB)
(AA) 447 PA, 26 HR, 7 SB, .283/.416/.544

Acquired at the previous trade deadline for formerly hyped prospect Brandon Marsh, O’Hoppe will compete with Max Stassi for a starting role on the thirsty Angels. Although the right-handed hitter has yet to play in Triple-A, the Angels gave him a vote of confidence in the form of 16 Major League plate appearances last fall. O’Hoppe took advantage of hitter-friendly conditions to torch Double-A pitching. His 2022 breakout included improved plate discipline without sacrificing aggression against pitches in the heart of the zone. This is a relatively rare adjustment. Should he seize the Opening Day job, keep an eye on his plate discipline metrics. If he retains his selective aggression, O’Hoppe could emerge as one of the top catchers in the league.

Kyle Harrison, 21, SP, SFG (AA)
(AA) 84 IP, 13.61 K/9, 4.18 BB/9, 3.11 ERA

Including High-A, Harrison threw a total of 113 innings. He should approach a full complement of 30 starts this season – perhaps with a mix of longer and shorter outings to manage his workload. The Giants put together a deep pool of Major League starters. In addition to the presumed starting five of Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Sean Manaea, Ross Stripling, and Alex Wood, Jakob Junis and Anthony Desclafani await in the bullpen.

While Harrison finds himself behind a number of very qualified starters, the pool of viable minor leaguer replacements is relatively thin. This is also a group of veterans who (mostly) have familiarity with major injuries. This apparent depth could evaporate at a moment’s notice, offering a temporary opportunity for Harrison to audition. As of last look, command is Harrison’s greatest weakness. Most scouts think he’ll develop in this regard. If not, his stuff is sufficient to support him in short-burst starter or elite fireman roles.

Vidal Brujan, 25, 2B/OF, TBR (MLB)
(MLB) 162 PA, 3 HR, 5 SB, .163/.228/.259

Although technically no longer a prospect, Brujan still fits a looser definition of an “unestablished, young player.” He’s also received plenty of hype over the years. Brujan doesn’t fit cleanly on this iteration of the Rays roster, leading MLBTR staffer Anthony Franco to consider him a trade candidate. The switch-hitter has struggled to make impactful contact at the top level, though he has posted an above-average batting line at every minor league level – aside from nine plate appearances at Low-A in 2016. At one point, prospect watchers secretly hoped Brujan would flip a power switch like similarly-built infielder Jose Ramirez. Now it’s looking likelier Brujan settles as a defense-first regular with a contact-forward hitting approach.

Three More

Thad Ward, WSH (26): Although I’ve yet to hear of the Nationals planning to use Ward as a starter this season, the absence of Stephen Strasburg creates a tempting opportunity. Ward has served as a starter throughout his minor league career and profiles as a potential rotation regular. The Nationals are in a state of internal evaluation and have little reason to withhold starts from their Rule 5 pick.

James Outman, LAD (25): After spending much of the offseason with a clear path to a starting role, Outman now finds himself locked behind David Peralta. As a fellow left-handed hitter, Outman faces an uphill battle for regular reps.

DL Hall, BAL (24): Hall is currently behind schedule due to lower back discomfort. The oft-injured southpaw already looked questionable to make the Opening Day rotation. This setback only increases the risk of a minor league assignment. While Hall undoubtedly could play as a Major League reliever, the club is still assessing his potential as a starter.

Mike Rizzo Not Bothered By Contract Status

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  • Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo is only under contract through the 2023 season, and there hasn’t been any indication that the two sides have discussed an extension.  (Understandably so, given how the organization is mourning the recent passing of owner Ted Lerner.)  Even if an extension doesn’t come, Rizzo isn’t worried, as he told Andrew Golden of the Washington Post that “it’s not the first time, won’t be the last time, I’m on a lame-duck contract.  It doesn’t affect me….I was an area scout.  I worked on 20 one-year contracts in a row, so I’m no stranger to limited security.  My work will be my résumé, and we’ll see how it goes on from there.”  Rizzo is one of the longer-serving executives in baseball, having led the Nationals’ front office since 2009.  Between Lerner’s passing, the seemingly stalled efforts to sell the team, and the Nationals’ ongoing rebuild, Rizzo’s status is only one of many major issues facing the organization.

Tim McCarver Passes Away

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Long-time major league baseball player and broadcaster Tim McCarver passed away today, per multiple reports. He was 81 years old.

“Tim McCarver was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a respected teammate, and one of the most influential voices our game has known,” reads a statement from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “As a player, Tim was a key part of great Cardinals and Phillies teams in his 21-year career. In the booth, his analysis and attention to detail brought fans closer to our game and how it is played and managed. Tim’s approach enhanced the fan experience on our biggest stages and on the broadcasts of the Mets, the Yankees and the Cardinals. All of us at Major League Baseball are grateful for Tim’s impact on sports broadcasting and his distinguished career in our National Pastime. I extend my deepest condolences to Tim’s family, friends and the generations of fans who learned about our great game from him.”

A native of Tennessee, McCarver was signed by the Cardinals as a 17-year-old catcher in 1959. He got brief stints in the majors over the next few years before cementing himself as a major leaguer in 1963. He got into 127 games that year and hit .289. The next season, he held that batting average fairly steady at .288, helping the Cardinals win the pennant before defeating the Yankees in the 1964 World Series. McCarver caught every inning of every game in that series and hit .478 along the way.

He would be a mainstay of the Cardinals for the next five years as well, winning another World Series in 1967 and making the All-Star team in 1966 and 1967. He was traded to the Phillies prior to the 1970 campaign and stayed with them until a trade to the Expos midway through the 1972 campaign. He returned to the Cardinals in 1973 and part of 1974, then went to the Red Sox for a time before going back to the Phillies. He would stick in Philadelphia for the later part of his career, from midway through the 1975 season through the 1980 campaign. While he served as Steve Carlton’s “personal catcher,” the Phils won the National League East division in three straight years starting in 1976. He technically retired after 1979 but returned to the club late in 1980 so he could become the 11th player in history to play in four different decades.

For many baseball fans, McCarver is more recognizable as a broadcaster than as a player. He joined the Phillies’ broadcast team in 1980 and stayed with that club through 1982. During that time, he got his first experience of nationally-televised games with NBC’s Game of the Week. He then started calling Mets’ games, a gig that he held from 1983 through 1998. That period of time also saw him work with ABC on Monday Night Baseball and work on the World Series for the first time in 1985.

McCarver would also have stints working on the broadcast teams for the Yankees and Giants, as well as national gigs for CBS and The Baseball Network. But arguably the most significant development of this part of his career when was Fox acquired the rights for the World Series in 1996. They installed McCarver on the team with Joe Buck and he stayed there through 2013, eventually working the World Series in 23 different seasons. His last season with Fox was 2013, and he would call Cardinal games on a part-time basis in the years after that.

McCarver played in 1,909 major league games, racking up 1,501 hits, 97 home runs, 590 runs scored and 645 runs batted in. He won a pair of World Series titles, made a pair of All-Star teams and caught a pair of no-hitters. He then spent close to four decades as a broadcaster, including a lengthy stint as one of the most recognizable voices of the game.

We at MLB Trade Rumors join others in extending our condolences to his family, friends, fans and all those throughout the baseball world who are mourning him today.

Eric Thames Announces Retirement

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Veteran first baseman and outfielder Eric Thames took to Instagram yesterday to announce his retirement. “The day has finally come,” he says in the post. “In the year of our lord, twenty, twenty-three…HE GONE! I’ve been so blessed over these last 14 years to call baseball my job. The friendships that will last a lifetime, the memories that I’ll never shut up about (and those that I’m sworn to secrecy to take to my grave ).”

This announcement officially ends one of the more unique baseball careers, as Thames has spent the past few decades crisscrossing the globe. His professional baseball life began when the Blue Jays drafted him in 2008 out of Pepperdine University. He made his major league debut with the Jays in 2011 and performed well, hitting 12 home runs in 95 games. His batting line on the year was .262/.313/.456 for a wRC+ of 107, indicating he was 7% better than the league average hitter.

Things didn’t go as well the following year, as Thames hit .243/.288/.365 for the Jays and was optioned to the minors for a time. He was then traded to the Mariners in July for Steve Delabar, getting into 40 games with Seattle after that deal. In 2013, the Mariners kept Thames in the minors and eventually designated him for assignment. He was traded to the Orioles and then went to the Astros on a waiver claim, though neither team called him up to the big leagues.

Thames signed with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization for 2014, which transformed his career. After years of being on roster bubbles in North America, he emerged as a star in Korea. He hit 37 home runs for the Dinos that year and followed that up by hitting 47 and 40 in the next two seasons. His 2015 season stands out as being exceptionally impressive, as he also stole 40 bases and walked in 17.3% of his trips to the plate. His .381/.497/.790 batting line amounted to a 216 wRC+. He was crowned as the Most Valuable Player in the league that year.

After that strong three-year stretch with the Dinos, Thames returned to Major League Baseball, signing a three-year, $16MM deal with the Brewers. He was able to transfer a decent amount of his success from Korea to North America, as he hit 31 homers in 2017 while walking in 13.6% of his trips to the plate. His .247/.359/.518 batting line led to a 125 wRC+. Thumb surgery kept him out of action for a while in the following year, but he was still able to add another 16 home runs in 96 games, then hit another 25 in 2019. His three-year stretch in Milwaukee resulted in 72 long balls and a .241/.343/.504 batting line for a 118 wRC+. That last year saw the Brewers qualify for the Wild Card game against the Nationals. Thames went 2-4 in that game, including hitting a solo home run off Max Scherzer. But the Brewers ultimately lost 4-3 to the Nats, who would go on to win the World Series later that year, and that now goes down as the only MLB playoff game in which Thames played.

Despite that solid stretch, the Brewers surprisingly turned down a $7.5MM option on Thames for 2020 and went for the $1MM buyout instead. The Nationals scooped him up on a $4MM guarantee but he struggled in the pandemic-shortened season, hitting .203/.300/.317 with just three homers in 41 games. He signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for 2021 but suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon after just one game with the club. He tried another return to the majors in 2022 by signing a minor league deal with the A’s, but struck out in 38% of his plate appearances in Triple-A and got released after 22 games.

In the end, it makes for quite a journey, with Thames having played for baseball teams all over the world. His major league career resulted in 96 home runs, 18 stolen bases, 451 hits, 286 runs scored and 235 driven in. But he’ll perhaps be best remembered by some fans for that magical three-year run in the KBO wherein he hit 124 home runs, stole 64 bases, scored 343 runs and drove in 382.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Thames on a fascinating and distinctive career, and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

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