Going Deep with The Nats

The Winter Meetings open on Sunday night. Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo has a shopping list. He has publicly stated that he is actively looking to acquire not just one, but two middle-of-the-order bats to bolster the team’s lineup for the upcoming season as well as pitching.

Putting a strong focus on adding run-creators and consistency to the heart of the batting order should be a priority. While Rizzo did not specifically mention the full profile of the hitters he would like to acquire, let’s hope they can also play defense — and that would be advisable given that you need those two-way players when your team was near the bottom in both power and defense in the 2024 season.

We do not know if the Juan Soto “free agent auction” is in the final bidding, but if you followed the BS on Twitter/X, Soto already signed with the Boston Red Sox three days ago. Don’t worry, ESPN’s Jeff Passan publicly embarrassed podcaster Mick, a self-described Cape Cod insider with a podcast, who claimed Soto is already signed with Boston. Look, Soto could very well end up in Boston. That was always a logical destination — but we also know the rumors that Mets’ owner Steve Cohen won’t be outbid. So is it all about the money or the fit or both?

For most baseball executives, the day after Thanksgiving has few “Black Friday” shopping opportunities. The bargains are out there for most teams as normal with minor leaguers, lower level players, retreads, and finding players looking for rebound contracts. The Washington Nationals did sign Jeimer Candelario after Thanksgiving in 2022 on this same day. Canderlario was coming off of a rough 2022 campaign in which he hit just .217 with a .633 OPS. That signing worked out very well for the Nats. Candelario did well in the 2023 season and was flipped at the trade deadline for DJ Herz and Kevin Made.

Most Nats’ fans do not want to see the Nats shopping in that aisle of the store because for every bounceback player that works, like Jesse Winker, you have players like Nick Senzel, Eddie Rosario, and Joey Gallo that might not work. Nats fans want general manager Mike Rizzo shopping at the luxury stores in this offseason.

So far in this offseason, only two big names have been signed with Yusei Kikuchi and Blake Snell, and that leaves 48-names remaining in MLB Trade Rumors Top-50 rankings.

Nationals Park’s construction was completed in 2008 at a cost of $611 in public funds that would be paid back in lease payments by the team as well as taxes. Yesterday, the D.C. Council advanced legislation in negotiations with Ted Leonsis of Monument Sports & Entertainment (MSE), which operates the Wizards, Capitals, and other teams at Capital One Arena, for $515 million in public funds for a major renovation of the arena. Leonis was seeking $600 million per reports. WHAT?!? That arena exists. What could cost $515 million for a 20,000 seat arena that is less than half the size of Nationals Park? Is it being clad in gold bricks? The Nats have had to beg for upgrades on a stadium that is owned by D.C. and after 16 years finally got state-of-the-art lighting and an LED scoreboard.

As the Washington Nationals will celebrate their upcoming 20th season, the team’s two home stadiums during their existence have generically gone from RFK Stadium to Nationals Park without any lucrative naming right’s sponsor. One sleeve of the Nationals’ jerseys continues to be a vacant lot without taking advantage of a very lucrative jersey patch sponsorship deal.

While many hate corporate greed, and think all of these sponsorships are induced by greed, Gordon Gekko will remind you that greed is good. The Nationals are the only team in baseball without at least one of those stadium/patch sponsorships in place. This isn’t greed — this is Business 101.

Most analytical observers of the Washington Nationals had their doubts about Kyle Finnegan as the team’s closer. But few expected him to be gone at the non-tender deadline. Obviously the motivation went back to his Dollar/WAR. MLB Trade Rumors thought Finnegan would get $8.6 million at an arbitration hearing, and the Nats, per TalkNats sources, said that the team would not tender him a contract without an agreed upon contract in place. That did not happen and Finnegan became a free agent on Friday night.

FanGraphs, today, has Finnegan at a modest 0.3 WAR, and Tanner Rainey, who was also non-tendered, is at a -0.3 WAR. With both gone, the Nats win projection from FanGraphs is still at 75 wins (a .461 win mark). Of note, there are 29 free agent relievers projected at a 0.3 WAR, and 21 at 0.4 or above. Most of those relievers have closing experience. By default, on the Nationals’ roster, Jose A. Ferrer would be the current player as the placeholder as the closer.

The process of trying to assess values of players into the future is far from an exact science. Some do not like the WAR formula; however, it appears to be the best comparative indicator we have for values. You could certainly agree, or disagree, with certain players projections in their modeling.

We asked AI how the Washington Nationals could find success in 2025 with spending to league average in free agency. TalkNats suggests that the Washington Nationals have several key components and decisions to make that could lead to success in the 2025 season.