Going Deep with The Nats

As they say, you might not like the process in how the sausage is made, and that has a parallel to how a roster is built. The behind-the-scenes process isn’t pretty. So let’s deal with some facts and not the same tired fiction to fit the narrative that gets tagged on the Washington Nationals that they don’t spend money. What am I talking about? It is the daily grind in the social media that the Nationals haven’t spent any money this offseason. The team has already committed $37.7 million so far on player acquisitions for the 2025 payroll. It doesn’t take but a few minutes to add up the numbers, but why do the work when you can keyboard smash the old tired narrative.

On that $37.7 million number, the only variable is Nathaniel Lowe‘s actual salary which will be set at either $10.3 million or $11.1 million if he goes to an arbitration hearing or somewhere in-between if they settle before that point on a number. That number might be $38.1 million or $37.4 million. By the way, MLB Trade Rumors had Lowe’s number at $10.4 million for their arb projection.

The calendar is 9-days from turning to February, and you can almost smell the green grass being freshly mowed at the Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches . Yes, three weeks from today marks the opening of Spring Training camp to pitchers and catchers on Feb. 12 for the Washington Nationals.

The comments from the previous TalkNats article contained an interesting discussion regarding whether MLB was broken. Looking forward to the next CBA, is a Cap/Floor needed? Here’s my 2cents: ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY YES. MLB Trade Rumors did a poll on this subject with over 35,000 votes.

The issue is, how does MLB and the MLBPA get there? MLB likely wants a salary cap ceiling; the MLBPA does not. MLBPA likely wants a salary floor; MLB does not.

The sun rises over the Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches as hopes and dreams are encapsulated in a new season of promise. That complex is the home to the Washington Nationals’ facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 26-days, pitchers and catchers are set to officially open Spring Training camp on Feb. 12. But according to Jon Heyman, “156 MLB players are still waiting for deals as spring training approaches.” Even if each team signed three more players from that pool, there would still be 66-players looking for jobs.

The Statcast™ math on Jacob Young has already highlighted some of his impressive tools. He is not a 5-tool player as nobody expects him to be a power hitter. Is he a 3½-tool player? He has loud tools with elite speed and defense. He will have to show that he can hit at better than .256 with more walks at the MLB level — but it’s really just one more hit a week that separates Young from being an All-Star.

In most years, Mike Rizzo, the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager of the Washington Nationals, likes to have all of his offseason business finalized before he meets with season plan holders to give his Hot Stove speech at the State of the Nationals event. This year, that date is January 25^th .