Going Deep with The Nats

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 .

Can you believe that 10-years ago this week, that the rumors broke that the Washington Nationals were signing Max Scherzer. There are so many parallels to Alex Bregman that I feel that if Ted Lerner was still running the team that he would make that move in an instant to acquire Bregman. Maybe that would be more of a Jayson Werth type of signing. Those three players have a few common traits: Leaders, Achievers, Winners

What made Scherzer so special was his desire to win and his continual improvement. He was never satisfied with the past. Bregman is that same type of player. A leader. An achiever. A winner. Scherzer made his debut on April 29, 2008 at the age of 23 ¾. Since then, his resumé has added three Cy Young awards including two with the Nats, and one in the AL, eight All-Star games, immaculate innings, a 20-strikeout game, and now a 2-time World Series champ.

For Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, his offseason got going with a lottery win on the №1 draft pick then a sneaky good trade for Nathaniel Lowe for first base. It seems every week he has added a new player to ratchet the Nats closer to an 80-win season on paper.

While we are just 75-days to Opening Day, the Washington Nationals, like many teams, are not done with their 2025 roster. Close maybe, but not done. Eight spots are set in the Opening Day lineup, and the final spot is for the Nats’ third baseman. There are also openings for the bullpen, the final spot in the starting rotation, and the bench is almost all up for grabs.

The Washington Nationals exchanged numbers with their six remaining arbitration-eligible players since Mason Thompson came to terms earlier in the offseason. Today, the Nats came to terms with four more players, and leaving just the newly acquired Nathaniel Lowe and Luis Garcia Jr. as the final two players to come to terms with. If the two sides cannot come to terms, they will head to separate arbitration hearings.