From yesterday to this morning, the media is abuzz with Washington Nationals content spurred on by the MLB debut of Dylan Crews. Having Juan Soto in Nationals Park for the first time before his impending free agency just added extra drama to the day.
There was a pregame presser with Crews that spoke to many subjects from his choice of jersey No. 3 to his childhood in the lower levels of the Lake Mary Little League — the same program that won the Little League World Series on Sunday. Crews talked about how he passed through Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the site for the LLWS, on his trek to Nationals Park. He spoke about being an assertive leader if that is needed, and he spoke of his winning days at LSU.
The glimpses into the future are real, and the standout in yesterday’s game was not Crews, Soto, or James Wood — it was Jacob Young who was 2-for-3 in the game with a double and a home run as well as showing off his speed and defense.
The entire Nats’ outfield is made up of rookies, or officially in Crews’ situation, he is a pre-rookie as he retains his top prospect status. The Nats’ had rookie starter, Mitchell Parker, on the mound and six rookies in the starting lineup. Plus the Nats have other top prospects who are readying themselves.
With what general manager Mike Rizzo calls his “payroll flexibility” and his pursuit of a “couple of shrewd offseason acquisitions,” that can only add to filling a couple of holes with greatness. Principal owner, Mark Lerner, certainly fueled those thoughts when he met with Soto on the field in the pregame. Later, it was Wood and Soto hugging it out. Those two worked out together at a Boras facility over the winter, meeting for the first time. Soto got a standing ovation from many in attendance, and it was like the proverbial red carpet was rolled out for him for Opening Day 2025 if he wanted to come back.
“We’re trying to contend again. It’s going to happen,” manager Dave Martinez said. “With this core group, it’s going to happen. We’re heading in the right direction. … The next step is that I don’t want to be close anymore — I want to be there.”
If you read ESPN’s article this morning by Jeff Passan, Soto’s huge season this year has set him up where they believe his floor will be set for a deal at $500 million. Some don’t feel he will reach Shohei Ohtani level numbers, but Soto is younger and that could help. But Ohtani’s ability to pitch and hit makes him a six-tool unicorn, and Soto is just a very gifted 2-tool player with average-ish skills on defense and baserunning. Soto, like Aaron Judge and Ohtani, can change a game with their bats — and the Nats need that.
This will be the discussion that will rage on for months until Soto actually chooses a team. There are harsh critics, with nothing to base it on, that will tell you the Nats won’t spend on Soto. This was the same ownership group in 2022 that offered Soto a reported $440 million with no deferrals — and sources told us that the $440 million was open to further negotiation — but Soto’s agent reportedly did not counter-offer and the deal just died at that point.
“We did something special with [Soto] here playing the outfield. As I’ve always said before — nothing has changed — I love the kid. You knew what you were getting out of him every day. He’s going to play hard, and put the bat on the ball and do everything he can to help you win. He’s still doing that. He’s a good one. He’s one of the best. He’s been phenomenal.”
— Martinez said
Interestingly, the Nats really did dodge a bullet when they traded Soto because he most likely would have been heading to free agency with the Washington Nationals if they didn’t trade him. Capisci? If they held onto him without a new contract, Soto would be heading to free agency anyway — and the Nats would not have been able to trade him for Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Jarlin Susana (Top-100 prospect), and Robert Hassell III (Double-A top prospect).
Some more food for thought here, if the Nationals held onto Soto and won eight more games in 2022, maybe they don’t pick second in the draft lottery. Maybe they don’t get to draft Crews. The team certainly doesn’t get Wood, Abrams, Gore, Susana, and Hassell.
You don’t even have to be an optimist to see the bright future in Washington Nationals baseball, you just have to be able to see all of the young pieces of the future. It would take a real pessimist to not see it. Also, don’t the Nats win last night if Judge doesn’t rob two 2-run homers?
The Baseball Gods can giveth and taketh. Two rookies, Jose Tena and Andres Chaparro, were robbed of home runs by Judge. The Nats lost 5-2. Maybe they win 6-5 otherwise. As Ryan Zimmerman said on the postgame show on 106.7 FM, you aren’t worried about wins/losses here, you are just trying to improve on the future, and Zim said the Nats are doing just that.
Of course Zim is right. These series against juggernaut teams like the Yankees show you what you can do with elite star power, and when Soto was on the Nationals, the team had that — but they were fading fast in 2022 — and the team needed — and got, a serious reset. Now they are building back better than what the team had in 2010. They could use some veteran star power to plug-and-play and with that, some star veteran leadership. That is Phase II you would think this offseason. So yes, the future is bright.
