While it is definitely still winter in Washington, D.C., the air feels like spring time in West Palm Beach, Florida. When Super Bowl LIX ends, the baseball season unofficially begins.
This is the final weekend before the Washington Nationals open up their Spring Training camp on Wednesday. Manager Dave Martinez said two weeks ago that he had over a dozen players already in camp.
For general manager Mike Rizzo, he is still working on his 2025 roster and added lefty Colin Poche who just turned 31 in January. The Nats signed him to a minor league contract, and most expect Poche will make the Opening Day roster as a bullpen arm. By not giving Poche an MLB deal now, the team saved the need to open up a 40-man spot via a DFA. In Spring Training, teams can move players to the 60-day IL and open up 40-man spots. Expect Josiah Gray and Mason Thompson to move to that 60-day IL. That will open up two spots for the team.
Poche was non-tendered by the Rays earlier in the winter when he was due a projected $3.4 million in his final year of arbitration. He has spent his entire big league career with the Rays to the point of his non-tender. Poche joins and left-hander Konnor Pilkington, and right-handers Daison Acosta, Joan Adon, Marquis Grissom Jr., Clay Helvey, Brad Lord, Jack Sinclair, Tyler Stuart and Jarlin Susana as the Nats’ non-roster invitees (NRI) pitchers in camp.
Poche was a set-up man for the Rays but his peripherals did decline some, and he had some struggles going lefty-on-lefty. Working with assistant pitching coach, Sean Doolittle, could help Poche get back to peak form. Doolittle knows a thing-or-two about making mechanical adjustments.
What we don’t know is what else Rizzo has up his sleeve. We are less than 50-days to Opening Day, and while Poche might have taken one of the spots in the bullpen, there seems to be a question as to the fifth starter in the rotation, and who plays third base?
Remember, last year was the first year that Major League Baseball (MLB) teams could only have up to 165 players in their minor league system. That limit was established as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between MLB and minor league players. What that did was send fringe players looking for work outside of the MLB and minor league system. That is the squeeze again as players are hoping for another chance at pro baseball versus those like Poche who did not get an MLB roster spot at his signing. Most teams are at their 40-man limit which means for every player who gets an MLB spot, another player hits the unemployment line, or at least until Spring Training when teams will open up additional spots with 60-day IL moves.
There is also the possibility of trades happening. The Nats could find themselves active once again in the trade market. Rizzo went that route in December when he acquired Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers. Speaking of Lowe, he is the only player on the Nats who has not finalized his 2025 salary and could be heading for an arbitration hearing. If they go that route, his salary will either be $10.3 million or $11.1 million.
Also keep in mind that players like Poche will make more than the league minimum of $760,000 if they make the MLB roster. The Nats have already committed over $40 million in acquiring new players, and the team kept their long-term money freed up so far with only Keibert Ruiz on the books past the 2026 season as his guaranteed contract goes through 2030 and team control through 2032.
Over at MLB Trade Rumors (subscriber content), they just did an article on the Nats payroll flexibility into the future. The part of the article that was content restricted, was mostly about how the Nats should look at extending young players, and in particular CJ Abrams, where they wrote, “Perhaps there’s a mutually agreeable price point on a five-year deal with a club option or two that’ll add a couple seasons of control while allowing Abrams to still get to free agency at age 30 or 31.” Interesting that the author went there on Abrams without speaking to the risks that abruptly ended Abrams’ season in September with his demotion in Triple-A for breaking team rules per a source. Add to that how Abrams’ defense declined throughout the season. TalkNats wrote that Luis Garcia Jr. changed agents and will be seeking a contract extension. Years ago in 2022, TalkNats wrote about extending Abrams, and that would seem like a riskier move at this point in time, but if Abrams lights it up in Spring Training, then you might want to revisit that possibility.
For Rizzo, all of this just shows how many balls he is juggling in the air. While ownership sets the budget, Riz has to make everything else work while showing improvement at all levels. The Nats will enter this season as the 14th best farm system in baseball by Baseball America. That seems a little low given that Dylan Crews is technically still a prospect. But as they say, that is just one opinion, Rizzo said again at last month’s Hot Stove event at Nationals Park that this is “the best farm system we have ever had.” The Nats also hold the №1 pick in the upcoming draft, and have to keep developing their draft picks and international free agents, and hopefully get some of them into their projected ceilings to become future stars on the Nationals’ MLB team.
Again, there is work still to be done, and with less than a week remaining in the offseason, we move to preseason mode!
