The Washington Nationals must submit their Opening Day 26-player roster by noon ET on Thursday, March 27, 2025. This deadline applies to the active roster, which teams are required to reduce to from their Spring Training rosters. There is a lot up in the air right now with the Washington Nationals including a new IL move.
This morning the Nats officially announced that LHP DJ Herz had been placed on the 15-day Major League Injured List with a left elbow UCL sprain. While we do not know the severity of the injury, this is certainly a blow to the starter’s depth as Herz, who was demoted to Triple-A last week, was the next starter on the depth chart.
During Spring Training, Herz’s velocity was down — but he made a point to say that was normal for him early in the season. You can view the starting pitching depth on Roster Resource.
While Herz wasn’t going to factor into the Opening Day roster, that complicates the starter’s depth chart. Is RHP Brad Lord or LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara the next part of the depth after the team announced that RHP Jackson Rutledge would be converted into a relief pitcher? Lord was still in consideration to be part of the Opening Day bullpen as a long-man along with Rutledge.
Here is a look at the bullpen locks that we have:
1. Kyle Finnegan
2. Lucas Sims
3. Colin Poche
4. Jose A. Ferrer
5. Jorge López
With the rumors that Derek Law would begin the season on the 15-day IL, manager Dave Martinez was not ready to declare that as fact. If Law does go on the IL, there would be three open spots for the bullpen. Also, the Nats made it official this morning and put Colin Poche on the MLB roster which filled the 40-man roster back to capacity. The remaining names for the final two bullpen spots are (A-Z): Brad Lord (NRI), Orlando Ribalta, Jackson Rutledge, and Eduardo Salazar. If Lord makes the team, he would need to be added to the 40-man roster and general manager Mike Rizzo would need to open up a spot.
“It’s still early. We don’t have to make those kind of roster decisions yet on [Derek Law]. Him telling you [his status] that indicates that he doesn’t feel like he’s ready. We’ll go back tomorrow and the next day, talk to the medical staff and just see where he really is. He thinks he’s going to be fine. He just can’t bounce back right now.”
— Martinez said over the weekend
Besides not knowing the final bullpen, we are no closer to determining the final bench. Four days ago, Drew Millas was optioned to Triple-A leaving Riley Adams and Andrew Knizner for the bench catcher’s spot with Keibert Ruiz presumed as the starter. It looks like Juan Yepez or Jose Tena should get the final bench spot because Nasim Nunez was optioned to Triple-A on Friday. Rumors are still circulating on the health of players like Amed Rosario who was nursing a knee injury. Some might say that Alex Call is the only lock for the bench — but then again, The Nats Report has the final bench per their source as Adams, Knizner, Yepez and Tena. That’s right, no Call or Rosario if their source has it right. That would ostensibly make Yepez the fourth outfielder which seems odd.
According to Roster Resource, only Adams and Rosario are out of options because Knizner was signed to a minor league deal. Now Knizner most likely has opt-out clauses. And Yepez, Tena, and Call all have minor league options.
Final roster construction takes a myriad of factors into play starting with health and contract status. And that could overshadow setting the roster with the best 26 players.
