Going Deep with The Nats

How quickly things change in sports and life. Just two years ago to now — how things have changed. Baseball rosters change often. You never etch anything in stone as Yankees fans just learned. In Washington D.C., we are just debating players as acquisition targets.

We take a look back in time to two years ago. Let’s start with the prospect rankings at Baseball America and MLB Pipeline (graphic below). This was before Dylan Crews, Yohandy Morales, and Travis Sykora were drafted in July 2023, and before Jeimer Candelario was traded for DJ Herz and Kevin Made in July 2023. This was before Seaver King, Caleb Lomavita, and Luke Dickerson were drafted in July 2024. This was before international free agent signings that got the Nats prospects like Victor Hurtado and Angel Feliz in January 2024. This was before trading for Alex Clemmey, Cayden Wallace and Tyler Stuart in July 2024. This is your current rankings on this link, and below you can see what the rankings looked like just two years ago beyond that Top-11 and certainly at №3.

First of all, a happy 64th birthday to Mike Rizzo, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager of the Washington Nationals. Yes, we are about 15 hours early in Washington, D.C. for Riz’s birthday wishes, and right on time for the people in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. You have to wonder what Mike’s wish is on this birthday? He already has the №1 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, so if that wish were to be used for a new player acquisition, who would he wish for?

Tick tock goes the clock as we head into the final evening of this year’s Winter Meetings. There have been some notable players on the move, from Juan Soto to Max Fried to the Garrett Crochet trade — but in all, there are still over 30 free agents unsigned in the Top-50 rankings.

The Winter Meetings usually wrap-up after the Rule-5 draft, but this event actually runs through tomorrow in Dallas, Texas. The Washington Nationals were the surprise lottery winners in the MLB Draft after the ball bounced their way for the first pick in the MLB Draft in July. Today, eyes are on the Rule-5 draft, and unlike the prior two years, the Nationals were not attached to any rumors from their spot at being able to select a Rule-5 eligible minor leaguer at pick No. 6. With RHP Evan Reifert available, the Nats selected him. He will turn 26 in May and has pitch up to the Double-A level. The Nats will give him a chance in the bullpen.

The first night of the Winter Meetings began with breaking news leaking that Juan Soto received a contract for over three-quarters of a billion dollars from the New York Mets. That deal will put his career earnings near $850 million, and that does not include endorsement deals that could put Soto above a billion in earnings. In total, Soto’s new deal with the Mets has more than doubled the contract given to the Mets best player, Francisco Lindor. Now we move into the second evening of the Winter Meetings and see if any major news breaks.