by SaoMagnifico
by Andrew Lang
The offseason has just 19-days remaining before we click into preseason mode as Spring Training camp opens for the Washington Nationals on Valentine’s Day. While we expect another starting pitcher to be signed by the Nats, nothing is certain — and the roster still has some question marks as to the 26-players who will be named to the Opening Day roster on March 28.
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Pre-season is a quiet time of year for lovers of Major League Baseball. There are no games on the schedule, and with the new campaign still a few weeks away, it can begin to feel like a long and boring time of year with no light at the end of the tunnel. While fans of tennis enjoy the Australian Open, and lovers of football make predictions at the best online betting apps offering Super Bowl odds, baseball enthusiasts begin to grow restless. But the 2024 season is approaching and will be here before you know it.
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Time to turn our attention back to what FA pitcher(s) to sign. An update to a previous post on Starting Pitchers.
Steve: First off Don, that left-handed power bat article that we started writing in December kind of nailed it on Joey Gallo. Let’s see if we can be that good on guessing who Rizzo might snag as his starting pitcher to be signed.
Don: We removed Shota Imanaga, Marcus Stroman and James Paxton since they have each signed, or in Paxton’s case is close to signing with another team. And we added Matthew Boyd, Brad Keller, Eric Lauer, Jake Odorizzi and Hyun Jin Ryu to list from before that included Michael Lorenzen, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Alex Wood. And some of these are clearly tier-3 candidates. But even a tier-3 guy could potentially push Trevor Williams to the bullpen.
Steve: I liked that Jon Heyman of the NY Post thought that the Nats would be trying to get a tier-2 pitcher — but I am very skeptical on Michael Lorenzen because he was really bad and looked burned-out after throwing that complete game no-hitter. Where have we seen that before? Johan Santana comes to mind and the near no-no with Atlanta’s Sean Newcomb changed both pitcher’s futures after that. I’m sure there are more names. Also, Heyman had Ryu as a tier-2 pitcher with Alex Wood, Stroman and Paxton. Going from what I heard is Rizzo has his eyes on Ryu. My fear is that if he doesn’t get his price on Ryu that this drops to a tier-3 signing, and then I think, why bother?
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The Nationals have finally addressed their need for a left-handed power threat and made their their largest dollar commitment to a player during this off-season. TalkNats first sourced a report in December after the Nick Senzel signing that their final position player acquisition would be a lefty power bat. The first three paragraphs of this article nailed it by mentioning Joey Gallo as the type of player general manager Mike Rizzo would target, and TalkNats sourced that Gallo was on the short-list back in December. Now per multiple reports, Gallo has been signed by the Washington Nationals contingent on a physical. The team will have to make a corresponding 40-man roster move once the Gallo signing becomes official.
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The Washington Nationals have the best outfield prospects in all of baseball with Dylan Crews and James Wood as Baseball Prospectus ranked the pair at №5 and №7 respectively of baseball’s best prospects. Third baseman Brady House is ranked №69, and RHP Cade Cavalli at №85 by BP to round out all of the Nats’ top-100 prospects. Falling off the list were outfielders Elijah Green and Robert Hassell III.
What we take a look at today is our rankings of the Top-30 prospects in the Washington Nationals system based on upside potential. Crews and Wood might as well be tied for first as their potential is off the charts. These rankings are always subject to debate and are subjective. Timing is also everything. Just three years ago when the farm system was ranked last in baseball, a player like Trey Lipscomb, ranked 15th here, would have been a Top-5 back then. All of these Top-30 players have tools that standout enough to believe any one of them could be a future star.
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Can you believe that yesterday marked the 9th anniversary of the signing of Max Scherzer by the Washington Nationals? What made Scherzer so special? It was his desire to always be improving and never being satisfied with the past. Scherzer made his debut on April 29, 2008 at the age of 23 ¾. Since then, his resumé has added 3 Cy Young awards including 2 in the NL and 1 in the AL, 9 All-Star games, immaculate innings, a 20-strikeout game, and now a 2-time World Series champ.
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That 2004 contract that MLB and Baltimore divvied up to bring the Montreal Expos to Washington D.C. was always going to put a governor on the Washington Nationals revenues. That contract stated that the Orioles had to receive the same amount of annual TV revenue as the Nationals. Equal. The Washington D.C. TV market is ranked 8th largest by the Nielsen ratings and Baltimore is 28. Washington has higher income demographics than most of the markets ahead of them — making Washington very desirable. But yet, Washington receives small-market money on TV revenues and only $5 million a year more than the Tampa Bay Rays per MLBTR.
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The Nats 2024 season is getting closer by the day, and pretty soon, before we know it — pitchers and catchers will be reporting to West Palm Beach. With the upcoming season, there is growing concern on the uncertainty of who will be playing Center Field. Who will play it? Will there be a rotation in center field? What happens if that doesn’t work? Those concerns will be the main center of attention in the next coming weeks. After last year’s carousel in the middle of the outfield, Nats fans are eager to find out who will be their next center fielder, but most likely that definitive decision won’t happen this early. These young men listed below are good candidates to take over that Center Field role.
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Ever stared at a wall of baseball gloves, feeling like you’re trying to decipher an alien language? You know that every position on the field demands its unique glove style. But how do you choose?
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Do you want the good news or the bad news? Okay, it isn’t really bad news — more like no news. It has been well over a month since Dylan Floro was added to the Washington Nationals roster on December 12, and time is running out on the offseason as the preseason officially starts on Valentine’s Day when pitchers & catchers report to West Palm Beach for the Nats. That is exactly FOUR WEEKS from today!
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"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
