LAS VEGAS — In the coming days, the Washington Nationals have to let go of one player to reach the 40-man roster limit, a move that will scarcely register on Major League Baseball’s Richter scale. Otherwise, their to-do list at the annual general managers’ meetings, taking place here at Resorts World this week, should be short unless they are planning a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of signing Joey Meneses to a lifetime contract.
In Las Vegas, Nationals soft-launch their rebuild’s second offseason
(Narrator: There are only pros.)
General Manager Mike Rizzo will be in town with his inner circle, including assistant GMs Mike DeBartolo and Mark Scialabba. The front office will deliberate whether to tender contracts to their 10 arbitration-eligible players, among them Victor Robles, Luke Voit and Erick Fedde. From there, they will prepare for negotiations with whoever is tendered a one-year deal, then consider what their holes are and how they could plug them via major or minor league free agency.
With an uncertain ownership situation — and with a rebuild winding into its second full year — the Nationals are in something of a holding pattern. They began their offseason by bringing back reliever Sean Doolittle on a minor league deal Sunday. They could, in theory, field a team with the players they have, though that team wouldn’t be particularly competitive. But since winning isn’t an immediate objective, the Nationals easily could add on the margins and run their young core through another test, gauging what they have in CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Cade Cavalli, Keibert Ruiz, Luis García and Josiah Gray.
One of their main goals last offseason, amid the owners’ lockout, was to reshape and improve a lagging player development operation. The goals of this offseason are much less clear.
From Tuesday to Thursday here, executives from all 30 teams will wander through this sprawling complex, ducking in and out of meetings. Agents will do the same, pitching their clients and separating spenders from the more dormant clubs. At 6 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, Rizzo and the other National League general managers are slated to speak with reporters.
Last November, Rizzo addressed Juan Soto’s future in Washington, saying the Nationals would do everything they could to retain their star outfielder for the long term. Three Novembers ago, fresh off a World Series title, Rizzo discussed how they would approach Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon, who were entering free agency. And four Novembers ago, Rizzo and the Nationals were at the center of “Harper’s bazaar,” which was agent Scott Boras’s name for the slow-to-resolve Bryce Harper sweepstakes.
This November is devoid of major storylines for Washington. Strasburg’s health remains a major question mark. So, too, does whether the Nationals will make any meaningful splashes in free agency. After the lockout ended in March, they spent money in hopes of flipping those players at the trade deadline, a reasonable strategy that mostly flopped. They brought in designated hitter Nelson Cruz for $15 million, right-handed reliever Steve Cishek for $1.75 million, infielder Ehire Adrianza for $1.5 million and Doolittle on a $1.5 million deal. Cruz, Cishek and Doolittle finished the year with Washington, as did infielder César Hernández.
The players who were traded: Soto and Josh Bell in a blockbuster with the San Diego Padres, and Adrianza in a swap with the Atlanta Braves that netted minor league outfielder Trey Harris. If the past 12 months are any indication of what the next 12 months might look like, the Nationals, a last-place club for the past three seasons, are expected to make low-cost, low-upside moves while seeing how their budding talent develops.
That should make for a relatively quiet week in Sin City.
Source: WP
