If I’ve developed a shtick in my time writing about the rebuild-era Nationals, it’s pointing to any mildly intriguing player on waivers or potentially available on a minor league deal and saying the Nationals should pick them up.
And here’s why: the organizational depth of this organization is still an embarrassment. The organization has done well to bring in talents like CJ Abrams, Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Keibert Ruiz, Dylan Crews, James Wood, Brady House, and so forth. But the amount of genuinely promising talent beyond the franchise’s flashiest names is grossly thin.
As a recent article in Baseball Prospectus put it, “(The Nationals are) something of an anti-testament to depth ... the options beyond the mediocre starters are not other mediocre players, but rather castoffs and org types. It’s what happens when a bad team refuses to pick up pennies off the ground.”
Trades, strong drafts in 2024 and 2025, and major strides in player development are all needed to solve that problem. But the team should also be exploring every avenue it can to supplement the talent it currently has. And if the front office isn’t in a place where it has the green light to spend any real dollars (as has been every indication so far this offseason), it should instead be assessed on its ability to leverage available opportunities to add talent and upside on the cheap.
That’s why I suggested on Tuesday that the Nationals should look at someone like Johnny Cueto as a target for a minor-league deal w/ a big-league Spring Training invite. While the former 20-game winner struggled through an injury-riddled 2023 with the Marlins, he’s a season removed from consecutive campaigns as an effective rotation option.
While such a signing hardly qualifies as “adding a starting pitcher,” the way Mike Rizzo stated the Nationals would at the beginning of the offseason, it’s also a no-brainer for a team that has seemingly decided that the price of better free agent arms is too prohibitive.
Would Cueto be a better option than Trevor Williams? Maybe not. It’s hard to know how much his struggles last year were related to injury vs. signs father time has arrived. But on a minors deal you can easily break away from, what’s the harm in trying? The worst case scenario is you cut Cueto (or a similar type of arm) at the end of the end of camp. The best case is you’ve found a viable option for your rotation and a potential trade piece for July (of which the Nationals currently have very few).
The same goes for the waiver wire. The team has dipped its toe in the “former top prospect” waters to some extent already with Nasim Nunez, Adonis Medina, Lewin Diaz, and even the signing of Nick Senzel, but there is still more opportunity to churn the roster and add more potential upside plays. Names like Alex Call and Jake Alu, while fun stories when they have a surprise big hit or hot streak, do not need to be taking up spots on the 40-man roster.
Neither is a legitimate risk to be claimed on waivers, either, meaning both should be able to get assigned to AAA and continue to serve as depth in the high minors while freeing up the spot for intriguing new faces that are at least giving a look.
Two examples of this are former Top 100 prospects Jordan Balazovic and Bubba Thompson, who the Twins designated for assignment on Wednesday to make room for a pair of recent acquisitions. Neither has done much at the big-league level to this point, but both are still 25 years old with limited big-league run so far.
Even though it’s hardly a given that either will deliver on their former top prospect status, why shouldn’t the Nationals take a look at either/both? Despite entering their third full season officially in rebuild mode (and the fifth year where they’re near-certain to finish with a losing record), the Nationals still don’t have a Top 10 farm system in the sport. Acquiring Balazovic or Thompson won’t suddenly send them flying up rankings, but the Nats are in a position where any opportunity to add potential upside on the cheap should be pursued veraciously.
Other names out there worthy of consideration to receive minors deals w/ ST invites include Kyle Lewis, Luis Oviedo, Chance Adams, Jared Oliva, Fernando Romero, and Peyton Battenfield. Lewis, in particular, would also be worth giving a major-league contract in the same range as Senzel’s deal.
Are any of these names going to be impact additions? Maybe not. And should they be focused on instead of better acquisitions like a Jorge Soler or Hyun-Jin Ryu? Absolutely not. But if the Nationals can add even two or three more of these types of names through minor-league deals and the waiver wire, it will at least stand to stand to extend the organization’s luck surface area from where things currently sit.
If even one or two names from this grab bag “pop,” even to the point of being rosterable big-leaguers, it’ll make at least a small dent toward supplementing what is currently a top-heavy, thin farm system. And if Mike Rizzo’s hands are tied financially (despite what’s said publicly), he should at least be evaluated on his ability to leverage cheaper routes to improve the roster. And there’s plenty of opportunity to do so.