The Washington Nationals Thread: The Future is Near!

[Ball Security]

1 hour ago, Dan T. said:

So should Rizzo make a run for Nick Castellano and move him to third base? He just opted out of his Reds contract with 2 years and $34 million left.  

I would not move him to 3B.  He hasn’t played there since 2017 and he is pretty bad defensively.  -2.6 dwar in 2017.  I like his bat though.  Perhaps you can play him in LF and try him at 1B against lefties.  Having a strong RHB between Soto and Bell would be nice.  With that cost though, they may be better off targeting Bryant.

[Ball Security]

So, what are we going to do this offseason to make the team better?  How much are the Lerners willing to spend?  Should they be in the market for a SS when, hopefully, there are guys on the horizon.  Should we skip on long term commitments knowing we’ll need to pay for Soto?  What do we do to improve the bullpen?  
 

Hopefully the labor dispute gets resolved and this can be a semi-normal offseason.

[CRobi21]

Would be a huge first step in the rebuild!

[Ball Security]

1 hour ago, CRobi21 said:

Would be a huge first step in the rebuild!

Looks like they are the favorites to sign the #6 guy on the list too.  A righty OFer.

[TheGoodBits]

6 hours ago, Ball Security said:

So, what are we going to do this offseason to make the team better?  How much are the Lerners willing to spend?  Should they be in the market for a SS when, hopefully, there are guys on the horizon.  Should we skip on long term commitments knowing we’ll need to pay for Soto?  What do we do to improve the bullpen?  
 

Hopefully the labor dispute gets resolved and this can be a semi-normal offseason.

Me playing armchair GM knowing the contract situations we have on a number of key players: 

 

-go all in on signing Soto to an extension this offseason. Top priority, make him say no multiple times to really aggressive offers. Nothing left on the table, if we fail now, we will always fail and he will leave after his contract is up. 

 

-make some incremental, mid-tier or budget FA signings. No splashes. 
 

-hopefully by the middle of next year we’ll have clarity on a couple critical things: whether Strasburg is on a recovery track and whether Corbin has a chance to regain his 2019 form. If they aren’t, we’re going to suck for a bit. 
 

-if we’re a bottom 5 team by the middle of the season, seriously consider trading Soto. At that point he’ll have 2.5 years left on his rookie deal and we’re extremely unlikely to be competitive during that time, and it will be obvious that he’s walking afterwards based on the failed offseason attempts to sign him longterm. 
 

-prepare for a couple really crappy years but know that we’re starting to load up to be competitive again in 2025 or so. 

[@DCGoldPants]

 

 

 

[Riggo#44]

 

[Ball Security]

Michael A Taylor gets his Gold Glove.  Congratulations to him.

[CRobi21]

Schwarbs makin his return?!

 

 

[Commander -JB-]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:07 PM, CRobi21 said:

Would be a huge first step in the rebuild!

Nats also favorites to sign #6 prospect 

Anthony Gutierrez

OF

16 from Venezuela

[Ball Security]

Oakland is looking to massively cut salary and are exploring the possibility of moving:

Olson

Chapman

Manaea 

Bassitt

Montas

 

Don’t know what the cost would be for these guys, but I’d be interested in Chapman, Manaea, and Bassitt.

 

 

[CRobi21]

[Riggo#44]

Not all that unsurprising--I'd love a Schwarber reunion though!

[TheGoodBits]

On 11/5/2021 at 4:42 PM, skinsfan_1215 said:

Me playing armchair GM knowing the contract situations we have on a number of key players: 

 

-go all in on signing Soto to an extension this offseason. Top priority, make him say no multiple times to really aggressive offers. Nothing left on the table, if we fail now, we will always fail and he will leave after his contract is up. 

 

-make some incremental, mid-tier or budget FA signings. No splashes. 
 

-hopefully by the middle of next year we’ll have clarity on a couple critical things: whether Strasburg is on a recovery track and whether Corbin has a chance to regain his 2019 form. If they aren’t, we’re going to suck for a bit. 
 

-if we’re a bottom 5 team by the middle of the season, seriously consider trading Soto. At that point he’ll have 2.5 years left on his rookie deal and we’re extremely unlikely to be competitive during that time, and it will be obvious that he’s walking afterwards based on the failed offseason attempts to sign him longterm. 
 

-prepare for a couple really crappy years but know that we’re starting to load up to be competitive again in 2025 or so. 

😬 

 

 

Soto won’t sign unless we make big free agency splashes but if we make big free agency splashes we won’t be able to afford Soto. Great! 

[CRobi21]

 

"Boras...Why is it always Boras...?"

[@DCGoldPants]

That's so Boras. 

 

Is offering your client $500M proof that ownership wants to win? 

 

Dude of course wants a cap floor but not a ceiling. 

[Warhead36]

I'd sit down with Soto this offseason and let him know exactly what the plan is. Keep him in the loop. I'm not saying let him have a say in personnel, but at least let him know of the plan. For these guys its as much ego and the perception of power as it is money. That's what upset Aaron Rodgers.

[Renegade7]

1 hour ago, Warhead36 said:

I'd sit down with Soto this offseason and let him know exactly what the plan is. Keep him in the loop. I'm not saying let him have a say in personnel, but at least let him know of the plan. For these guys its as much ego and the perception of power as it is money. That's what upset Aaron Rodgers.

 

This isnt ego, he just won a ring and sees we are rebuilding and shedding contracts.  Hes concerned on if our plan will translate to rings or a plan not to hurt the Lerners wallet too much.  Hes good as gone.

[EmirOfShmo]

1 hour ago, Renegade7 said:

 

This isnt ego, he just won a ring and sees we are rebuilding and shedding contracts.  Hes concerned on if our plan will translate to rings or a plan not to hurt the Lerners wallet too much.  Hes good as gone.

Pure speculation. Keeping who they let go would have been insanity. It wasn't going to take this team over the top in 2022. And it sucked balls to let Turner go. But he's gonna get big $$ in a a year. Big $$. 

It's time to retool. Yeah it might take a couple of years. But it needs to be done. I hope Soto is the centerpiece of it. 

[Renegade7]

4 minutes ago, EmirOfShmo said:

Pure speculation. Keeping who they let go would have been insanity. It wasn't going to take this team over the top in 2022. And it sucked balls to let Turner go. But he's gonna get big $$ in a a year. Big $$. 

It's time to retool. Yeah it might take a couple of years. But it needs to be done. I hope Soto is the centerpiece of it. 

 

Speculation?  When your agent says his client wants proof we are serious about contending for a ring, thats not code for anything, thats exactly what it means. 

 

We didn't pay Harper market value, we didn't pay Rendon market value, we decided to punt of paying Turner market value, now I'm supposed to believe we will do it for Soto?

 

I trust Rizzo to rebuild our farm system only to become a farm system for other teams.

[EmirOfShmo]

2 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

 

Speculation?  When your agent says his client wants proof we are serious about contending for a ring, thats not code for anything, thats exactly what it means. 

 

We didn't pay Harper market value, we didn't pay Rendon market value, we decided to punt of paying Turner market value, now I'm supposed to believe we will do it for Soto?

 

I trust Rizzo to rebuild our farm system only to become a farm system for other teams.

Of course he wants to win. But it's also conjecture that it's what he's saying. It's "according his agent that's what he wants".

Lerner's stepped up & paid Scherzer & Strasburg. Big. 

Harper wanted to be the man somewhere. He saw the Soto shadow bigger than him. PHL overpaid for him. Rendon hated the cold. He wasn't staying here & saw a big payday after the WS. LAA is the landing spot for overpaid FAs.

I have yet to see anything that says Soto wants to leave - from Soto. So yeah, speculation. 

[Renegade7]

4 minutes ago, EmirOfShmo said:

Of course he wants to win. But it's also conjecture that it's what he's saying. It's "according his agent that's what he wants".

Lerner's stepped up & paid Scherzer & Strasburg. Big. 

Harper wanted to be the man somewhere. He saw the Soto shadow bigger than him. PHL overpaid for him. Rendon hated the cold. He wasn't staying here & saw a big payday after the WS. LAA is the landing spot for overpaid FAs.

I have yet to see anything that says Soto wants to leave - from Soto. So yeah, speculation. 

 

Rendon hated the cold, what? Harper scared of Soto's shadow? Now thats speculation, no?  Market value is exactly what happened to those two, call it overpaid if you want, but thats what the market gave them and totally expected.  We overpay pitchers, not hitters, its not our MO.  We haven't done that since Werth.  We gonna wait to hear from Soto himself before we act?  

[EmirOfShmo]

Just now, Renegade7 said:

 

Rendon hated the cold, what? Harper scared of Soto's shadow? Now thats speculation, no?  Market value is exactly what happened to those two, call it overpaid if you want, but thats what the market gave them and totally expected.  We overpay pitchers, not hitters, its not our MO.  We haven't done that since Werth.  We gonna wait to hear from Soto himself before we act?  

LOL...whatever dude. I'm too lazy to find the articles about Rendon hating playing in the cold. 

Yep, my speculation about Harper. Because he's a selfish prick who only cares about BH. **** him. He'll never win because it's all about him. But still similar to agent speak about Soto. Speculation. 

I would love to hear directly from Soto before we act. 

[Renegade7]

10 minutes ago, EmirOfShmo said:

LOL...whatever dude. I'm too lazy to find the articles about Rendon hating playing in the cold. 

 

I did it for you, nothing on first page of Google, so not buying it.

 

10 minutes ago, EmirOfShmo said:

Yep, my speculation about Harper. Because he's a selfish prick who only cares about BH. **** him. He'll never win because it's all about him.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about, he wasn't like that when he was here and no indication he's a me first player in Philly.

 

https://thatballsouttahere.com/2021/10/02/this-bryce-harper-quote-on-the-phillies-season-is-absolutely-heartbreaking/

 

10 minutes ago, EmirOfShmo said:

 

But still similar to agent speak about Soto. Speculation. 

I would love to hear directly from Soto before we act. 

 

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt...good luck with that.  Its a warning shot if ever I heard one, we can choose to ignore it at our own peril.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Renegade7

[EmirOfShmo]

4 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

 

I did it for you, nothing on first page of Google, so not buying it.

 

 

I have no idea what you are talking about, he wasn't like that when he was here and no indication he's a me first player in Philly.

 

https://thatballsouttahere.com/2021/10/02/this-bryce-harper-quote-on-the-phillies-season-is-absolutely-heartbreaking/

 

 

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt...good luck with that.  Its a warning shot if ever I heard one, we can choose to ignore it at our own peril.

So you believe:

1. Rendon would have signed in DC for the right amount of money.

2. BH is a great teammate and is all about the team and is worth his contract and DC should have resigned him.

3. Soto isn't resigning in DC because agent comments.

 

I don't believe #1 or any parts of #2. #3 is open - for me.