Washington Nationals Could Pilfer Dodgers Surplus To Put a Stamp on Offseason

The Washington Nationals could look to pilfer some of the Los Angeles Dodgers surplus of talent to put a stamp on this offseason.

Aug 1, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo discusses the close of the trade window before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images / Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals are looking to take a step forward in 2025 with another year of development under the belts of their young stars.

James Wood and Dylan Crews debuted in the Majors last year, and both outfielders look to be pivotal pieces of the roster for years to come.

Offensively, the Nationals are set for 2025 outside of a few potential tweaks here and there; one area that could use some improvement, however, is their starting rotation.

With Fangraphs projecting MacKenzie Gore to serve as the ace and Jake Irvin as the number two pitcher in the rotation, it is not a bad unit, but it could certainly use some improvement.

Enter the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers have officially become public enemy number one of any baseball fan that does not claim them as their favorite team with the extensive spending they have done this offseason.

It has left Los Angeles with the best problem any Major League team can have: more players that can play at the top level of the sport than there are 40-man roster spots.

With every new addition, the Dodgers will need to designate a player for assignment or trade from that surplus to add the new player to the roster, and what a surplus it is.

The outfield has become a massive logjam with the additions of Michael Conforto and Teoscar Hernandez, moving guys like Andy Pages and James Outman to the bench and Mookie Betts to shortstop.

They have already traded Gavin Lux this winter to make more room in their infield, where there is another logjam after the addition of Hyesong Kim moving Miguel Rojas to the bench alongside utility man Chris Taylor.

Their pitching staff is much more of the same, even with Los Angeles reportedly using a six-man rotation.

With Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki as the projected one-through-five, that leaves only one spot for guys like Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack, which is not even to mention the eventual expected re-signing of Clayton Kershaw.

Washington could use some of their own surplus of prospect capital to pilfer the Dodgers' cupboards for some of that pitching surplus.

Gonsolin may be the best bet, as the veteran is approaching his age-31 campaign and has two years of service time remaining.

The veteran avoided arbitration with Los Angeles with a one-year, $5.4 million deal, so he would not come close to breaking the bank, and a deal could easily be reached without touching Crews, Travis Sykora, or Jarlin Susana, the three prospects that MLB Pipeline has ranked inside the top 100.

It might take a top 10 prospect, but that could be someone like Seaver King or Luke Dickerson, who are both in the lower levels of the minors, along with Elijah Green or Christhian Vaquero, top 30 prospects, but closer to 30 than the top.

Adding Gonsolin to the rotation, or any of the Dodgers' surplus of pitchers, would go a long way toward cementing the end of the Nationals' rebuild and making the team even more competitive in the National League East as early as 2025.