Washington Nationals Listed as Emerging Team That Needs to Spend Money
The Washington Nationals are heading into free agency with the opportunity to make some moves to improve their team heading into 2025.
It has been a challenging few years for the Nationals. After winning the World Series in 2019, there have been a lot of losses since then. However, despite the team being in a rebuild for a few years, it seems like there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.
Washington has done a nice job in terms of being patient with handing out big contracts to players while letting their young core develop.
Furthermore, with the young core getting better and now performing in the big leagues, the time to capitalize is coming.
In addition to the talent getting better, one of the poor contracts that has been hanging over the franchise’s head in Patrick Corbin has finally ended.
The Corbin contract frees up a lot of money for the Nationals to reallocate it into other areas to improve the team. While the southpaw helped the Nationals win a World Series, he has been nothing more than an innings eater since then. That has value, but he's not the pitcher he once was.
Even though the Nationals only won 71 games last season and came in fourth in the division, the time to spend might be this winter.
Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report recently ranked all the teams in the league based on their need to spend this offseason. For the Nationals, they fell into the category of emerging teams that need to spend.
With a lot of promising young players, adding some veterans at a few key positions in free agency would be very helpful.
In their lineup, Washington has a clear need to add some power in the middle of their order. The Nationals ranked as one of the worst teams in the league in the home run department, and that is something that needs to be addressed.
From a positional standpoint, first base is the most pressing need for them. However, they could look to add a third baseman, depending on how they feel about prospect Brady House and whether he's ready for a Major League role.
On the pitching staff, adding a front-end starter would go a long way this offseason. Currently, Washington is lacking an ace in their starting rotation. Unfortunately, the last two major contracts that they handed out to pitchers didn’t work out well, which might make them hesitant.
Even though there have been a lot of losses of late, the time to end the rebuild by spending in free agency feels like it has arrived for the Nationals.
