Washington Nationals Made Right Decision Avoiding New York Mets Star Slugger
Two clear holes stood out on the Washington Nationals roster; first and third base.
There are prospects coming up the pipeline who could eventually take over those spots, namely Brady House who is expected to compete for the starting role at the hot corner. But for a team that's trying to take the next step after years of horrendous performances, finding solutions for those positions could have been something the front office addressed this winter.
With that in mind, the rumor mill connected the Nationals to multiple high-profile free agents.
From Alex Bregman at third base to Christian Walker and Pete Alonso at first, some premier names were being floated as possible targets for Washington.
However, the front office decided not to be aggressive, opting to add some established talent on short-term contracts to boost the overall profile of this roster, while not blocking the prospects scheduled to debut at some point soon.
The Nationals were able to pull off a move to address first base, though.
They landed Nathaniel Lowe in a trade with the Texas Rangers, bringing in a 29-year-old who has legit Major League experience on a championship-winning team.
It wasn't as splashy as landing someone like Alonso would have been, but based on the contract that the star slugger got to return to the New York Mets, Washington made the right decision.
After a prolonged free agency that not many people expected, Alonso and his agent Scott Boras eventually blinked first when they succumbed to taking a short-term, high AAV contract with the Mets that will pay the power-hitter $30 million in 2025 with a player option for $24 million in 2026, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.
That's a lot of money for a player whose slugging numbers have regressed the past two seasons.
While Lowe is not the same level of hitter that Alonso is, he still has won a Silver Slugger in his career and is a perennial 15-plus home run and 70-plus RBI threat.
He'll likely never reach the 40-homer plateau that Alonso has accomplished in three out of the five 162-game schedules he's participated in, but Lowe is a much better defender by being worth 11 Outs Above Average at first base the past two years compared to Alonso's minus-nine in that span.
And for the $10.7 million salary Washington is paying Lowe this season with another year of club control remaining after that, the front office made the right decision.
Splashy signings need to come for the Nationals eventually.
The only way they're going to truly get out of this rebuild is if they add established stars to areas of this roster that need it after they've done their evaluations of the young players on this team.
Bringing in Lowe instead of Alonso fits their timeline and still gives them financial flexibility to make a splash in the future.
