Washington Nationals Named Perfect Match for Anthony Santander in Free Agency
It has been a fairly quiet offseason so far for the Washington Nationals, but this is a team that certainly could make a splash or two.
The Nationals haven’t done much yet this offseason with the Winter Meetings coming and going without any significant moves. However, this is a team that has some needs in a couple of different areas.
While the young core of Washington is looking promising, they do need some veteran help on the team in the lineup. This offseason, the Nationals have the means to be able to accomplish this, but free-agents are starting to come off the board, and Washington has been with their hands in their pockets so far.
Recently, Will Leitch of MLB.com wrote about the perfect matches for remaining free agents. He named the Nationals as a perfect match for free-agent outfielder Anthony Santander.
“The Nationals have a whole bunch of young talent -- a good chunk of which came over in the Juan Soto trade, don’t forget -- but it might be time to bring in a reliable veteran slugger to serve as a model for those young players and let the rest of the baseball know that this team is serious about competing again. If that sounds familiar, that’s essentially what the Nationals did with their Jayson Werth signing 14 years ago … and that one worked out pretty well. Santander is a different player than Werth, but he could fill a similar role. And he, of course, wouldn’t have to leave the Mid-Atlantic region.”
There have been a lot of comparisons in this offseason to the one when Washington signed Jayson Werth, and there is good reason for that. With the young core showing some promise, the time to be able to compete is quickly approaching.
Adding a player like Santander would fill a big void in the middle of the order for the Nationals. Last season with the Baltimore Orioles, the switch-hitting slugger was able to total 44 home runs and 102 RBIs.
With an outfield that does look to be set with James Wood, Dylan Crews, and Jacob Young, Santander would likely see a lot of time at designated hitter, which wouldn’t be a bad thing for a hitter of his caliber.
For a team that is looking to take a step forward in 2025, Santander would certainly be an upgrade to a lineup that could desperately use a player who can knock in runs.
