Washington Nationals Relief Pitcher Will Continue to Play Important Role
The Washington Nationals are heading into the offseason looking to make some positive changes to the franchise in 2025, as they hope to be around the .500 mark.
For the second straight season, the Nationals won 71 games, but 2024 felt a bit different with a lot of their young talent coming up and making an impact.
Players like CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. were able to establish themselves as All-Star caliber players in the middle of the infield. Also, the outfield has a ton of upside moving forward with Jacob Young, James Wood, and Dylan Crews.
In the starting rotation, Washington features a lot of young arms that are working on improving, as the organization tries to evaluate what they have with some of those players.
The bullpen was led by Kyle Finnegan in 2024, as he was named to his first All-Star team, and finished the campaign with a career-high of 38 saves. In addition to Finnegan, they also had Derek Law have a really strong year.
Recently, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports spoke about what 2025 could look like for Law in Washington’s bullpen.
“2025 outlook: The beauty of Law’s bargain-basement signing last spring was the fact the Nationals were getting two years of club control. Though he’s already 34, Law won’t accrue enough service time to reach free agency until after the 2025 season. So he’s set to return next year, with a modest salary increase likely, perhaps something in the range of $3 million. The Nats should happily pay that for another 75 appearances.”
Even though the Nationals only won 71 games, they did have a strong combination in their bullpen with Law and Finnegan. Last season, Law totaled a 2.60 ERA, 17 holds, and 76 strikeouts in 90 innings pitched.
It was arguably the best campaign that Law has had in the majors, as the right-hander has bounced around a bit with a career ERA of 3.69. However, especially in the second half of the season when he mostly came in without runners on base, he really thrived.
As Washington gets ready for the start of the 2025 season, they know that they will have a solid 1-2 in the backend of their bullpen with Law and Finnegan. However, with both being free agents at the end of the year, they very well could be trade bait if the Nationals aren’t contenders.
