What Should Washington Nationals Do This Offseason to Fix the Franchise?
The 2024 season has wrapped up for the Washington Nationals. Now, the franchise is looking to take a big step forward this offseason.
There is a lot to like about the direction that the Nationals are heading in. As a team that is still very much in a rebuilding mode, this year it was important to see some of their young players develop and grow.
While stockpiling young talent is good to have a strong farm system, those prospects eventually have to come up and make an impact. This campaign, the middle of the infield for Washington did just that, and it appears like it will be set for years to come with C.J. Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr.
In addition to those two great young players, the outfield outlook looks promising as well, with James Wood, Jacob Young, and Dylan Crews. Even though the future looks bright, work still needs to be done.
Recently, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com spoke about what the team needs to do this offseason to fix the franchise.
“What can they do to fix it? The Nationals' rebuild hasn't taken hold just yet, but you can see the plan taking root. And this thing might be ready to take off. Assuming the issues that got CJ Abrams shipped to the minors don't linger, the Nationals will have long-term solutions in place at each position up the middle and both corner outfield slots, just for starters. And while we shouldn't expect the Nationals to go wild in free agency, they probably could if ownership signed off on it. With Patrick Corbin's contract expiring, Washington has a wide-open payroll outlook. That's always a good thing, but particularly when you have a foundation of ascending talent in place. It's becoming fun again in D.C.”
Quite possibly the biggest thing for the Nationals this winter will be Patrick Corbin’s contract coming off the books. Washington, on paper, should have a lot of money to spend this offseason, and they can attack free agency in a couple of different ways.
One potential path is for them to spread out their available assets and add multiple above average players. On the other hand, they could look to make a big splash with a player like Pete Alonso.
First base and adding some power in the middle of the order should be the top priorities for the Nationals this coming winter. While the prospects for Washington look very promising, they don’t seem to be massive power hitters.
This coming offseason will be a crucial one for the timeline of the rebuild for Washington. If the Nationals spend some money, they have a young core that seems ready to take a big jump in 2025.
