Will Washington Nationals Add More Starting Pitching After Michael Soroka?
After what has been a quiet offseason so far for the Washington Nationals, they finally made a bit of a splash in free agency.
It hasn’t been a very active offseason for the Nationals so far, despite having numerous needs. However, they recently addressed one of those needs with the addition of Michael Soroka into the starting rotation.
Washington has reportedly signed Soroka to a one-year, $9 million deal, which by market standards is on the cheaper side of things. However, that is due to his inability to stay healthy in recent years, as the right-hander will be looking to prove himself with the Nationals.
After coming up as a starter for the Atlanta Braves, the 27-year-old spent a lot of his appearances coming out of the bullpen for the Chicago White Sox last year. Since the Nationals are willing to give him a chance to start, it seemingly made his decision to join Washington much easier.
From a Nationals point of view, while Soroka did have a great year back in 2019 for the Braves, he has missed a lot of time and likely can't be counted on to stay healthy.
Recently, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports wrote about the state of the starting rotation after the addition of Soroka, and whether the Nationals might look to add one more veteran starter.
“The bigger question at this point is whether Mike Rizzo intends to try to sign another veteran starter, one who is more of a sure thing than Soroka, one who would cost quite a bit more," he wrote.
Zuckerman went on to write that signing Soroka is essentially a replacement for Trevor Williams, a veteran starter whom the Nats allowed to walk in free agency. My his analysis, the Nats have yet to replace Patrick Corbin, who ate a lot of innings for the rotation but hasn't been nearly as effective as he was in his prime.
Currently, the state of Washington’s starting rotation is still a bit murky. At the top, it will be MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin. Following them will now seemingly be Soroka, DJ Herz, and Mitchell Parker.
While the rotation is full, that might not be an ideal unit to head into Opening Day with, as there are plenty of questions with a bulk of the rotation in terms of health and overall productiveness.
Even though the Nationals could certainly go into 2025 with that rotation, it would behoove them to add another more established veteran starting pitcher if they are hoping to improve next season.
