Will Washington Nationals Be Hesitant To Give Massive Contract to a Starter?
The Washington Nationals are heading into the offseason as one of the teams who could potentially make a splash in free agency.
It has been a tough couple of seasons for the Nationals, as after winning the World Series, they have had a lot of losing seasons. However, general manager Mike Rizzo has done a nice job stockpiling a lot of young talent to hopefully take the team into a successful new era.
This offseason, Washington appears like they could be players for some of the top free agents in the class. Currently, the Nationals have needs at first base and at starting pitcher, as those seem to be the two main positions that they would like to have a substantial upgrade.
Luckily, there are going to be some options for Washington at both positions, but being burned in the past by bad contracts might make the organization a tad leery to commit long-term to a starting pitcher.
Recently, Mark Zuckerman of MASN Sports highlighted the need for a top end starting pitcher, but also the franchise’s failures recently in that department.
“With Corbin’s $140 million contract and Trevor Williams’ $15 million contract off the books, and with Stephen Strasburg still earning what’s left of his $245 million deal but officially retired, the Nationals should have the financial ability to get involved in the market for big-name starters. That guarantees nothing, of course. The competition will be stiff, and there’s some reason to wonder if the organization might be a little gun shy about giving out another nine-figure deal to a pitcher when the last two went so wrong.”
It is certainly easy to understand why the Nationals might be hesitant to give out another massive contract to a starting pitcher after both the contracts for Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg ended up being failures for the most part.
Now, history could repeat itself if they handed out another big contract to a starting pitcher, or it could end up being like Max Scherzer, who pitched amazingly during his tenure in Washington.
As of now, the Nationals don’t appear to have an ace on their staff, as they are still seeing how some of their young pitchers will develop. With that being said, if they want to take a big jump in 2025, they are going to need to bolster the starting staff.
There will be plenty of options in free agency to choose from, but Washington will have to be diligent with who they target in order to avoid another bad contract for a starter.
