The Nationals new front office group is coming off their first offseason with a mostly similar roster. The team traded Mackenzie Gore, signed Miles Mikolas, and re-shaped their internal infrastructure. The offseason makes sense for a rebuilding team. The Nationals were never going to sign top level free agents. However, the front office missed out on a valuable offseason opportunity for rebuilding clubs: signing veteran relievers.Â
The Nationals are not trying to contend next season, but it still makes sense for the team to sign veteran relievers on short term deals. Adding cheap, but experienced arms would help the team’s stability and give the front office potential trade chips at the trade deadline.Â
Rebuilding teams often have young, inexperienced relieves. They usually may have promising stuff, but often have poor control and command. The Nationals need veteran leadership in the bullpen to help guide younger arms and also prevent excessive blowouts. With too many young arms with no control, games can drag on, which worsens the fan experience and diminishes the confidence of relievers who could be developing in AAA. By signing older arms, young pitchers can develop while the more veterans, who the Nationals do not have a long term investment in, can provide adequate support to a probable last-place ball club.
If these veteran arms are also succesful, they can be trade pieces at next year’s trade deadline. Competitive teams are always looking to add relievers at the trade deadline. The Nationals should anticipate this by signing one year deals with pitchers who they can later flip. Through this process, the Nationals would bolster their farm system with prospects for the small price of paying a veteran reliever for half of a season. While these prospects will be low-level and may not pan out, the Nationals should be taking chances on as many young players as possible.Â
The big question now is who is going to close games for the Nationals? There were a number of relievers at the beginning of the offseason that would have made sense for the Nationals to sign. Pete Fairbanks, Gregory Soto, and Shelby Miller all could have filled this role. Still, there is still time for the Nationals to do this. Players like Andrew Chafin, who the Nationals previously employed, Justin Wilson, and Jose Leclerc all are veterans relievers with solid pasts who are still free agents
This is not the boldest or most innovative offseason strategy, but it is a low investment way for the Nationals to get better in the short term and potentially the long term.