It comes with no surprise that the Washington Nationals have exercised one option and declined two. Denard Span will be a National once again in 2015 and will make $9 million. On the other hand, Rafael Soriano and Adam LaRoche are now free agents. LaRoche gets a $2 million buyout. All of these reports are below.
The Nats have exercised Denard Span's $9 million option for 2015, a source said. No surprise after Span's excellent 2014.
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) October 30, 2014
Nats also officially announced that they've declined options for Adam LaRoche and Rafael Soriano. Both free agents. LaRoche has $2M buyout.
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) October 30, 2014
Denard Span had his best season since 2009 and it is no surprise that he will be back in center field. He played magnificent defense and is up for a Gold Glove Award that will be decided on November 4. He recorded 184 hits, the most of his career, and scored 94 runs.
Rafael Soriano will not be back in a Nationals uniform next season as his option was declined. This comes as no surprise as it looks like Drew Storen is safely in the closer role now. Soriano did not finish enough games to vest his option, and was really just becoming an eighth inning guy late in the season.
Also Adam LaRoche says goodbye to the nations capital and will be a free agent. This move is to make room for Ryan Zimmerman at first base. He had the longer contract so it just makes sense that he would be the one sticking around and to do that LaRoche had to go.
Both Rafael Soriano and Adam LaRoche will be missed, but it is now time to move on and focus on getting better for the 2015 campaign and the Nationals did that today.