Washington Nationals News: Which Nats players might get qualifying offers?
By Pablo Roa
Good evening DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily. Get caught up on the latest Nats news and opinions with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, Federal Baseball’s Jim Meyerriecks discusses which Nationals free agents he believes should receive qualifying offers this offseason. As Meyerriecks notes, the Nationals have eight players eligible to receive qualifying offers: Ian Desmond, Doug Fister, Casey Janssen, Nate McLouth, Denard Span, Matt Thornton, Dan Uggla and Jordan Zimmermann.
As Jim writes, only four of those players have any real chance of getting a qualifying offer: Desmond, Fister, Span and Zimmermann. But given their struggles in 2015, there’s no guarantee that the Nationals would offer them the $15.8 million that MLB designated for qualifying offers this offseason.
Also in today’s Daily, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post continues the Post’s positional review series by evaluating the team’s outfield.
Be sure to check out both articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals needs.
More from Nationals News
- Latest DraftKings Sportsbook Promo Code in Maryland: Bet $5, Win $200 Guaranteed
- Nationals Claim Jeter Downs Off Waivers
- Washington Nationals Tuesday Q&A
- A Washington Nationals Christmas Wishlist
- Robots in Baseball? The Possibility of an Automated Ball/Strike System in the MLB
Which Washington Nationals free agents will receive a qualifying offer?
(Jim Meyerriecks, Federal Baseball)
Many of us will look back at 2015 and think of how it was a missed opportunity for this franchise. The most obvious reason that we’re disappointed with the Nats’ performance in 2015 is that they finished 83-79 with a roster that, on paper, may have been the most talented squad they’ve had since the franchise moved to D.C. The fact that several key players on that roster are scheduled to hit free agency makes it hurt even more because, in a sense, the band is breaking up. How the Nationals respond to losing those core players, specifically Ian Desmond and Jordan Zimmermann, is going to be one of the defining storylines of this offseason.
Of course, the Nats do have the option of assuring themselves some sort of compensation for losing their free agents in some of these cases. With the qualifying offer system, MLB doesn’t use quite the same criteria that it used when the Nats lost other high profile free agents in the past decade such as Alfonso Soriano or Adam Dunn. Back when Dunn and Soriano hit free agency, MLB still used the Type A and Type B (and no compensation) system which used Elias Rankings. Players designated Type A free agents would net their previous teams a compensation/sandwich round pick plus either a first rounder (if the signing team’s draft slot was not in the top fifteen) or a second rounder (if the signing team’s draft slot was in the top fifteen). Read full article here.
Nationals positional review, part 4: The outfield
(Chelsea Janes, Washington Post)
Each day this week, we’ll be taking stock of every Nationals positional group. In Part 4 of 5 today, we’ll analyze the outfield.
Season Review
The bright spot was right field, where Bryce Harper was moved before the season. What resulted was a sometimes-too-aggressive, game-changing defensive presence who induced caution in base runners and improved his routes as the season went along. Read full article here.
Next: Nationals positional review, part 4: The outfield