Washington Nationals News: Which non-tendered players could help the Nats?
By Pablo Roa
Today’s District Daily looks at some new free agent options the Washington Nationals could consider this offseason.
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, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post discusses which recently non-tendered players could help the Nationals next season. As Janes writes, many arbitration-eligible players were non-tendered by their teams last night and became free agents. With the Nationals in need of help at multiple spots in the roster, the team could look to sign some of these players this offseason.
Some of the more intriguing non-tendered options for the Nationals could be relievers. The team is expected to overhaul the ‘pen this year, and depending on whether or not they trade Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon — which many expect they will — the Nationals could be looking for several relief arms in the free agent market this winter.
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As Janes writes in her article, the Nationals could go after recently non-tendered relievers such as Neftali Feliz, Al Alburquerque or Steve Cishek, whom we wrote about earlier today. The team could also consider former Nationals reliever Ryan Mattheus and other veteran options. At this point, it’s not entirely clear what the Nationals’ plans are for the ‘pen this offseason. One thing’s for certain, the team has plenty of intriguing options to chose from if they turn to the free agent market to restock the bullpen.
Also in today’s Daily, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson discusses how the Nationals will turn their attention to improving on the field now that the coaching staff is mostly set for 2016.
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.
Which non-tendered players could help the Nationals?
(Chelsea Janes, Washington Post)
By a few minutes after midnight Wednesday night the free agent market had changed. Arbitration-eligible players not offered contracts by their clubs trickled into the pool of available players, which was not exactly flooded with talent when they arrived, but grew deeper nonetheless.
Most non-tendered players are young, or at least not old enough that age would cause concern, and thus intriguing options for that reason. That their teams did not tender them contracts often means those players will be seeking less money than they might have projected to receive in arbitration — on sale, so to speak — though most items are not discounted without reason, and in the case of non-tendered players, those reasons include recent injury or underperformance. Read full article here.
With new skipper and coaches, Nats eye field
WASHINGTON — After not living up to expectations in 2015, the Nationals have been busy trying to improve. They hired Dusty Baker to be their new manager, added three new coaches (Davey Lopes, Chris Speier and Mike Maddux) and revamped the medical staff after 17 players went on the disabled list.
The Nats now turn their attention to improving the team on the field. MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2015 Winter Meetings from the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., with the Network launching 35 hours of live coverage on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. Fans can also catch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, as well as the announcement of the Hall of Fame Pre-Integration Era Committee inductees on Monday at 11 a.m. ET and the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. ET. Read full article here.