With the regular season over, what are the Washington Nationals storylines to watch this winter?
Now that the Washington Nationals 2016 playoff run is over, it’s time to look ahead to this winter and what changes the team might make to help them finally get past the first round in the postseason. At the very least, this offseason will be a lot less hectic than last offseason.
One reason for that is there is no hot seat surrounding general manager Mike Rizzo after the team picked up his two-year option during the regular season. Plus, there is no managerial search this year. Dusty Baker did a good job in his first year as manager as the Nats won 95 games and a NL East title.
Not many Washington Nationals are free agents this year and the one who is (Wilson Ramos) just underwent successful surgery on his torn ACL and meniscus. You wouldn’t think the Washington Nationals would give him a qualifying offer that is set to be worth $17.2 million over one year.
This season, the Washington Nationals had arguably the NL Cy Young frontrunner in Max Scherzer and one of the top candidates for MVP in Daniel Murphy. Nobody thought last winter that the signing Murphy would be as critical to the 2016 season as it turned out to be.
Plus, with the Winter Meetings being in Maryland this year, do the Nats make a big splash that surprises everyone? With that being said, here are my top five Washington Nationals storylines that I will be focusing on as the winter unfolds this year.