Washington Nationals: Worst Case Scenario Offseason
By Danny Kelly
Bargain hunting in the free agent pitching market.
The Washington Nationals are going to need at least one starting pitcher and one reliever to address a pitching staff that finished the year 9th in the National League with a 4.04 ERA, their worst mark since 2010.
Jeremy Hellickson turned out to be a pleasant surprise for the Nationals last year. Although he was pulled prior to pitching his third time through the lineup, he was able to consistently give five or so innings of one or two run ball per start.
Hellickson enjoyed his time here and he decides that re-upping with the Nationals is the right move for his career. It’s a tough negotiation because he looks at his 3.45 ERA through 19 starts and thinks he deserves $7+ million annually. Mike Rizzo reminds him that he only made two quality starts all year, and the two are able to settle on a two-year contract with a team option for a third season.
Contract signed: Jeremy Hellickson signs a 2 year $10 million contract with a team option for $6 million
As soon as Gio Gonzalez was traded, he left not only a void in the clubhouse but a void of a left-handed starter in the rotation. With Dallas Keuchel and Patrick Corbin off the table due to the rebuild on the fly, Rizzo decides to take another shot on a guy who could rebound and he goes and gets Drew Pomeranz.
Pomeranz picked an awful time to have his worst year as a professional. His 6.08 ERA has been left off the Red Sox postseason in each of their three series. With that said, Pomeranz is just 29 years old and he’s a year removed from a season where he won 17 games for the Red Sox. When healthy, this guy is a quality left-handed starter who is going to fly under the radar because of his down year and injury history.
He wants some security in his next contract and prior to the year, he had probably been eyeing a four or five-year deal. That’s just not going to happen now though, so the two sides agree to a one year deal, with lots of incentives, so Drew can hit free agency again after the 2019 season at the age of 30.
Contract signed: Drew Pomeranz signs a 1 year $4.5 million contract.
Mike Rizzo did his work on the bullpen early on in the offseason. As it stands now, Sean Doolittle, Trevor Rosenthal, Kyle Barraclough, Matt Grace, Wander Suero, and Dakota Hudson are all under team control and all would appear to be near locks to make next year’s bullpen. That would leave Koda Glover as depth to start the season in AAA.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing to create some more depth in AAA though and bring in another lefty. So, the Nationals go out and get Jonny Venters to fill that role, bumping Suero back down to AAA.
Venters has undergone an astonishing 3 1/2 Tommy John surgeries in his career. It’s truly unbelievable that he was able to make it back to the Major Leagues. If one thing is true though, the guy knows how to get lefties out, holding them to a .180 batting average throughout his career.
Venters will come on the cheaper side, which is a plus, but the Nationals will have to monitor his usage to make sure he can handle the workload and stay healthy.
Contract signed: Jonny Venters signs a 1 year $1.5 million contract.