Washington Nationals: Worst Case Scenario Offseason
By Danny Kelly
Final Roster.
This scenario obviously isn’t the most fun outcome for Washington Nationals fans. They would see homegrown stars Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon both depart in the same offseason. But, we did this with the intention of showing Nationals fans that it’s going to be alright, this team is built for the present and future.
So, without further ado, here is the 2019 Washington Nationals roster in a potential worst case, cost-cutting scenario (salary calculations from Cots Baseball and MLBTradeRumors Arbitration Projections):
2019 Washington Nationals 25-Man Roster
You’ll still note that Plan C sees the Lerners committing $65 million or so total during this free agency period. That’s because there is about a 0.01% chance that even in a rebuild scenario, Mike Rizzo lets this team fail to be competitive with a young core of Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and Trea Turner, not to mention Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg continuing to head the rotation. The window is still wide open.
A Week as Nats GM. dark. Next
The Washington Nationals will have gone from having a Luxury Tax payroll of over $200 million to going below $165 million with about $40+ million to work within the 2019-20 offseason. We would all like to see Bryce Harper back in a Curly W on opening day, but even without him, this would be a competitive team that could challenge the Braves and Phillies for the N.L. East title.