Washington Nationals: Recapping the FanSided GM Simulation

In our final article covering FanSided’s MLB GM Simulation, we take a look back and evaluate our performance and look over our new look Washington Nationals

As our keen readers will recall, throughout the past week or so, we’ve been posting articles about FanSided’s GM Simulation. Site Expert Blake Finney has been attempting to craft a Washington Nationals roster in this sim, so now it’s time to review how he did.

As a quick note, a special thanks to Contributor Ross Shinberg who played the role of right-hand man to make sure that our faux GM didn’t get out of hand. Pretty much every move went through him first, to ensure nothing went awry, so this team is partly his baby too.

For this exercise, all the Site Experts and Contributors from around FanSided’s MLB Division came together to take part in a simulated offseason. The point was to have a somewhat realistic offseason projection, or at least more so than any site doing it on their own, in order to replicate the competition for signings and trade candidates.

Here are the articles that we’ve published so far if you want to read in more detail:

• Traded for Chicago Cubs second baseman Ian Happ
• Signed Zach Britton to a three-year deal
• Extended Anthony Rendon on a six-year contract
• Brought in Dallas Keuchel as a free agent
• Traded away Tanner Roark and Michael Taylor to the Texas Rangers
• Assorted Free Agent signings to round out the team

Once you’re all caught up on the details on the various moves we’ve made, let’s dive into the review of the whole process. First up, is the grades for all of the moves that we made individually.

Grading the moves that were made

With the fake Washington Nationals team now complete, it’s time to analyze what happened and give out grades for each transaction individually. Sadly, each of these moves doesn’t get an A+ as there are some occasions that we had to settle a little bit.

Ian Happ Trade, B-

Trading for Ian Happ was the first move we made, despite several other attempts to get in on the trade action earlier. This move only gets a B- grade because second base was such a low priority need and the fact we did have to give up Seth Romero and Israel Pineda to acquire the slugger. Those are two prospects with high upside value, but Happ’s upside was worth the risk in this instance.

Zack Britton Signing, A-

I was a huge fan of this signing in the end, despite the fact that he wasn’t the first choice for a left-handed reliever. We wanted Andrew Miller to be the final lefty in our bullpen, but we wound up with Zach Britton who is younger and a longer deal, so he could, in theory, take over as closer if Sean Doolittle left at the end of his contract. A very good signing.

Anthony Rendon Extension, A+

Given that we lost Bryce Harper, the Anthony Rendon became the top priority. To sign him for the very fair price of $25 million a year for the next six years deserves top marks and means that we don’t lose two stars in one go.

Dallas Keuchel Signing, B+

While signing Dallas Keuchel filled arguably our biggest need in finding a number three starter, the cost it came at gives the grade a knock. $22 million per year is a little steep, when we were hoping to get him for a bit less, but when Patrick Corbin went for $30 million per season, we were fine coughing up for Keuchel.

Michael Taylor and Tanner Roark Trade, A+

Of all the moves that were made during the simulation, this is probably the best of all of them, even though it was selling two players. Michael Taylor wasn’t playing the role of anything more than a fourth outfielder, and we were able to upgrade on Tanner Roark, so it was a glorified salary dump. Picking up four good prospects in this deal was a huge win.

Lance Lynn Signing, B-

Speaking of our Roark upgrade, that ended up being Lance Lynn. Admittedly, it’s not a huge upgrade, as we preferred the likes of Robbie Ray or Sonny Gray as the upgrade. However, we did get him for $3 million less, and for an extra year.

Logan Morrison Signing, C+

A bit like Lynn, we were hopeful of getting a better backup first baseman, but that doesn’t mean that we did badly here. Logan Morrison will be a solid option off the bench and be a solid fill-in for Ryan Zimmerman if needed, but don’t expect an Adam Lind or a Matt Adams level production.

Matt Wieters Signing, D

As will be constantly reinforced throughout this piece, not upgrading at catcher will be the biggest regret of this whole simulation. Matt Wieters was solid at the end of the year in 2018, which spares this from being an F, but it’s still not a high grade because we should’ve done better.

Jonathan Schoop Trade, A-

After a few sub-par signings, we get back to the positives with our trade for Jonathan Schoop. Given that we only gave up a mid-tier prospect in Nick Raquet and managed to have the Milwaukee Brewers eat some salary too, it’s a fantastic deal and gives us a lot of flexibility.

The Trades and Signings that didn’t come off

Part of the beauty of being able to do a full simulation with representatives for each team is the competition for players. That means not everything can go to plan, and in general, it didn’t for our faux Washington Nationals. Let’s take a look at who we whiffed on during the simulation.

James Paxton

This was probably the biggest whiff for the fake Nats in the whole exercise. With the Bryce Harper bidding going on, we had to plan to make an upgrade without shelling out millions for a free agent pitcher.

James Paxton was the guy we keyed in on and had a deal agreed to send Adam Eaton, Carter Kieboom, Erick Fedde and Brigham Hill for Paxton, Mike Leake and $4 million cash consideration. it was a lot to give up, but it would’ve filled both rotation holes. We had to pull the plug on the deal when Bryce Harper signed with the Phillies though, but, we did at least hold onto Kieboom.

Sonny Gray

Another starting pitcher we were in on early in the simulation was Sonny Gray. Initially, I had thought that the Yankees wouldn’t be asking for much in return for Gray based on Brian Cashman, but I was wrong.

We opened with Luis Reyes before they eventually countered with Jake Irvin and Drew Ward. We asked for a little more in return in Joe Harvey, but in that time, the Cincinnati Reds nipped in offering Shed Long and Tanner Rainey. Those were two pretty highly rated prospects which we couldn’t compete with, so couldn’t seal the deal. Our greed to get more was our enemy there.

Robbie Ray

After the Paxton and Gray discussions, we acquired Dallas Keuchel and set our sights on a #4 starter. Robbie Ray fit the bill perfectly from the selling Arizona Diamondbacks, and we got talking pretty quickly.

The final package we offered involved sending Mason Denaburg, Jake Irvin and Jackson Tetreault to Arizona in exchange for Ray, Chris Owings, and Jackson Goddard. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh Pirates offered Ke’Bryan Hayes for Ray, which we couldn’t compete with and lost out.

J.T. Realmuto

We wouldn’t have been very good fake Nationals if we didn’t at least try for J.T. Realmuto in this sim to see what the price was. We came to them initially saying that Juan Soto and Victor Robles were off the table and they seemed immediately hesitant.

We then talked up Carter Kieboom and there was a glimmer of hope at that point. However, the Marlins GM was notoriously difficult to get a hold of during the sim, maybe a failed hardball tactic. We left Kieboom, Michael Taylor, Wil Crowe, and Raudy Read on the table, ready to up our bid, but got no response.

Salvador Perez

With the whiff of Realmuto, we looked at other possible catching options elsewhere. The Royals were also equally hard to get a hold of at times but we were able to get a firm price from them for Salvador Perez.

That price, however, was Joe Ross, Daniel Johnson, Malvin Pena, and Spencer Kieboom. If they were willing to come down from Ross, then a deal could’ve happened here, but they held firm, and alas the deal never materialized.

Joe Panik

The final trade in which we actually into talking firm players was for San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik. Early on, the Giants were interested in flipping him and Brandon Belt, both of whom we had varying levels of interest.

Sadly, Belt was vastly overpaid to be a backup, so we centered on Panik. They put a straight swap of Panik for Michael Taylor on the table, which we held onto for a while, but when we acquired Ian Happ, we had no need for Panik.

Bryce Harper

We move onto the free agent whiffs that we had during the simulation, and yes, Bryce Harper was one of those. Our top offer maxed out at $440 million over 12 years, which was an annual average of $36.67 million, a little above what we had hoped.

The Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies ended up duking it out, and Harper wound up going to the imaginary city of brotherly love. A bitter pill to swallow, but when we remember they paid north of $40 million a season for his services, we can live with it.

Andrew Miller

While we ended up with Zach Britton, our top priority in terms of a left-handed reliever was to nab Andrew Miller. The real Nats have previously had interest in Miller, and his stats against lefties are unreal.

With concerns over his age, we didn’t want to lock into more than two years of Miller, and our final offer was two years for $25 million. In the end, he took a lower annual average to go back to the Yankees on a three-year, $30 million deal. Perfectly understandable.

Freddy Galvis

At the end of the simulation, we were on the hunt for a backup infielder and eventually wound up with Jonathan Schoop. However, before then, we had a one-year, $3 million offer for former Phillie Freddy Galvis.

The Minnesota Twins beat the buzzer to acquire him for one-year $5 million and that led us to go get Schoop from the Brewers for a little more salary, but arguably the better hitter. Won’t lose any sleep over missing out on Galvis.

The Final Roster Construction

So with everything out of the way, let’s take a final look at how the Finney’s Washington Nationals look after our simulation. On the whole, this seems like a very well balanced team that can hopefully get D.C. back on top of the National League East.

We’ve added in some of the extra costs according to Cots luxury tax calculation to get the final luxury tax figure. As you can see, we had a nice amount of breathing room that will give the front office a lot of flexibility if they need to add a player via trade or free agency during the season.

Obviously, without some guy named Bryce Harper, it gave us a lot of money to play with and construct the roster we wanted. However, the Anthony Rendon contract extension and Dallas Keuchel signing essentially ate the rest of that up, but you could argue that it was worthwhile in that regard.

The spread of salary in the bullpen is almost perfect, with a few top-end guys earning big, but the back-end flexible. With the volatility of relievers, it’s worth having that flexibility to switch them in and out if some are struggling at any given point.

A glance at the rest of the league

With the faux Washington Nationals set, let’s have a look and see what other key transaction around the rest of the simulation. There were some particularly interesting contracts and trades that weren’t to be expected.

More from District on Deck

• Washington Nationals Minor League Spotlight: Robert Hassell III
• Washington Nationals Tuesday Q&A
• 3 Free Agents the Nationals Should Gamble On
• A Washington Nationals Christmas Wishlist
• Washington Nationals: Is Seth Lugo Still an Option?

Yankees get Madison Bumgarner

This probably won’t happen in real life now that James Paxton is Bronx-bound, but the Yankees gave up Justus Sheffield, Estevan Florial, Domingo Acevedo and Ben Heller to get the deal done for Madison Bumgarner. That’s a haul for the Giants, who will be rubbing their hands at that for one year of the left-hander.

James Paxton to the Braves

You’ll remember that we missed out on Paxton before, unfortunately, it was to the Atlanta Braves. The Nats’ NL East rivals forked out Kyle Wright, Max Fried, Kyle Muller and Greyson Janista for the left-hander. It’s a king’s ransom, but they were dealing from their incredible starting pitching depth they have in the minors. Thankfully, Paxton isn’t heading to Georgia in real life.

Jose Abreu to the Rays

The world is a much better place when the Tampa Bay Rays are making huge moves, even if in this case it’s in our simulation. They ended up flipping Nomar Mazara, who was acquired from the Rangers earlier in the sim, and Kyle Bird for the White Sox slugger. A massive move.

Manny settles in the South Side

As we know, Bryce Harper went the Phillies, but where did superstar Manny Machado end up going? He wound up with the Chicago White Sox, who are trying to accelerate their rebuild. A 10-year, $355 million deal isn’t that bad for the infielder who would be a massive help there.

Corbin to the Phillies

Not only did we miss out on Harper to Philadelphia, but they were also able to steal a march on us for left-hander Patrick Corbin. By the time we were considering bidding, they had already topped out at five years and $150 million, which wasn’t worth better. $30 million for Corbin is way too much.

Grandal goes to Atlanta

The bidding on Grandal took a while to get going in the simulation and we could’ve entered the fray for him. The Atlanta Braves wound up with him on a reasonable 3-year, $36 million deal that we just didn’t want to top with some regression potentially in his future and a poor postseason.

Thanks for following along with the whole GM Simulation, it was a lot of fun to be a part of. Hopefully, the Washington Nationals final roster looks a lot like this one come Spring Training in 2019.