6 biggest questions for Nationals entering the offseason
As we start to turn the page to the upcoming offseason, we look at the 6 biggest questions the Washington Nationals will face.
I know we are all still basking in the glory of a World Series championship, but the baseball offseason doesn’t leave us much time to reflect. We press on and look at the biggest questions the Washington Nationals face entering the offseason.
To be honest, there really aren’t a ton of question marks for the Washington Nationals going into 2020.
They return everyone in the outfield and most of the starting rotation. And they have the ability to bring back both Yan Gomes and Kurt Suzuki at catcher.
The Nationals have a very good, young core of players to build around in Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Trea Turner, and Carter Kieboom (more on him in a minute).
All of them are 26 or young with at least three years of control left. With that core, the Nationals aren’t going anywhere for a while.
The biggest question going forward will be in the starting rotation, which might come as a surprise considering the Nationals have one of the best starting rotations in baseball.
However, their top four starting pitchers going into 2020 (assuming Stephen Strasburg comes back) will play most of next year at 30 or older.
And there aren’t any top-level pitching prospects currently in the minor league system.
Maybe the biggest question for the future of the Nationals is what do they do once the Strasburgs and Max Scherzers of the world have declined or moved on?
But we’ll table that discussion for another time and just focus on the six biggest questions that the Nationals face going into this offseason.
Is it Carter Kieboom time
There could be as many as three positions to fill on the infield going into 2020 with shortstop being the only spot taken.
But if the Nationals determine that it’s time for Carter Kieboom to get a full-time shot at the big leagues, that takes care of another infield spot — most likely second base.
Kieboom is the Nationals’ highest ranked prospect according to MLB.com as he ranks 20th overall and fifth among shortstop prospects.
The 22-year-old spent almost all of 2019 at Triple-A where he hit .303 with 16 home runs, 79 RBI, and an OPS of .902.
He got a brief stint with the big league club but hit just .128 in 38 at-bats, but he did hit a pair of home runs.
Certainly, Kieboom has proven everything he needs to prove in the minors. I think it’s time for the Nationals to give him a chance to prove he can do it at the Major League level.
With Asdrubal Cabrera, Brian Dozier, and Howie Kendrick all becoming free agents this offseason, that opens up the perfect spot for Kieboom.
Although, I wouldn’t mind the Nationals bringing back Cabrera or Kendrick as insurance.
While we might not get an exact answer to this until Spring Training, I think what the Nationals decide to do this offseason will be very telling.
If they don’t make it a point to sign or trade for an every day second baseman, then I think it’s definitely Kieboom’s job to start 2020 — and it should be.
What happens with Ryan Zimmerman
There is no denying the importance of Ryan Zimmerman to this Washington Nationals organization.
He is first in several all-time offensive categories for the Nationals, including hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, and RBI.
And he’s top five in just about everything else.
But there is absolutely no way the Nationals are picking up his $18 million option for 2020.
Zimmerman, who is now 35, has played in 137 games the past two seasons, and just 552 games the past six seasons. That means he’s appeared in just over 50 percent of his team’s games over that time.
There is no question that he can still hit, and he’s even been an adequate defender at first base, but health is a major concern.
If I’m being honest, Ryan’s best chance of continuing his career would be as a DH with an American League team.
But I would not be shocked at all if he and the Nationals work out a smaller deal for him to be a bench bat and part-time player.
And that’s all if he wants to continue playing.
The Nationals do have a $4 million mutual option with Matt Adams. If they can sign a smaller deal with Zimmerman for about that same amount they’d have a pretty good, cheap duo at first base next season.
Can they fix the bullpen
The Nationals were a great team in 2020, good enough to make the postseason and win the World Series, and they did all that in spite of having a terrible bullpen — like historically bad.
They finished the regular season with a league-worst bullpen ERA of 5.66.
And despite using some starters out of the bullpen in the postseason, they still had a bullpen ERA near five.
The front office has to find a way to address this issue in the offseason to avoid a similar fate.
Sean Doolittle has a $6.5 million team option that will almost certainly be picked up as he has been one of their more trusted relievers.
Hunter Strickland, Joe Ross, Javy Guerra, Wander Suero, and Tanner Rainey will all be back and could figure into the plan for the bullpen.
The only real loss is Daniel Hudson — some might say Fernando Rodney, but not this guy.
Whether big or little, there have to be some moves made this offseason to try and improve the bullpen before the start of the 2020 season.
That is certainly something we’ll be following closely and looking at as the free agent and trade markets take shape this offseason for the Washington Nationals.
How serious are these injuries for Max Scherzer
Nobody is questioning the ability of Max Scherzer at this point in his 12-year career.
He’s still one of the best pitchings in all of baseball and posted a 2.92 ERA in 171.1 innings with 243 strikeouts in 2019.
And then he was brilliant throughout the postseason as well leading the Nationals a World Series title with a gutty performance in Game 7.
Related Story. 3 takeaways from Game 7 win. light
But Scherzer isn’t getting any younger, and you have to wonder how big of a factor these back and neck spams will be in the future.
That’s not typically an injury that just goes away, and at the same time, you aren’t ever really sure when it’s going to rear its ugly head.
On top of that, we found out Scherzer played the 2019 season with a broken finger.
Point is, Scherzer isn’t getting any younger and there’s a lot of miles on his arm.
The 2019 season was the first time since his rookie season in 2008 that he didn’t make at least 30 starts in a season. And it’s the first time since 2012 that he didn’t throw over 200 innings.
Now, if you add his postseason totals, he surpasses both of those numbers.
Scherzer has two more years left on his contract, making over $40 million in both of those seasons — with some of that money deferred to 2028.
I still expect Max to pitch at an ace level for the next two years, but I do worry how limited he’ll be by injuries.
What will Strasburg do
It’s hard to even think about Stephen Strasburg not pitching for the Washington Nationals after that heroic performance he put on in the postseason leading to him being named the MVP of the World Series.
But ironically, it could be that performance that leads to him betting on himself in free agency.
At this point, I have little doubt that Strasburg can get more than the $100 million left on his deal with the Nationals.
Related Story. Reasons for and against Stras opting out. light
Once we find out what Strasburg decides, he has until November 5, that will make the offseason goals for the Nationals a lot clearer.
If he opts-out and becomes a free agent, the Nationals have to either try and re-sign him, or find a starting pitcher out there to replace him with.
As I pointed out in the related story above, I think Strasburg can get at least 5 years and $150 million this offseason.
If the Nationals are serious about making another World Series run, I think they pony up the money to bring him back.
And when you consider the point mentioned before about Scherzer possibly slowing down health-wise, the Nationals are going to need Strasburg to lead this rotation for the next five years.
But, they may not have the money to re-sign Strasburg and sign this guy…
Can they sign Anthony Rendon
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We know Anthony Rendon is going to hit the free agent market this offseason, and we know he’s going to get one of the biggest contracts of the offseason.
The question for Nationals fans is, will they be the one to give it to him?
Rendon has been the MVP of the Nationals offensively for the past few years now — and it’s astounding that he’s only made one All-Star appearance (2019).
Last offseason, Nolan Arenado got a seven-year $260 million contract extension from the Colorado Rockies.
Arenado is just a little over a year younger than Rendon and has more accolades to his record, but Arenado also didn’t go to free agency where other teams could have driven up the price.
Rendon will turn 30 during the 2020 season, so it will be interesting to see the number of years teams are willing to give him.
My guess is that he’ll want a six-year deal for around $200 million ($30-$35 million a year).
There are a number of teams who will obviously want Rendon this offseason, but I think the Nationals are one of few that would actually be willing to give him that contract.
Related Story. 5 teams that could sign Rendon. light
I think the biggest challenger for Rendon will be the Texas Rangers. It’s closer to his hometown of Houston, Texas, and they’ll be opening up a brand new stadium in 2020.
What better way to draw in a crowd in your new stadium than signing the hottest free agent out there?
Still, I think the Nationals are the favorites to sign Rendon this offseason, but it’s going to cost them a large amount of payroll and could prevent them from making upgrades elsewhere.
Next. World Series controversy. dark
Those are the biggest question for the Washington Nationals going into the offseason. Let us know in the comments below which question you want to be answered the most.