Washington Nationals: For And Against Major Decisions

Should Washington Start A Rebuild?

James Simmons: No, not yet at least. I do think the Nationals have a lot going for them and depending on the free agent moves they make the remaining offseason, are a playoff contender. The Nationals should be treating the season as such.

Not to say, if they get out of the gate slow and enter the dog days of summer well out of contention, they shouldn’t retool at that point. There are plenty of contracts coming off the books next year. The Nationals can sell off some rental players, though only Max Scherzer would garner getting a potential prospect in return. If the Nats do sell, they need to go all in and sell heavy. They can’t afford to sit on their hands like this past offseason, making no moves at all even though they knew the season was a lost cause.

At this point getting Jackson Rutledge some big league innings would be good. Seasoning for some of the other younger players to determine if they are a part of future is key as well. If the Nationals want to extend Juan Soto and Trea Turner they need to prove they aren’t far from competing in the near future. A full fledged rebuild isn’t in the cards, a retooling could be, though.

Max Rayman: I have advocated for a rebuild in the past and I will again. The window is almost completely shut. Don’t go down with the ship and avoid the same fate of the San Fransisco Giants and Kansas City Royals. Both teams won a World Series (multiple in the Giants case), and instead of rebuilding, decided to power through to keep the window open as long as possible. For the Royals, most of their core left in free agency and Kansas City was unable to receive anything besides compilation picks. The Giants are stuck with multiple large contracts that have become terrible and are officially rebuilding. All of their trade pieces have either left or lost their value.

Washington has the worst farm system in baseball with zero top 100 prospects according to MLB Pipeline. Trading off their star-studded pitching staff will help them restock a barren system. Scherzer has a year left on his contract and can help any contender. Corbin is a year removed from being the best lefty in baseball. Strasburg has a large contract, but if Washington agrees to eat some of the money, they can receive some top prospects. This will help clear the books while setting the team up in the future. Keep Trea Turner and Juan Soto and build the team around them.

Take a page out of the Chicago White Sox’s book. I understand the sentiment of keeping fan favorites who are still at the top of their game. But sometimes it is better to cut your losses when you’re ahead than to suffer a collapse that could have been prevented.