So far in the early going for the Washington Nationals, the club has been somewhat of a mixed bag in terms of production from several key players. While this is the case for every big league team, as it's very rare to have a team full of guys that are firing on all cylinders at the exact same time, the production that we have seen so far from a few key guys has been a little bit concerning.
We have already touched on a few players that are already on thin ice and even a handful of offseason decisions that seem like mistakes early on, but to me, these 3 players have stood out in terms of proving that they might not belon on the roster come May 1st.
Notably exempt from this article are Josh Bell and Jacob Young, who both have had their fair share of struggles early on this season. I chose to leave them off as I am a believer in Bell, although I might be in the minority on that take, as he is notoriously a slow starter. I also don't really see a way that Young is any worse than a 4th outfielder unless he is traded. He would not have anything to learn down in AAA that could exponentially help his game, and we know what type of player he is at this point.
Lucas Sims
The start to the 2025 season should not really come as a major surprise for anyone who watched Lucas Sims pitch both last season and this year in spring training. The 30-year-old righty was not good in 2024, and didn't exactly inspire confidence this season in spring training.
In 8 appearances, Sims has an 8.44 ERA in just 5.1 innings pitched, and has a 1.88 WHIP to accompany that subpar ERA as well. Out of his appearances so far, he has as many outings making it through a clean and full inning as he does appearances where he has surrendered runs. Needless to say, this is not going to cut it over the course of the season, and unless he looks a lot better throughout the rest of April, I would expect him to be gone before next month.
To Mike Rizzo: Are you telling me David Robertson wouldn't be a better piece to the bullpen than Lucas Sims?
Colin Poche
Similar to Lucas Sims, 31-year-old lefty Colin Poche has been pretty abysmal so far in 2025. He has an absurd 20.25 ERA and 3.75 WHIP in just 5 appearances, with only 2.2 innings pitched so far this season. Truthfully, I think his place on the roster is a little bit safer than Sims' spot, but only because he is the only other lefty in the Nationals' bullpen besides Jose A. Ferrer.
Poche has a good track record of being successful, but in making just 5 appearances, he has issued at least 1 free pass in every appearance except for his last one, which was undoubtedly the best we have seen him look so far in his Nationals tenure. If he can string some more performances like that one together rather than what we saw in his first 4 appearances, Poche could become a very valuable bullpen asset.
Paul DeJong
Stop me if you have heard this before, but the Washington Nationals still do not have a great outlook at third base. Whether it has been guys like Maikel Franco or Nick Senzel, or a half-season of Jeimer Candelario, who was actually pretty solid during his short time in DC, the club has yet to see consistently great play from anyone at the position since the departure of Anthony Rendon.
Paul DeJong is seemingly going to be another addition to that growing list of guys who failed to inspire much confidence at the hot corner. To his credit, DeJong has been fantastic defensively, as he has already accounted for 4 OAA to this point, but his performance at the plate has left a lot to be desired. He does half 4 doubles out of his 8 hits, but given the fact that he has just a 2:20 K:BB ratio already, it has limited his OPS to just an abysmal .580 through 11 games.
There is not likely to be a ton of improvement from DeJong, and while the defense has been very good, at some point the club is going to want to get a look at their top hitting prospect, Brady House, who is viewed as the future at third base long-term. Combine this with the fact that he has gotten off to a hot start down in AAA, and there is a very good chance that DeJong's days with the Nationals could be limited, especially given that he was signed on a 1-year deal for just $1 million, the team doesn't have a significant financial investment tied to him that would make it hard to give up on the experiment.
Which Nationals player do you think might not make it past May 1st? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.