Who were the Nationals' worst free agent signings since 2019?

In 2019, the Nationals seemed to rotate between hundreds of bullpen arms. It seemed like every arm acquired for the bullpen was a letdown, as not one bullpen arm (besides Sean Doolittle) finished the season on the 26-man roster. The Nationals signed veteran pitchers Tony Sipp, Trevor Rosenthal, and Kyle Barraclough to 1-year contracts for the 2019 season. Sipp would pitch to a 4.71 ERA over 46 games before being released. Kyle Barraclough would pitch to a 6.66 ERA but bounced back with San Francisco pitching to a 2.25 over 10 games. Trevor Rosenthal is notoriously remembered for his 22.74 ERA over 12 games, the worst ERA in Nationals history.

Even with a terrible bullpen, the Nationals entered the 2020 COVID season as the defending World champions. The Nationals had just lost Anthony Rendon and needed some help if they wanted to repeat. The help did not help. The Nationals signed 1B Eric Thames to a 1-year deal, as well as 2B Starlin Castro to a 2-year deal. Thames missed the first 15 games with injury and didn’t provide any of the power that the Nats sought. Thames hit .203 over 41 games with 3 homers and 12 RBI. With Ryan Zimmerman sitting out, Thames needed to step up, and that just didn’t happen. Castro would miss most of the 2020 season, only playing 16 games, but 2021 provided a great bat from Castro, as he hit .283 over 87 games. Castro eventually would be released after a domestic violence case hit the news, and he hasn’t played in the MLB since. The Nats also continued to miss on bullpen arms, as they gave RHP Will Harris a 3-year deal. Harris pitched to a 1.50 ERA in 2019 and gave up the 2-run go-ahead homerun in Game 7 of the World Series to Howie Kendrick. Harris would only pitch 23.2 innings over 3 seasons due to injuries, and would be a major bust of a signing.

2021 brought plenty of new players to the team, which led to the Nationals making 6 trades at the deadline. The worst of them came from LHP Jon Lester, who would pitch to a 5.02 ERA over 16 starts and somehow would be traded to the Cardinals in exchange for OF Lane Thomas at the trade deadline, which proved to be a major steal. The next year in 2021 also brought utility man Hernan Perez to the roster, who only played 10 games and hit .053 in his time in DC.

In 2022, the team attempted to find a power bat to pair with Juan Soto, and they ended up bringing in Designated Hitter Nelson Cruz on a 1-year deal. At the time, Cruz and Soto seemed like a power duo that would hit 50+ homers combined, but Cruz would only hit .234 and just 10 homers in 124 games, which were all career lows for him since 2009. The Nationals also added infielder Ehrie Adrianza, who is one of the most forgettable signing in team history due to only starting in 20 games and hitting .179 before being traded to Atlanta. Of course, I also can’t forget 2B Cesar Hernandez who took 450+ at bats before hitting his only homer of the season, and was a dreadful signing overall.

2023 and 2024 didn’t feature many bad contracts, with Dominic Smith being the only name that makes fans cringe. Of course, there are PLENTY of names who only appeared in a few games. Those names include Chad Kuhl, Corey Dickerson, Anthony Banda, Travis Blankenhorn, and Blake Rutherford. 2024 was about the same, with Joey Gallo spending 3 ½ months on the injured list, and failing to net anything in return at the trade deadline.

This article would not be complete without the inclusion of RHP Stephen Strasburg. The 2019 World Series MVP and got a 7-year $245 million deal following the season. In 7 years, he only pitched 31.1 innings, accumulating an ERA over 10 during that span, and injuries ultimately ended Strasburg’s career. But with the Nationals paying $245 million for just 31 innings, it easily takes the cake as the worst contract in Nationals history, and certainly the worst since 2019.