PLAYER REVIEW: JAKE ALU
Age on Opening Day 2024: 26
How acquired: 24th-round pick, 2019 Draft
MLB service time: 73 days
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: JACOB YOUNG
Age on Opening Day 2024: 24
How acquired: Seventh-round pick, 2021 Draft
MLB service time: 37 days
2023 salary: $720,000
The Nationals are cutting ties with infielder Michael Chavis, outfielder Blake Rutherford and reliever Hobie Harris, clearing necessary space on their 40-man roster as they prepare to enter the offseason.
Chavis, Rutherford and Harris cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. Both Chavis and Rutherford, who ended the season on the active big league roster, had the right to declare free agency and chose to do so, leaving the organization. Harris, who made the Opening Day bullpen but spent most of the season with Rochester, will be a minor league free agent at the conclusion of the World Series.
Those three moves, plus comparable moves with reliever Victor Arano and outfielder Travis Blankenhorn earlier this month, cleared a total of five spots on the Nationals’ 40-man roster, which ultimately will be needed for players who ended the season on the 60-day injured list.
The Nats had six such players on the 60-day IL at season’s end: catcher Riley Adams, outfielders Stone Garrett and Victor Robles, and right-handers Cade Cavalli, Carl Edwards Jr. and Stephen Strasburg. Edwards becomes eligible for free agency after the World Series and is unlikely to return.
Strasburg has already come to the conclusion he’ll need to retire after a failed attempt to return from thoracic outlet surgery, but until he and the organization come to an agreement on how to handle the $105 million he’s still owed through 2026, he will need to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.
Lane Thomas has been recognized for his stellar defensive season with his first career Gold Glove Award nomination.
Thomas today was named by Rawlings Sports one of three finalists for the award among National League right fielders, along with the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts and the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr.
Winners at all positions will be announced Nov. 5 on ESPN.
It’s the first time Thomas has finished in the top three at his position in voting conducted by major league managers and coaches near the end of the regular season. The ultimate winner will be determined both by those votes and a sabermetic component provided by the Society for American Baseball Research, which accounts for 25 percent of the final tally.
Thomas enjoyed a breakthrough season for the Nationals not only at the plate (where he hit 28 homers and stole 20 bases) but also in the field. He was second among all NL outfielders with 18 assists, trailing only the Rockies’ Nolan Jones (who played all three outfield positions, plus first and third bases) by one.
PLAYER REVIEW: STONE GARRETT
Age on Opening Day 2024: 28
How acquired: Signed as free agent, November 2022
MLB service time: 1 year, 50 days
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: ALEX CALL
Age on Opening Day 2024: 29
How acquired: Claimed off waivers from Guardians, August 2022
MLB service time: 1 year, 66 days
2023 salary: $721,800
PLAYER REVIEW: LANE THOMAS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 28
How acquired: Traded from Cardinals for Jon Lester, July 2021
MLB service time: 4 years, 14 days
2023 salary: $2.2 million
PLAYER REVIEW: ILDEMARO VARGAS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 32
How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, May 2022
MLB service time: 4 years, 7 days
2023 salary: $975,000
The Nationals are adding another experienced name to a revamped scouting department, hiring Brad Ciolek away from the Orioles to serve as senior director of amateur scouting, a source familiar with the move confirmed.
Ciolek spent 12 of the last 13 seasons with the Orioles in a variety of roles, most recently as director of draft operations. Owner of a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in computer information systems, and having spent a year working as an analyst for Bloomberg Sports, he brings an analytical background to a Nats scouting department that appears to be making an effort to bolster that area.
In D.C., Ciolek will hold a title not previously held by anyone in the front office. He’ll work for recently hired vice president of amateur scouting Danny Haas, who replaces longtime head of scouting Kris Kline, who is moving into a new role as a special assistant to general manager Mike Rizzo.
Haas, who came from the Diamondbacks, previously worked for the Orioles with Ciolek, so the two are being reunited in Washington, tasked with overhauling an amateur scouting department that has produced few notable big league players in recent years.
Ciolek first joined the Orioles in 2011 as a player development intern at their spring training complex in Sarasota, Fla. He left after one year to work for Bloomberg Sports but returned to Baltimore in 2013 as scouting administrator, advancing to assistant director of scouting, supervisor of domestic scouting operations and ultimately director of draft operations the last two seasons.
PLAYER REVIEW: CARTER KIEBOOM
Age on Opening Day 2024: 26
How acquired: First-round pick, 2016 draft
MLB service time: 2 years, 167 days
2023 salary: $733,400
PLAYER REVIEW: CJ ABRAMS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 23
How acquired: Traded with MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, James Wood, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022
MLB service time: 1 year, 130 days
2023 salary: $724,200
PLAYER REVIEW: LUIS GARCÍA
Age on Opening Day 2024: 23
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2016
MLB service time: 2 years, 142 days
2023 salary: $739,000
PLAYER REVIEW: DOMINIC SMITH
Age on Opening Day 2024: 28
How acquired: Signed as free agent, January 2023
MLB service time: 5 years, 81 days
2023 salary: $2 million
PLAYER REVIEW: JOEY MENESES
Age on Opening Day 2024: 31
How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, January 2022
MLB service time: 1 year, 65 days
2023 salary: $723,300
Davey Martinez is returning for his seventh season as Nationals manager, but he’ll do so with a number of changes to his coaching staff.
Several members of Martinez’s big league staff have been informed in recent days their contracts are not being renewed, including bench coach Tim Bogar, third base coach Gary DiSarcina, first base coach Eric Young Jr. and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler, a source familiar with the decisions confirmed.
Jim Hickey will be brought back for his fourth season as pitching coach, the source said. It wasn’t immediately clear if decisions have been made on hitting coach Darnell Coles, catching and strategy coach Henry Blanco and bullpen coach Ricky Bones, along with others on the staff who aren’t among the official eight coaches the team employed.
The Athletic was first to report these changes.
With everyone on the staff working on contracts that were due to expire Oct. 31, the possibility of changes has loomed for weeks. Asked during the season’s final week about the fate of his coaches, Martinez said no decisions had been made at that point, and he intended to meet with general manager Mike Rizzo once the season ended to discuss each position.
PLAYER REVIEW: KEIBERT RUIZ
Age on Opening Day 2024: 25
How acquired: Traded from Dodgers with Josiah Gray, Donovan Casey and Gerardo Carrillo for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, July 2021
MLB service time: 2 years, 64 days
2023 salary: $1.375 million
Never let it be said we don’t hold ourselves accountable around here. For more than a decade, all of us who cover the Nationals have made Opening Day predictions for the coming season. And each year, we revisit those predictions and reveal just how we all did.
Some years, we have a pretty good take on things large and small. Other years, we don’t come close to getting anything right. This year was a mixed bag. While as a group we did pretty well in some categories, we completely whiffed on some others.
As always, a profound thanks to all my colleagues who were willing to subject themselves to this particular form of torture. And with that, here’s how we did in 2023 …
WHICH NATIONALS WILL BE SELECTED FOR THE ALL-STAR GAME?
Bobby Blanco (MASNsports.com) – Keibert Ruiz
Jessica Camerato (MLB.com) – Keibert Ruiz
Jesse Dougherty (Washington Post) – Hunter Harvey
Andrew Golden (Washington Post) – Joey Meneses
Craig Heist (106.7 The Fan) – Keibert Ruiz, Dominic Smith
Chelsea Janes (Washington Post) – Keibert Ruiz
Bill Ladson (MLB.com honorary) – Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz
Mark Zuckerman (MASNsports.com) – Joey Meneses
Correct answer: Josiah Gray earned the first All-Star selection of his career with a strong first half. The right-hander struggled for a good chunk of the second half but did close strong to finish with a respectable 3.91 ERA.
The Nationals are hiring Danny Haas, a key member of the Diamondbacks’ scouting department (and prior to that the Orioles and Red Sox), as their new scouting director, a source familiar with the decision confirmed.
Haas, 47, replaces longtime Nats scouting director Kris Kline, who last month was shifted into another role in the front office working for general manager Mike Rizzo.
After a season that produced encouraging progress at the big league level and the ascension of several key prospects in the minors, the Nationals are reshaping multiple areas of their baseball operations department. Among the most notable changes: DeJon Watson was let go after two years as director of player development, and Johnny DiPuglia resigned after more than a decade running the team’s international scouting operation.
The reassignment of Kline, who had been the Nationals’ amateur scouting director since 2009, signaled another major change, the organization seeking improved performance in the MLB Draft after a sustained stretch that produced few notable big league players.
Haas has never run an entire scouting department, but he has extensive scouting experience with three organizations that enjoyed considerable success developing homegrown players.
Beginning on Trade Deadline Day 2021, and repeated countless times since, Mike Rizzo has summed up the Nationals’ rebuilding efforts with some variation of the same line:
“We’ve done this before. We know what we’re doing.”
Indeed, the first stretch of Rizzo’s 15-year tenure as general manager saw the organization tear down its existing roster, emphasize the drafting and developing of a new crop of young players, watch that group reach the big leagues and then supplement it with free agents. Thus did the Nationals go from 59 wins in 2009 to 69 wins in 2010 to 80 wins in 2011 to 98 wins and the first of four division titles in 2012.
The road map has always been there, and it’s only been natural to try to figure out how this current rebuild will mirror that one.
There are obvious comparisons. The Nats bottomed out in 2022, just as they did in 2009. And then they took a step forward in 2023, just as they did in 2010.
If, way back on Opening Day, they knew they would make it through the entire season using only eight starting pitchers, the Nationals would’ve been ecstatic.
Only twice before in club history had so few starters been needed, and each time (2012, 2014) the team won a division title. Surely, this was a sign the 2023 rotation was destined for greatness.
That’s not exactly how it played out. The Nats rotation still ended the year with a 5.02 ERA and 1.501 WHIP, ranking 25th in the majors in each category. The group also finished near the bottom of the sport in walks (27th), strikeouts (25th) and homers (29th).
But while better overall performance certainly would’ve been nice, the mere fact the Nationals rotation proved so durable was significant.
“It was a very healthy year for our pitching staff, which was great,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “It’s a testament to the training staff and the medical staff and to the pitching coaches, and to the way (manager Davey Martinez) handled them.”
