PLAYER REVIEW: MASON THOMPSON
Age on Opening Day 2024: 26
How acquired: Traded with Jordy Barley from Padres for Daniel Hudson, July 2021
MLB service time: 2 years, 42 days
2023 salary: $724,400
The Nationals have declined their 2024 club option on Victor Robles, but that doesn’t necessarily mean an end to the outfielder’s time with the organization.
In choosing not to pick up their $3.3 million option for Robles, the Nats still retain control of the player, who has accrued only five years and 33 days of big league service time. That makes him eligible for arbitration once again this winter before he can finally become a free agent.
The Nationals and Robles could negotiate and agree to terms on a 2024 salary, one that most likely would be worth more than the $2.325 million he made this year but less than the $3.3 million option they agreed last offseason. If they can’t come to terms by January, they could file competing figures for arbitration and await the ruling of a three-judge panel.
Or, the Nats still could decide to cut ties with Robles and not tender him a contract before the league-wide Nov. 17 deadline, making him a free agent now.
It’s not entirely clear which direction the team will go after another disappointing season from Robles, though this time for different reasons from the past.
PLAYER REVIEW: ANDRES MACHADO
Age on Opening Day 2024: 30
How acquired: Signed as minor league free agent, February 2021
MLB service time: 2 years, 23 days
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: JORDAN WEEMS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 31
How acquired: Signed as minor-league free agent, March 2022
MLB service time: 2 years, 55 days
2023 salary: $720,000
In reshaping their coaching staff, the Nationals appear to be looking inward for help.
The Nats are promoting Ricky Gutierrez to third base coach and Gerardo Parra to first base coach, a source familiar with the decisions confirmed, filling two of the four vacant jobs on Davey Martinez’s big league staff with a couple of former big league players who already worked for the organization.
Gutierrez, who replaces Gary DiSarcina, spent this season as the Nationals run prevention coordinator, essentially an extra infield coach on the major league staff who traveled with the team and was in the dugout during games. He received praise for his work with CJ Abrams, who developed into a much better defensive shortstop over the course of the season.
The 53-year-old former infielder for the Padres, Astros, Cubs, Indians, Mets and Red Sox will be coaching third base in the majors for the first time. He does have some experience at that position, though, as manager of the Reds’ Double-A affiliate in 2021.
DiSarcina had far more big league coaching experience, including the last two years with the Nationals, but the club did not renew his contract after the season ended, signaling a desire for better performance at that position.
PLAYER REVIEW: HUNTER HARVEY
Age on Opening Day 2024: 29
How acquired: Claimed off waivers from Giants, March 2022
MLB service time: 4 years, 47 days
2023 salary: $870,000
Frank Howard, the hulking slugger who won over a generation of Washington baseball fans with his towering home runs and genteel personality, has died at 87, the Nationals announced this afternoon.
Affectionately known to fans as “Hondo,” “The Capitol Punisher” and “The Washington Monument,” Howard played 16 seasons in four major league cites and spent another two decades coaching and managing for six other organizations. But his legacy was defined by the seven seasons he spent with the Washington Senators from 1965-71, blasting homers into the upper deck at RFK Stadium and becoming every local baseball fan’s favorite player for life, including one young D.C. native who would eventually own the city’s next big league club.
“Growing up a baseball fan in Washington, D.C., Frank Howard was my hero,” Nationals managing principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement released by the team. “The towering home runs he hit into the stands at RFK Stadium gave him the nickname ‘Capital Punisher,’ but I’ll always remember him as a kind and gentle man. The entire Lerner family would like to offer our thoughts and condolences to Frank’s family during this difficult time. The world of baseball has truly lost a giant.”
Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing 255 pounds, Howard would’ve been a physically imposing hitter in today’s game. In the 1960s and ’70s, he was a jaw-dropping presence in a sport not known for producing many players of that stature.
Signed by the Dodgers out of Ohio State in March 1958, Howard made his major league debut that September. The outfielder became a full-time big leaguer in 1960 and won National League Rookie of the Year honors, then finished ninth in the MVP race two seasons later.
PLAYER REVIEW: KYLE FINNEGAN
Age on Opening Day 2024: 32
How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2019
MLB service time: 4 years
2023 salary: $2.325 million
PLAYER REVIEW: THADDEUS WARD
Age on Opening Day 2024: 27
How acquired: Selected in Rule 5 draft, December 2022
MLB service time: 1 year
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: JACKSON RUTLEDGE
Age on Opening Day 2024: 24
How acquired: First-round pick, 2019 Draft
MLB service time: 19 days
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: JAKE IRVIN
Age on Opening Day 2024: 27
How acquired: Fourth-round pick, 2018 Draft
MLB service time: 152 days
2023 salary: $720,000
PLAYER REVIEW: TREVOR WILLIAMS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 31
How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2022
MLB service time: 7 years, 27 days
2023 salary: $6 million
PLAYER REVIEW: PATRICK CORBIN
Age on Opening Day 2024: 34
How acquired: Signed as free agent, December 2018
MLB service time: 11 years, 105 days
2023 salary: $24 million
PLAYER REVIEW: MACKENZIE GORE
Age on Opening Day 2024: 25
How acquired: Traded with CJ Abrams, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana and Luke Voit from Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell, August 2022
MLB service time: 2 years
2023 salary: $723,300
PLAYER REVIEW: JOSIAH GRAY
Age on Opening Day 2024: 26
How acquired: Traded with Keibert Ruiz, Donovan Casey and Gerardo Carrillo from Dodgers for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, July 2021
MLB service time: 2 years, 75 days
2023 salary: $730,000
PLAYER REVIEW: VICTOR ROBLES
Age on Opening Day 2024: 26
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2013
MLB service time: 5 years, 33 days
2023 salary: $2.325 million
PLAYER REVIEW: RILEY ADAMS
Age on Opening Day 2024: 27
How acquired: Traded from Blue Jays for Brad Hand, July 2021
MLB service time: 2 years, 50 days
2023 salary: $728,800
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.
