Nats heading back to D.C. with decisions still to make

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals broke camp this afternoon and left for Palm Beach International Airport. They’ll arrive in Washington this evening having spent the last six weeks evaluating a roster they believe is much improved from a year ago, but one that’s still not 100 percent settled.

Manager Davey Martinez said the team won’t make its final cuts until after Monday’s exhibition finale against the Orioles at Nationals Park, leaving the fates of a number of players on the bubble up in the air for another 24 hours.

“This is tough,” Martinez said following an 8-5 loss to the Astros in the Grapefruit League finale. “It really is.”

The Nats settled their fifth starter competition Friday, optioning DJ Herz and Shinnosuke Ogasawara to Triple-A Rochester to leave the spot for Mitchell Parker. But they’ve still got four more roster spots to figure out: backup catcher, 26th man on the bench and two bullpen jobs.

The bullpen situation is the most complicated, because of several moving parts. Derek Law, projected all along to make the team, now appears likely to open the season on the 15-day injured list because his arm hasn’t recovered well enough from the couple of times he’s faced live hitters in the last week-plus.

The Nationals planned all along to delay Law’s spring debut, believing it would help conserve bullets for a regular season in which the workhorse hopes to top last year’s total of 90 innings pitched. But it didn’t work out as hoped, with Law making only one official game appearance here in Florida and now out of time to get himself ready to pitch on Opening Day.

“There hasn’t been progress,” Martinez said. “To him, he has been feeling better, but he hasn’t thrown at all. More than likely, he’s going to start on the IL, because it’s going to be tough to build him up now. But hopefully we’ll get him back sooner than later.”

That seemingly left five of the eight bullpen slots secured: Kyle Finnegan, Jose A. Ferrer, Jorge López, Lucas Sims and Colin Poche. Martinez, though, said today only two spots are still available, suggesting right-hander Eduardo Salazar is actually a lock.

Those two remaining spots, then, would come from a pool of three remaining candidates: Orlando Ribalta, Jackson Rutledge and Brad Lord. Ribalta (1.88 ERA, 0.84 WHIP) had a dominant spring. Rutledge (3.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) and Lord (6.08 ERA, 1.43 WHIP) are starting prospects now getting a serious look as long relievers, something the club seems to prefer to have this year.

“I wish I could take all three,” Martinez said. “Unfortunately, I think we only have room for two as of right now.”

The backup catcher will be either Riley Adams or Andrew Knizner. The former has backed up Keibert Ruiz for the better part of the last three seasons and has a guaranteed $850,000 contract but struggled in 2024 and was twice demoted. The latter has experience as a backup with the Cardinals but owns a career .596 OPS and went 3-for-25 this spring as a non-roster invitee.

Finally, there’s the final spot on a four-man bench that also includes infielder Amed Rosario, outfielder Alex Call and either Adams or Knizner. The two remaining candidates, José Tena and Juan Yepez, offer very different skill sets. Tena plays three infield positions, bats left-handed and runs better. Yepez can play first base and left field, bats right-handed and has more power.

“They’re two totally different players,” Martinez said. “It all depends on which direction we want to go.”

How will these decisions finally get made? Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo will meet one last time and share opinions. They’ll watch Monday’s exhibition finale in D.C., in which all or most of those guys will play or pitch. And then they’ll make the calls and submit a 26-man roster to Major League Baseball for Thursday’s season opener against the Phillies.

All the affected players on the bubble can do is board the team charter this evening, sit back and try to relax as their fates are decided.

“I joke around about them, saying 'I want you guys to make my decision tough.' It’s tough,” Martinez said. “I’ve been thinking a lot at night, writing down stuff on paper, looking at how the roster plays with this guy and that guy, what they’ve done in the past. Everything’s difficult. But at the end of the day, we make those tough decisions, we live by them and hopefully the players respond well.”