It’s time for the third installment of our 20 Greatest Players in Nationals History series, which means we’ve reached the Top 10. If you missed the first two installments, be sure to click these links for No. 16-20 and No. 11-15.

It was no easy task finalizing the 20 greatest players in 20 years of Nats baseball, and it was no easier deciding who made the Top 10, and in what order. Reminder: This is a subjective exercise, so there’s no hard and fast rule or stat to determine the order. This is about both the player’s tangible performance and also his broader impact and significance within the history of the organization.

We’ll wrap things up next Sunday with the highly anticipated Top 5. But before we get to that, here’s No. 6-10, featuring some pretty big names who each played parts of at least seven seasons in D.C. …

NO. 10 – IAN DESMOND
Shortstop, 2009-15
Stats: 927 G, 3793 PA, 3480 AB, 424 R, 917 H, 185 2B, 21 3B, 110 HR, 432 RBI, 122 SB, 37 CS, 232 BB, 890 SO, .264 AVG, .312 OBP, .424 SLG, .736 OPS, 99 OPS+, 16.5 bWAR, 16.2 fWAR

In March 2005, the Nationals called up a 19-year-old shortstop drafted the previous summer by the then-Expos to play in a few big league spring training games. He immediately turned heads with some dazzling plays in the field, prompting Jim Bowden and Frank Robinson to declare him the organization’s “Shortstop of the Future” and give him a chance to play in the team’s first exhibition game at RFK Stadium.

As he explored his options this winter, Michael Soroka was struck by the Nationals’ interest in him. Interest that stemmed not as much from what he had done in the past, but from what they feel he’s still capable of doing in the future.

“It seemed like the best place to move forward with, for myself and for the organization,” the right-hander said Friday in an introductory Zoom call with D.C. reporters. “I’m excited to be a part of that. It’s an organization that’s going in the right direction.”

The Nats on Thursday made Soroka their first major league acquisition of the offseason, giving him a one-year, $9 million contract to join their 2025 rotation. It’s a gamble in some ways, because he hasn’t been a full-time, big-league starter since 2019 with the Braves (when he finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year and sixth for the Cy Young Award).

Soroka’s career has been on a winding path since, with two full seasons lost to a freak Achilles’ tendon tear (and re-tear), then a slow and at times ineffective return to the mound that culminated this season with an 0-10 record, 4.74 ERA and demotion from the rotation to the bullpen for an historically awful White Sox team.

The Nationals, though, saw what Soroka himself felt during the latter stages of a tough season in Chicago. Upon moving to a long-relief role, he enjoyed newfound success with some changes both to his mechanics and his pitch usage. In 16 relief appearances totaling 36 innings, he produced a 2.75 ERA, 1.222 WHIP and a whopping 60 strikeouts.

The Nationals’ long-awaited first free agent signing of the offseason didn’t qualify as a big splash. Michael Soroka isn’t the big slugger they need for the middle of their lineup. He’s not the closer they lack since non-tendering Kyle Finnegan. And he’s probably not the ace of the staff, even if he did pitch like one as a rookie for the Braves way back in 2019.

Soroka’s deal – one year, $9 million – is modest by 2025 standards. If anything, it might even be a bit of a stretch considering his lack of success and lack of good health, the last five seasons.

But that’s the price of doing business in the free agent pitching market. Nobody with any kind of track record comes cheap, and the best of the best are paid exorbitant amounts of dollars over a number of years that leaves general managers around the league shivering.

The Nats didn’t sign Soroka to lead their rotation. They signed him in the hopes he can rekindle some of his past success and health and perform at a level that makes his $9 million salary look like a bargain.

In short, they signed him hoping he can do in 2025 what Trevor Williams did in 2024.

The Nationals have made their long-awaited first major league acquisition of the winter, signing right-hander Michael Soroka to a one-year, $9 million deal.

The signing, formally announced by the team this afternoon, is their first of an unusually quiet offseason to date but perhaps signals the start of a more active period before the holidays. The financial terms, confirmed by a club source, make the 27-year-old the highest paid player on the team for now.

Soroka burst onto the scene with the Braves in 2019, going 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA and 1.111 WHIP to earn an All-Star selection, plus votes for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards. His career has been ravaged by injuries since, beginning with a freak Achilles tendon tear that essentially kept him out of the big leagues for more than two full seasons.

The Braves traded Soroka to the White Sox last winter, and he attempted to revive his career in Chicago. It didn’t go well at first; he went 0-5 with a 6.39 ERA in nine early season starts for a team that would eventually set the major league record with 121 losses. But he was much more effective pitching out of the bullpen the remainder of the season, posting a 2.75 ERA in 16 appearances, most of them lasting multiple innings.

The Nationals intend to give Soroka a chance to start, according to a club source, which aligns with the money they guaranteed him. As was the case with Trevor Williams in recent seasons, though, the team could shift him to the bullpen at some point if he struggles in the rotation or if another starter emerges.

The Nationals’ minor league coaching staff is mostly staying put for 2025, with a couple of notable affiliate and role changes.

The Nats unveiled their entire player development staff for the upcoming season Wednesday, and it features plenty of familiar names who have been with the organization for some time.

Triple-A manager Matt LeCroy and Double-A manager Delino DeShields both return, with LeCroy about to enter his fifth season in Rochester and DeShields entering his third season in Harrisburg.

LeCroy, who played 39 games for the Nationals in 2006, has been a coach or manager within the organization continuously since 2008 and has managed every affiliate from low Single-A through Triple-A. He also served on the big league staff from 2014-15 as bullpen coach. He’s the first Rochester manager to hold the job for five seasons since Joe Altobelli from 1971-76.

DeShields joined the Nats in 2023 after a long stint with the Reds. The former Expos second baseman has become a mainstay in Harrisburg, helping top prospects James Wood, Dylan Crews and Brady House navigate their way toward Washington.

Two players the Nationals let go at season’s end found new homes Tuesday, with Ildemaro Vargas signing a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks and Jordan Weems getting his own minor league deal with the Braves.

Both Vargas and Weems were regular members of the Nats roster in 2023 and were expected to remain in their respective roles throughout the 2024 season, as well. Vargas did survive the full year but was dropped from the 40-man roster in November and elected to become a free agent. Weems was designated for assignment in August, and though he cleared waivers and finished the season at Triple-A Rochester, he became a free agent in October.

Neither is assured of a major league job in 2025, but each will get an opportunity to make a case for himself in the spring with invitations to big league camp.

Vargas, 33, has previous ties with the Diamondbacks, signing with them in 2015 and making his major league debut in 2017. The infielder spent parts of the next four seasons in Arizona, playing in 144 games while batting .247 with seven homers, 36 RBIs and a .648 OPS.

He bounced around after that, going from the Diamondbacks to the Twins to the Cubs to the Pirates and back to the Diamondbacks again in 2021. The Nationals then signed him to a minor league deal in May 2022, and when the need for a utility infielder arose in August following the trade of Ehire Adrianza to Atlanta, they called him up.

Jacob Young, MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams and Jake Irvin all performed well enough this season to earn some extra money before the holidays.

Young, Gore, Abrams and Irvin recently were revealed as part of a group of 101 players with less than three years of big league service time who qualified for Major League Baseball’s “pre-arbitration bonus pool.”

The pool was created as part of this collective bargaining agreement to reward players who have yet to reach salary arbitration but played beyond their experience levels. Anyone who finishes in the top five in voting for the MVP or Cy Young awards, first or second for Rookie of the Year or is named to the all-MLB first or second team receives a bonus ranging from $500,000 to $2.5 million. Any money remaining from the $50 million total pool is divided up among other players based on a WAR formula.

None of the Nationals received votes for the aforementioned awards, but four young players did compile enough WAR to qualify for these bonuses.

Young, who ranked 56th out of the 101 pre-arbitration players, received a bonus of $333,239. That’s added to his base rookie salary of $740,000, making his total income for the season $1,073,239.

We spend most of our time around here asking what the Nationals are going to do about their most glaring roster needs. Are they going to sign a big-name slugger to play first base? Are they going to spend money on a proven starting pitcher? Are they going to bolster a now-depleted bullpen with experienced late-inning arms?

So far, we don’t have the answers to any of those questions. The Nats have not yet acquired a major league player this offseason, aside from reliever Evan Reifert in last week’s Rule 5 Draft. Their most glaring holes remain holes to this point.

Let’s start this week off, though, looking at the roster in an entirely different way. We know what the Nationals need. Which means we also should know what they already have. It’s worth remembering where around the field they already appear to be set, because it’s actually a majority of the positions on the team.

The Nats have a middle infield, no questions there. CJ Abrams, despite his end-of-season demotion, is the everyday shortstop, coming off an All-Star year that showcased his elite combination of skills. Yes, he needs to prove he can put those skills together on a more consistent basis over a six-month season. But the team remains fully committed to him, of that there appears to be no doubt.

They’re also fully committed to Luis Garcia Jr., who after a spring full of tough love finally blossomed into the second baseman they always believed him to be. Garcia was the most pleasant development of the 2024 season, and the expectation will be for more of the same, if not even more improvement from him in 2025.

Thanks to everyone who read and commented on the first installment of our 20 Greatest Players in Nationals History series. If you missed it, click this link to find out who checked in at Nos. 16-20 before proceeding with this week’s piece featuring Nos. 11-15.

Reminder: This is a purely subjective exercise. Stats were considered, of course, but greatness is about more than stats. It’s about impact, both on and off the field. It’s about significance to the franchise during its two decades in D.C. And on some instinctual level, it’s just about the players that you think most fondly of when you consider the last 20 years of Nats baseball.

We’ll continue the series each Sunday through the rest of the month, culminating with the Top 5 on Dec. 29 …

NO. 15 – LIVÁN HERNÁNDEZ
Starting pitcher, 2005-2006, 2009-11
Stats: 44-47, 4.32 ERA, 129 GS, 828.2 IP, 915 H, 430 R, 398 ER, 82 HR, 262 BB, 476 SO, 94 ERA+, 1.420 WHIP, 7.7 bWAR, 10.2 fWAR

Perhaps no player better epitomizes the early years of the Nationals than the man who threw the first pitch in club history. Hernández already had enjoyed a notable career before coming here, winning National League Championship and World Series MVP honors as a rookie for the Marlins in 1997, then again pitching in the World Series for the Giants in 2002. He was traded to the Expos in 2003 and established himself as the workhorse ace of that staff by the time he joined them in relocating to Washington.

It’s not the kind of major splash everyone’s been waiting for, but the Nationals have signed a couple of free agents in recent days who could pitch their way onto the roster in 2025.

The Nats signed left-hander Konnor Pilkington and right-hander Clay Helvey to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training, adding a pair of pitchers who will compete for jobs in big league camp.

Pilkington, 27, has some major league experience, appearing in 16 games (11 of those starts) for the Guardians in 2022-23 with decent results. He sports a 3.75 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 60 innings, though he also walked 33 batters while compiling a 1.450 WHIP.

Originally a third-round pick of the White Sox in 2018 out of Mississippi State, Pilkington was traded three years later to Cleveland for a name familiar to Nationals fans: César Hernández (who played in D.C. in 2022). The Diamondbacks then purchased him in May 2023, and he spent the majority of the last two seasons at Triple-A Reno, going 3-5 with a 5.91 ERA, 1.764 WHIP and 79 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings in 2024.

Pilkington, whose fastball averages 92-93 mph, has mostly run into trouble when he can’t throw strikes. He has averaged 4.6 walks per nine innings throughout his minor league career.

Good morning, everyone. We hoped this would be an eventful week, with the Winter Meetings offering an opportunity for news. And it was more eventful than any previous week this offseason, just not necessarily in a way anyone would have guessed.

Juan Soto signed with the Mets for an insane $765 million. The Nationals selected reliever Evan Reifert from the Rays in the Rule 5 Draft. Oh, and they won the Draft Lottery and surprisingly now hold the No. 1 pick next summer.

What they haven't done yet is sign any major league free agents or completed any trades. Hopefully that's on the horizon, sooner rather than later. In the meantime, we'll take another opportunity to answer your questions about what has - and what hasn't - happened so far.

If you've got something you'd like to ask, please submit it in the comments section below. Then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

Juan Soto stole the biggest headline at the now-completed Winter Meetings – and for $765 million, rightfully so – but the most significant broader storyline to develop out of Dallas might well have been the shape of the pitching market.

In short, it’s expensive. Really expensive.

While only a handful of top position players have signed so far this offseason, a good number of free agent starters have found new homes. And they’ve been paid handsomely for their services.

The real eye-opener so far was Max Fried, who parlayed the Yankees’ frustration at losing Soto to the Mets into a gargantuan, eight-year, $218 million contract. That shattered most predictions for the left-hander, who undoubtedly is one of the league’s better starters but has dealt with some injuries in recent years and isn’t a prototypical power pitcher.

Fried’s deal, which runs through his age-38 season, was the biggest one given to a pitcher so far this winter. But it’s not the only one that exceeded expectations.

Success in the Rule 5 Draft is never assured. It’s actually quite rare. The Nationals, though, were willing to take a shot on an unprotected prospect for the third straight year, hoping Evan Reifert bucks the trend and proves himself a valuable member of their pitching staff for years to come.

The Nats selected Reifert today in the final official event of the Winter Meetings in Dallas, using the No. 6 pick in the draft to snag the right-hander reliever away from the Rays.

Reifert, 25, has never pitched above Double-A, but he’s coming off a dominant 2024 season for Tampa Bay’s affiliate in Montgomery. In 34 appearances, he posted a sparkling 1.96 ERA and 0.919 WHIP, striking out 65 batters in only 41 1/3 innings.

Originally a 30th-round pick of the Rangers in 2018 from North Iowa Area Community College, Reifert chose not to sign with Texas and instead transferred to Central Missouri. He wasn’t selected in the pandemic-condensed 2020 draft, but signed with the Brewers and began his professional career.

After a strong 2021 season in Single-A ball, Reifert was traded to the Rays in a deal for big leaguer Mike Brosseau, then spent the last three seasons in Tampa Bay’s farm system. A shoulder injury derailed most of his 2023 campaign, but he returned strong this year at the Double-A level.

When it was revealed Tuesday evening the Nationals had won the Draft Lottery, it was immediately appropriate to mention the two previous times this club held the No. 1 pick and the two iconic players who were selected with those picks.

Obviously, the Nats would be thrilled if the first player taken in the 2025 Draft has the same impact Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper did a decade and a half ago. But there’s a distinct difference to note about this future draft pick from those prior ones. The difference in the state of the franchise at the time of the pick.

When they drafted Strasburg on June 9, 2009, the Nationals were undoubtedly the worst team in baseball. They lost a league-worst 102 games in 2008, which is how they were awarded the No. 1 pick in the pre-lottery days. And on that night, they owned an abysmal 16-41 record, en route to a 103-loss season that would lock up the No. 1 pick again the following year.

It would be three more seasons before the Nats secured their first winning record, which also happened to come with their first division title and postseason berth. By then, the roster had been completely overhauled by still-newish general manager Mike Rizzo, who combined homegrown prospects with experienced veterans acquired via free agency and a few calculated additions via trade.

Strasburg and Harper were a huge part of that. Maybe the Nationals still would have made the 2012 playoffs without either young star, but there’s no way they would’ve won 98 games. And both continued to be critical to the organization’s success over the next several years, leading to three more division titles through the 2017 season.

The Nationals nearly won Major League Baseball’s first Draft Lottery in 2022, finishing runner-up to the Pirates. They technically did win the 2023 lottery but were ineligible to hold the No. 1 pick, which wound up going instead to the Guardians.

There were no such restrictions this time around, just low odds. Which proved not to be a problem when the Nats were revealed the surprise winners of the 2024 lottery.

The grand prize: The No. 1 pick in next summer’s draft, the third time in club history they’ve held the first overall selection. The previous two players selected: Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010, a couple of franchise icons.

Strasburg and Harper were drafted during some of the lowest points in the club’s two decades in D.C., immediately following 100-loss seasons. They were key figures in securing the team’s first winning record (and division title) in 2012. This No. 1 pick will join the organization three years into a roster rebuild that already has seen top prospects (Dylan Crews, James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore) reach the majors, with an eye on returning to contention as soon as 2025.

“We’ve got a good system in place right now. Getting the first pick is just going to add to that, and add value to our organization,” general manager Mike Rizzo told MLB Network shortly after learning the news at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. “We’re extremely excited. We’re lucky. And we don’t want to ever be in this position ever again.”

The Nationals’ No. 1 need this offseason is no secret. They need a power bat, ideally at first base but potentially at another position if there’s a good match.

This team ranked last in the National League with 135 home runs. It ranked second-to-last in home runs by first basemen with 14. The only returning candidates to play that position are Juan Yepez and Andres Chaparro, who combined for 10 homers over 381 plate appearances.

If they want to put forth a more productive lineup next season, it’s the obvious upgrade that must occur this winter.

To date, they haven’t upgraded at first base. Nor have they upgraded at any position so far during an awfully quiet offseason. The good news: Nobody has.

Not a single free agent first baseman has signed anywhere yet. And the list includes a good number of prominent names just waiting to be courted and locked up.

Good morning, Nationals fans. For those of you who weren’t up late Sunday night and missed the news … Juan Soto is going to be a New York Met. For a very long time. For more money than any professional North American athlete has ever received.

Hours before the Winter Meetings officially commenced in Dallas, Soto and the Mets agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract, per every prominent national baseball reporter on the planet. Yes, that’s 15 years and $765 million. That’s $51 million per year, on average, until he turns 41. It exceeds Shohei Ohtani’s previous record-setting $700 million deal with the Dodgers from last winter by a healthy margin.

And it brings Soto back to the National League East, making him the latest in a long line of former Nats greats to sign a massive new contract with a division rival.

Soto’s signing was going to sting for Nationals fans, no matter where he wound up. But it probably would have stung less had he chosen to stay with the Yankees, or instead bolted for another American League East franchise like the Red Sox or Blue Jays. The Mets, though? That’s a tough pill to swallow for many.

In the end, Steve Cohen proved once again he’s the major league owner more desperate to win a World Series than any other in the sport. The Mets haven’t hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy since 1986. Only seven franchises are mired in longer championship droughts. Desperation (and tens of billions of dollars made in hedge fund management) is a powerful tool this time of year. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it drives an owner to dole out more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to one player in a sport where one player traditionally isn’t the difference between winning and losing.

The Nationals recently announced plans for their 20th anniversary celebration in 2025, with a number of special events and giveaways promised, not to mention a ranking of the 20 greatest moments in club history.

We here were already planning our own 20th anniversary celebration, and why wait until 2025 to get started with that? The Nats already have completed 20 full seasons in D.C., so this is as good a time as any to get the ball rolling with a weekly series that will run every Sunday through the rest of December: The 20 Greatest Players in Nationals History.

What constitutes “greatness?” For these purposes, we’re considering a combination of quantity and quality, plus impact on and off the field. Some of these guys played many years here and had lots of time to make names for themselves. Some of them weren’t here very long but still made a difference with specific acts of greatness.

We only considered a player’s contributions for the Nationals at the major league level. It doesn’t matter what they did before or after they were in Washington. No one singular stat was deemed more important than any other. Postseason performance wasn’t required, but it certainly elevated some players’ cases for inclusion on this list. This is, to be clear, a subjective exercise. There’s no right answer. And that means there will surely be some healthy debate about the choices, which is how these things are supposed to be.

We’ll unveil five names each week, culminating with the top five on Dec. 29. And with that, we begin today with No. 16-20 …

PROSPECT REVIEW: CAYDEN WALLACE

Age on opening day 2025: 22

How acquired: Traded with Competitive Balance A pick (Caleb Lomavita) from Royals for Hunter Harvey in July 2024; originally drafted in second round by Royals in 2022 from Arkansas

Ranking: No. 11 per MLB Pipeline, No. 10 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

It's been a slow offseason to date, to say the least. The World Series ended more than a month ago, and the Nationals have yet to acquire a major league player, whether via free agency or trade.

The good news: There are still more than two months to go before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, Fla. And there are tons of available unsigned players looking for jobs, including most of the top free agents on the market. So there's plenty of time for the Nats to get to work. And with the Winter Meetings set to begin Monday in Dallas, you'd like to think we're about to start seeing some action at last.

In the meantime, though, we'll take this opportunity to hold another Q&A with your trusty beat writer. If you've got something you'd like to ask, please do so in the comments section below. Then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...