Mike Rizzo: "I think we've balanced our lineup"

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo finalized salaries for all of his arbitration-eligible players heading into the 2016 season. So the roster is set? Not so fast. Last year's Nationals headed to Viera, Fla., seemingly with a full roster. Yet, because of widespread injuries, non-roster invitees Clint Robinson and Dan Uggla made the team along with late spring training additions Matt den Dekker and Reed Johnson.

Once again, Rizzo appears to have established his 25-man roster before the players arrive at Space Coast Stadium. This time, though, the bullpen will feature far more veterans after the additions of right-handers Shawn Kelley, Yusmeiro Petit, Trevor Gott and lefty Oliver Perez.

But Rizzo has also tweaked the style of the Nationals' offensive attack with just a few moves. The Nationals struck out 1,344 times in 2015, second-highest in the National League. Exit Ian Desmond, who whiffed the second-most in the NL last season with 187, and enter free agent signing Daniel Murphy, who struck out just 38 times in 538 plate appearances while hitting .281.

The same applies to Rizzo's acquisition of speedster Ben Revere last week. Pitchers fanned the 27-year-old outfielder 64 times in 634 plate appearances last season. He batted .306, his third straight year above .300.

"I like the roster," Rizzo said recently. "I think we've achieved a lot of our goals going into it. I think we've balanced our lineup. We've acquired high skill sets and I think the roster as constructed today is something that we really like.

"I think we will put the bat on the ball more often this year. I think the team will be constructed a little bit differently. I think we'll score our runs in possibly a little different mode."

The Nationals were limited in the left-handed bat department last season. With the addition of Murphy and Revere, the Nationals' everyday lineup should feature four with the ability to swing from the left side, along with Bryce Harper and switch-hitter Danny Espinosa.

"The balance is always something that we attempt to do, but it's more about really who can hit," Rizzo said. "There's lefties that can hit lefties. There's righties that can hit righties. You look at the splits of our club, they have good splits. We've got lefties who can hit both lefties and righties, and righties who can hit both lefties and righties. We like the balance of the lineup. More importantly, we like the length of the lineup and the talent level of the lineup. We feel like we're in a good position. We like the lineup the way it is. We like the roster construction. We're really looking forward to moving on to spring training."

Since new manager Dusty Baker was hired, he repeatedly mentioned a desire for more speed and left-handed hitting. Rizzo has delivered with by signing Murphy and trading for Revere.

"We've got ourselves an array of different players that are versatile," Rizzo said. "We've given Dusty a lot of ammunition in a lot of different ways to win a ballgame. We like the way the roster is constructed right now. We feel comfortable with the roster in general and with the bullpen. If we broke camp and started the season today, we'd be comfortable with where we're at. But of course, we never rest and we're always trying to improve the baseball team."