Strasburg, Rendon among five Nats filing for arbitration, plus lineup discussion

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg, catcher Wilson Ramos, outfielder Ben Revere, and infielders Anthony Rendon and Danny Espinosa were among the 156 major leaguers filing for salary arbitration on Tuesday.

Of those five players, Strasburg and Ramos are approaching the final year of their contracts with the Nationals. Catcher Jose Lobaton and first baseman/left fielder Tyler Moore would have been eligible for arbitration, but both agreed to deals with the Nationals earlier this offseason.

Salary figures will be exchanged on Friday, with hearings taking place during the first three weeks of February. The Nationals can avoid arbitration proceedings by reaching a fair deal agreed upon by both parties.

Here are the arbitration salary figures for the five Nationals as projected by MLBTradeRumors.com:

Strasburg - $10.5 million
Ramos - $5.3 million
Espinosa - $2.7 million
Rendon - $2.5 million
Revere - $6.7 million

* General manager Mike Rizzo revamped the roster this winter. With shortstop Ian Desmond and center fielder Denard Span leaving in free agency, and infielder Yunel Escobar traded for bullpen help, Rizzo signed infielder Daniel Murphy and acquired Revere.

The Nationals racked up 1,344 strikeouts in 2015, second-most in the National League. Desmond accounted for 187 of those whiffs, the third-highest total in the majors. Outfielder Michael A. Taylor was fanned 158 times in 138 games during his rookie season, fifth-most in the National League. Desmond is gone and Taylor will likely have his at-bats limited with the addition of Revere.

Meanwhile, Murphy and Revere are two of the better contact hitters in the game. While neither player walks a ton, they don't swing and miss much, either. Murphy struck out just 38 times while batting .281/.322/.449 in 130 games last season before winning the National League Championship Series MVP in the playoffs.

Revere fanned 64 times en route to slashing .306/.342/.377 over 152 games with the Phillies and Blue Jays. The speedster becomes a dangerous leadoff hitter after swiping a combined 80 bases the past two seasons. Murphy only stole twice last year, but had 23 in 2013 and is considered a smart and fast baserunner.

So with Bryce Harper as the centerpiece, it's new manager Dusty Baker's job to set the table around the reigning NL MVP.

"We gave our manager, Dusty Baker, a lot of different options, a lot of different ways to go," Rizzo said. "We feel good at where we're at balance-wise in the lineup. Athleticism, speed - those are all things that we tried to adhere to this winter and to improve ourselves in. And I think when you look at the athleticism we've added, the accomplished major league hitters that we've put on the roster, the guys that don't strike out much and move the ball around and can play really opportunistic offense. I think that was what we were going into the offseason trying to do and I think we've accomplished a lot of our goals."

So with the additions of Murphy and Revere, which lineup best suits the Nationals' offensive attack?