With easy tender decisions, Nats will be watching other clubs

The Nationals typically go into baseball's non-tender deadline day with some decisions to make.

One year ago, they chose not to offer a contract to Javy Guerra (who later re-signed on a minor league deal), were prepared to do the same with Koda Glover before the oft-injured reliever instead announced his retirement, and after some internal discussion chose to retain Roenis Elías, Hunter Strickland and Michael A. Taylor. (None of those three players, it should be noted, remain in the organization one year later.)

Alas, if you're anticipating big news today, you probably aren't going to get it. There are far fewer players this year who need to be tendered a contract before tonight's deadline, and none poses any dilemma.

The Nationals entered the offseason with a number of candidates to be non-tendered (players who are eligible for arbitration but don't merit the guaranteed salaries that come with that designation) and wound up cutting ties with them early in the process. Elías, Taylor, Guerra and Sam Freeman all were released weeks ago, leaving only three arbitration-eligible players on the 40-man roster heading into this week: Juan Soto, Trea Turner and Joe Ross.

Obviously, the Nats have no intention of cutting any of those guys. And on Tuesday they came to terms with Ross on a $1.5 million salary for 2021, avoiding the arbitration process altogether.

So that leaves only Soto and Turner. It's possible the club could finalize one or both players' salaries before tonight's deadline, but that seems unlikely given their immense production this season and expected big raises coming their way.

(Though some roster tracking sites label Wander Suero as arbitration-eligible, a club source confirmed the reliever has not accrued enough service time to qualify as a Super Two player this winter.)

What will probably happen: The Nationals will formally tender contracts to both Soto and Turner today, then spent the next six weeks trying to come to terms on 2021 salaries (or perhaps, in a dream scenario, even a long-term extension). If they can't agree to terms by Jan. 15, the two sides will be required to file dueling arbitration figures and set a date for hearings in early February. (As always, they can continue to negotiate throughout the entire process and strike a deal without ever reaching a hearing.)

In other words, there shouldn't be much news in this department around here today. Which doesn't necessarily mean there won't be important developments that relate to the Nationals today.

If anything, the Nats are likely to be more interested in the decisions other clubs make today. With teams likely looking for ways to cut costs following this pandemic year, way more non-tenders are expected than in a typical year.

The free agent market, which has barely heated up so far, is probably going to be flooded with a sizeable number of new players by the end of the day. And some of them might be prominent names that are going to be appealing to other clubs, including the Nationals.

So while you may not have much reason to bite your fingernails and refresh your Twitter feed regarding Nationals players today, you might just want to keep an eye on what the rest of baseball is doing. Because by the end of the day, there might just be some new potential free agent targets for the Nats to pursue.