Yesterday, the Nats announced a series of options and cuts to trim down the major-league camp roster.
OPTIONED TO AAA
● OF Yasel Antuna
● RHP Gabe Klobosits
● LHP Evan Lee
● LHP Seth Romero
REASSIGNED TO MINOR-LEAGUE CAMP
● RHP Alberto Baldonado
● SS Jackson Cluff
● C Israel Pineda
● RHP Jackson Rutledge
● RHP Jefry Rodriguez
● IF Andrew Young
With the new limit on options—five total per year—that’s four left for this quartet (hey, that rhymes!). Probably not a factor for Antuna, but for the pitchers, the CW thus far is that front offices will spread the “love” around instead of having the same couple of guys go back and forth (e.g., Xavier “Carry On” Cedeño).
As longtime Nats beat writer Mark Zuckerman noted yesterday, it would be unwise to read anything into who hasn’t been cut yet. While he was referring to Cade Cavalli, it’s worth noting that yesterday MLB and MLBPA will agree to some additional new rules for 2022, including an early-season expansion to 28 players (from 26) to alleviate workload/injury concerns from the abbreviated spring training.
Getting back to the options, you probably can read something into those three pitchers not being among the candidates to be the one or two extra pitchers the Nats will carry during the month of April. During the 26-man period, the limit on pitchers will be 13.
Spring Training resumes this afternoon with the Nats visiting the Marlins at the most-used stadium in the country.