Offseason Update: Nov. 14, 2023
Tonight is the deadline for Washington to add players to its 40-man MLB roster (and 38-man AAA roster) ahead the Rule 5 Draft in December. With the pool being primarily* the year that the Nats had but five draft picks (2020), three of whom have already been injured and/or had surgery, there’s not much drama or hand-wringing to be had.
* Remember, Washington drafting HS picks was not a thing until recently
Last year was most definitely an outlier. Look for the Nats to add its usual 2-3 guys who might be useful bullpen arms… or the Nats spent a lot of money on and don’t want to tacitly admit they screwed up Forrest Gump pause again.
I won’t disagree with Mr. Boss that that’s probably DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker in the case of the former and Andry Lara in the case of the latter. You can read the rest of his analysis here. The real drama will probably be who else they DFA to make room.
Some players still on the 40 man: Jeter Downs, Alex Call, Stephen Strasburg, Cory Abbott, Robert Garcia, Joe La Sorsa, Andres Machado, Roddery Munoz.
There’s still space to improve the roster without any real loss.
It’s quite a mess that they still haven’t gotten a settlement worked out with Stras. But without an agreement, they can’t just release him or would still owe him everything at the appointed times.
They’re going to have to clear 40-man space, and not just for Rule 5 protection. They’ve got to upgrade this roster.
I wonder what the monetary value is of a 40 man roster spot? And are the Nationals willing to absorb the financial hit of basically playing with a 39 man roster for each of the next four years?
Surely this can’t be the first time a team lost a well-paid player to a career ending injury with several years remaining on their contract. What have other clubs done in this situation?