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2024 Spring Training Thoughts

Thoughts and prayers for the calf that was bled out on a rock yesterday
Today, pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach. Next Tuesday, it’s the position players. In ten days, ST games begin.

Like Valentine’s Day itself, there’s quite a gap between the hopes and the reality (except for the young and/or newly coupled, natch). But the offseason is over and now we’re in the preseason.

Unlike years past, the list of non-roster invites was issued last month and it’s less than a dozen players as of virtual press. That’s a far cry from the 27 at this time last year.

One would think that a 71-win team might have a few more players than that trying to hook on. Well, it turns out there’s a reason for that.

This is the first year that MLB is limiting organizations to 175 players signed in the offseason, 165 during the season. Even MASN Commenter can do that math: roughly 33 players per level with roughly 30 players rostered. As J.J. Cooper put it in the hyperlinked story, “making the offseason roster may actually be tougher than surviving spring training cutdowns.”

Back to topic: With the signing of Jesse Winker, which will bring the NRI list to a whopping 12 once it’s posted, the odds of Dylan Crews making the Opening Day roster just got a little longer. Same for Jackson Rutledge, if (when) Washington signs a veteran starter.

The best bet (wait; does MLB tacitly sanction gambling?) is probably for Drew Millas to beat out Riley Adams to become the backup catcher. As for everyone else, they’ll just have to wait for someone to get hurt, released, or for the Super-Two cutoff date to pass.

The goal for spring training is the same as it ever was: Just enough to get back in the groove before it becomes gratuitous (and as much as time allows; I don’t have to go into D.C. as much as when the new gig started but it’ll still be enough to affect coverage from time to time). That’s usually around mid-March.

But, thanks to the 150-game AAA schedule, we’ll be in regular-season mode starting in late March, with Rochester opening the season in Syracuse. The rest of the full-season teams start on April 5 and the FCL begins on May 4 (here’s why).

19 Commments

  1. Didn’t realize that about the new roster rules. That actually explains a lot of my confusion why the Nats have been so quiet, particularly with the bullpen. Our bullpen was dreadful last year. We finished with a combined 0.6 WAR across 599 IP, which was the 5th worst in baseball. Needless to say, there’s ample room for improvement with this bunch, so to only sign Dylan Floro (an admittedly good signing!) has made no sense. Still, even with these player caps, we still have roster spots available for the taking in Rochester. I count 17 pitchers on their pitching staff at the moment (a few of our minor league R5 picks won’t play in AAA), but a few of these guys are injured (like Cronin).

    It also makes the signing of Nick Senzel all the more confusing. If roster spots are such a valuable commodity, why we gave one to a guy with a career WAR of -1.8, and negative values in each of the past four seasons still mystifies me. Meanwhile, there’s a handful of pretty good 3B still looking for jobs, like Matt Chapman, Gio Urshela and Brian Anderson. I’m sure Chapman was looking for a longer term deal, but if the Nats are one of the few teams able to offer him a starting role, that could be a decisive factor for a one-year prove-it deal, until better starting gigs open up in 2025 (like we did with Candelario last year and Schwarber in 2021).

    1. I’m more befuddled by moving up the FCL a month, which basically means 2024 draft picks will not play professionally (for their MLB teams, natch) unless they sign immediately and are good enough to play in Low-A (in theory at least; the exploits of the FredNats callups after the FCL season ended do not support that conclusion).

      1. Does Moises Gallardo start @ Fred while Jonathan Thomas takes his Herb Washington speed to “ the Grand Canyon”?

      2. I can only guess that the roster restrictions will require some releases before draftees can be signed. it’s truly despicable the the pennies required for ample player development are being squeezed from the billions being brought in.

    2. I get the sneaky hunch that Diego Castillo might be a Red Wing sometime in 2024
      Lol

  2. Reading Jessica C piece from 2-12 , I get the impression she thinks Rochester will get extra lefty swinging bats in Alu ( and now Winkler ) on top of Lewin , Blakenhorn and Baker .
    Truly a couple last minute signings to tweak the Rochester taxi squad depth .
    Maybe there is a pitcher out there floating around who has ties to Danny Haas and Brad C prior

        1. Zach Davies
          Spencer Watkins
          Luke Ferrill
          Should fill a few innings empty on the March exhibition game chart .

  3. You mean the Nats aren’t going to sign Snell, Montgomery, Bellinger, and Chapman and become instant contenders? Sigh. What a depressing offseason. But it’s been that way for a lot of teams.

    Since the Nats didn’t sign a much-needed starting pitcher (or two), I sure hope they give Rutledge a legit shot to beat out Trevor Williams. It’s time to find out what they have in Rutledge. He’ll turn 25 as the season is beginning. In other pitching news, it will be interesting to see if Cavalli is throwing at all in the spring, and what they’ll do with Adon, who is out of options. I sure hope they don’t have Cavalli (or any other arm they actually value) pitching in Upstate New York in April.

    Wood and House in spring games: are they taking walks? Is House able to play every day? Are Wood, House, and Crews comfortable against major-league pitching? It’s not out of the realm of possibility for one of those guys to have a big spring and force his way onto the MLB roster. I’m not counting on that, though, nor is it probably the best case for them developmentally.

    2. John, April isn’t any better in Syracuse and Rochester. It’s definitely not baseball weather.

  6. Keith Law just posted the Nats Top 20 yesterday. For those of you who don’t subscribe I asked him as a resident of Wilmington what was the deal with that stadium. Here is his response….

    Great writeup Keith! As a keen follower of the Nats farm, can you help explain what the story is with the Wilmington stadium.
    It seems to hamper the growth of hitters and seems to really get in to heads of some of them. Thanks.

    @Mark L. It’s just a hard place to hit for power, because (I think) it’s right on the riverfront so it’s always a little more humid down there. It’s a noticeable difference from my house five miles away to the ballpark, at least. But I also think it becomes an excuse – if you can’t homer, fine, hit more doubles. Just hit the ball hard and see what happens!

      1. More musical chairs in the infielders development as they work up the ladder ?
        Infante and Cruz playing 2 b
        J Mota still playing SS
        Brown and Glasser for now to play someSS where needed @ each affiliate stop .
        Lawson carrying several gloves in his bag
        Any thoughts , Fred MD?

  7. I would like to see Mota and Cruz covering the left side of the IF in Fburg. both get to work with the new hitting coach. put Cooper and Ochoa Leyva on the other side and you’ve got some real youth going for you.

    I expect to see Brown in A+.

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