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Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats <\/p>\n
We are a little over a day from turning the calendar to 2026. In the baseball offseason, time feels short when the month is January. That point marks about six weeks to the opening of Spring Training camps.<\/p>\n
There will always be that fan who thinks winning is easy. Things were very different 11 years ago when the Washington Nationals won the NL East in 2014 and seemed to just need some tweaks to get them to the next step. The 2014 Nats roster was stacked. They had three consecutive winnings seasons, and two NL East titles in that span. But nothing is as easy as it looks on paper.<\/p>\n
In early December 2014, the Nats\u00a0traded LHP\u00a0Ross Detwiler<\/a>\u00a0to the Texas Rangers for infielder Christopher Bostick<\/a> and RHP Abel De Los Santos<\/a>. A few days later, the Nats made a franchise changing deal when they traded outfielder\u00a0Steven Souza Jr.<\/a>\u00a0and LHP Travis Ott for RHP Joe Ross<\/a> and a PTBNL<\/a> who was later named as Trea Turner<\/a>. That trade would change the Nats\u2019 future. Then the Nats traded RHP\u00a0Tyler Clippard<\/a> for third baseman Yunel Escobar<\/a> to move Ryan Zimmerman<\/a> to first base. The Nats made a whole bunch of minor league signings including Dan Uggla<\/a> and Heath Bell<\/a>, but did not make one MLB free agent signing during the entire offseason until well into January 2015.<\/p>\n Out of nowhere, on Jan. 21, 2015, Ted Lerner<\/a>, in a clandestine move, signed RHP Max Scherzer<\/a> to a record-breaking contract for a pitcher at $210 million. Nobody saw it coming. It was kind of Lerner\u2019s gift to the fanbase.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, Scott Boras goes [direct] to ownership for the same reason that Willie Sutton robbed banks: because that\u2019s where the money is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Peter Schmuck once wrote.<\/p>\n The signing caught almost everyone off-guard as the Nats already had Stephen Strasburg<\/a>, Jordan Zimmerman<\/a>, Gio Gonzalez<\/a>, Tanner Roark<\/a>, and Doug Fister<\/a> as their five starters. It was clear that somebody wouldn\u2019t stay in the rotation after Scherzer was acquired \u2014 and it ended up that Roark was moved to the bullpen.<\/p>\n Why hire into a strength were the questions being asked at the time. Why would the Nats blow their budget and go over the CBT cap to sign another starter? Foresight was the answer. Fister and Zimmermann were both pending free agents after the 2015 season. And Lerner believed in Scherzer to be the difference maker. He was right. <\/p>\n \u201cTed Lerner went out and signed\u00a0Max Scherzer<\/a> and gave him a record contract, record years, and he was annihilated for it! They told him that was a mistake. That was an overpay!\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Scherzer\u2019s agent, Scott Boras, said afterwards<\/p>\n Notice who Boras gave the credit to, the owner, not the GM, in this case. As the story went, Boras and Lerner negotiated the deal together at Lerner\u2019s home in Palm Springs, California. The Nats owner wasn\u2019t getting any younger, as he was turning 90 that year, and maybe there was more urgency. Hindsight proved that the deal was one of the best free agent deals in years.<\/p>\n The team believed in starting pitching, and pitching wins you championships to the point that Bryce Harper<\/a> exclaimed, \u201cWhere\u2019s my ring?\u201d after Scherzer was signed. Well, things don\u2019t always happen per the plan. Harper and Scherzer did their parts winning the two most prestigious awards in baseball for their tremendous 2015 seasons. Some of the others didn\u2019t do their parts.<\/p>\n That entire offseason, the Nats only signed two free agents to MLB deals, Scherzer and in February, Casey Janssen<\/a> was signed to a deal to help the bullpen. <\/p>\n Sometimes when your roster looks its best, it disappoints. And the opposite can be true that when your roster doesn\u2019t appear to be good, it over-achieves. Right now, the Nats roster does not look good, if we can be honest. FanGraphs<\/a>\u00a0has the Nats at 75 wins as of today in their projections. With only one MLB free agent signing so far with Foster Griffin<\/a> (+2.0 WAR), and add the trade for Harry Ford<\/a> contributing +0.8 to this\u00a02026 season<\/a>\u00a0as the team\u2019s best catcher, the rest of the improvement has to come internally unless there are more moves to come. <\/p>\n President of Baseball Operations,\u00a0Paul Toboni<\/a>,\u00a0has a plan. He just isn\u2019t showing his cards like a good poker player. The roster seems to be close to finished. There will be some Spring Training competitions, especially at catcher. Did you know that if Keibert Ruiz<\/a> and Ford<\/a> are the only two catchers on the Opening Day roster, that as of today, Ruiz would be the oldest position player on the roster at 27 years of age? <\/p>\n