{"id":443778,"date":"2026-02-02T00:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T00:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/443778\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T00:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T00:52:09","slug":"nationals-extreme-usage-of-waiver-wire-isnt-by-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/443778\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationals&#8217; Extreme Usage of Waiver Wire Isn&#8217;t by Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">Fans following along closely have probably noticed the Washington Nationals have been busy when it comes to their waiver wire usage at this stage of the offseason.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The roller coaster that comes with cycling through waiver claims and subsequent DFA&#8217;s can be tedious to monitor. That especially becomes true when trying to figure out who exactly is on the 40-man roster at any given moment. However, there is a method to the madness when it comes to what the Nationals are doing.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">Earlier in the winter, nobody had more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/nationals\/onsi\/news\/staggering-number-nationals-minor-league-players-become-free-agents\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">minor league players elect to become free agents<\/a> than Washington. That negatively affected their depth and made it imperative for Paul Toboni and his front office to stockpile bodies throughout the organization.<\/p>\n<p>Nationals Creating Depth by Using Waiver Wire<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgdmg7mn7fbpz0vc6k.jpg\" alt=\"Washington Nationals logo\" title=\"Washington Nationals logo\" width=\"1780\" height=\"1001\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6v\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Washington Nationals logo | Scott Taetsch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">One way the Nationals can create depth &#8212; at least at the Triple-A level &#8212; is by trying to sneak players who were designated for assignment through waivers if they go unclaimed. That allows them to outright players directly to Rochester if they aren&#8217;t able to opt for free agency.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">A recent example of this is former top 30 prospect Andry Lara. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/nationals\/onsi\/news\/nationals-waiver-claim-mickey-gasper-dfa-andry-lara-latest-roster-shake-up\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">While his DFA was a bit head-scratching<\/a> at the time based on his past pedigree, no other team was interested enough in the right-hander to place a waiver claim. So he returned to Washington&#8217;s organization and will pitch for them again.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">For a team like the Nationals, having as much ready-made big league talent waiting in the minors is something that will be needed as this new regime assess what they have on their MLB roster for the whole year.<\/p>\n<p>Nationals Building Deeper 40-Man Roster With Waiver Claims<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01kgdn78vr1ss6tr42fn.jpg\" alt=\"Red Washington Nationals logo\" title=\"Red Washington Nationals logo\" width=\"1406\" height=\"790\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7h\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Red Washington Nationals logo | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">Another thing that&#8217;s clear is Toboni values the entirety of the 40-man roster. That has resulted in a claimed player replacing another on the roster, only for that player to then be replaced by another claimed player down the road.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">That&#8217;s where the churn and burn of this process can be annoying for fans. It&#8217;s hard to get attached to whoever is added when they are designated for assignment days, or even a day, later. However, it&#8217;s important to remember that, if done right, this process can also improve the overall talent of the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">Ideally, that&#8217;s what Washington is doing. With a major need for pitching, they have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/nationals\/onsi\/news\/nationals-claim-veteran-left-hander-off-waivers-40-man-roster-shuffle-continues\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">added multiple arms via the waiver wire<\/a> who could potentially help them at some point during the 2026 season or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/nationals\/onsi\/news\/nationals-add-potential-major-league-reliever-through-waiver-claim\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">throughout the campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">Toboni and his front office have leaned into the waiver process heavily during their first offseason in charge. And with more moves coming, the hope is the overall depth will be improved and the 40-man roster will be in a better spot than it was last year.<\/p>\n<p>More Nationals News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans following along closely have probably noticed the Washington Nationals have been busy when it comes to their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-443778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}