Offseason Position Discussion : 2B

After a rebound in 2024 to good stats at the plate and in the field, the Nats 2nd base situation was well set.  Luis Garcia can play there so Luis Garcia will play there. Ideally he would have stepped up again in 2025 but the opposite happened and a slight regression knocked him back to basically average at the plate and 2024 turned out to be the unsurprisingly fluke with the glove. But at least it was something that passed the season without worry. That's something right? 

Presumed Plan : 

Luis Garcia plays second base. Some FA pick-up and/or Nunez back him up, similar to 2025. 

Reasoning behind Presumed Plan : 

Arguably every IF position but SS including catcher and both starting and relief pitching are bigger issues than what's going on at second base. There is no reason for the Nats to make a change for likely minimal gain.

What's going on at second is you have a guy who can hit sometimes and doesn't field very well and overall seems only mildly motivated to reach his potential. It's a recipe for a below average 2B that will remain below average but one that isn't forcing you to do anything. 

If Garcia was better you might try to deal him, but no one is going to give you much for a below average 2B. If Garcia was more expensive you might try to do something, but he's just hitting arbitration for the first time this year. 

My Take :   

There are some interesting ideas on what to do with Luis with Nunez having his hot finish and Abrams' inability to field SS holding down an otherwise good player. Moving Luis to first and Abrams to second so Nunez (an actual good fielder) might make sense.  A .252 / .289 / .412  16 homer line for a first baseman would probably put him at about the same 20-25 range he sits now.  The big difference is while at 2nd best he's about 3 wins worse than the 3rd or 4th best 2B despite being 15+ ranks below them, at 1B he'd likely be 4-5 wins worse.  Not THAT much worse but you'd probably HAVE to get that offensive improvement you'd hope to see. And we assume shifting two guys to easier positions would hide their glove issues but they are still playing new positions.  It's a gamble.  Might be worth it if the Nats commit to fixing the pitching in the off-season, but if not it's more shifting deck chairs.  

I think the general idea with Luis is you try to get his head focused on hitting and fielding better with the new regime, who he might gel with, and then you evaluate if you want to keep him around.  At only 26 next year there's still a chance he becomes a better player and I'm interested to see what another group can do with him, having seen Robles, a similar question mark, blossom in his limited time away from Rizzo and Davey. Plus a better 2B would likely get you more back than a 1B with the same stats. 

 Let Garcia keep being not a big problem and maybe he surprises.