Offseason Position Discussion : 1B

2026 was the year of "Let's Try with Nasim Nunez and Brady House". Why does that matter?  Well with CJ Abrams set at SS that meant House was at 3B and Nunez needed to be at 2B. And THAT meant Luis Garcia needed to be at 1B.  Potentially the freedom to not worry about the defense of 2B let Garcia think about hitting more and he had his best year at the plate, blasting past his career high in homers even before he was traded. 

But yes he was traded leaving a hole at first filled with whoever was around and that was mainly Andres Chaparro, though youngsters Yohandy Morales and Abimelec Ortiz both got time at first as well. Ortiz, a fast riser, struggled.  Morales, a long time "hmm this guy looks better than we thought" prospect, looked good. Chaparro leading the way looked honestly great.  

Presumed Plan : 

Andres Chaparro starts at first. If he struggles Morales picks up the spot.  Ortiz back to AAA to maybe earn a spot depending on who falters at 1B and DH. 

Reasoning behind Presumed Plan : 

Chaparro is on the clock and if the Nats don't see him in their future then they probably see him as potential trade bait and that needs to be showcased if it's going to get the best return. Anyway you look at that you see a guy playing.  That doesn't mean he has to play 1st but 3B will likely be House again, who put up slightly above average numbers after a dismal start, and you tend to cycle at DH more than first.   

My Take :  

It's tempting to hand the spot to Yohandy who has proven himself at every minor league level and is younger, thus more likely to be the future, but denying the half-season Chaparro when he has also consistently been better than AAA would be a mistake.  One mistake teams make is thinking "we have too much good" when usually that is only true for half-seasons where the right number of people are healthy and a couple guys are having good runs.  So focus on the proven good here. 

Also, probably more importantly, Chappy's good was over 228 PA compared to 47 for Morales.  Morales also was putting up HR/FB rate where every third fly ball was a homer.  If he keeps that up he's the greatest home run hitter in history, so I'm going to say chances are he won't. 

As for Ortiz - prove it.