Josh Bell returned to the Nats as a cheap DH option for 2025 to bridge the gap between competitiveness and not. A well-liked vet who had a couple of quietly solid years with the Nats in 2021 and 2022 Bell had bounced around unable to get back to levels you want a guy focused on hitting to be at. The reunion looked very dicey as Bell started extremely slow and followed up a good May with a terrible June. But Josh's second half was better and he ended the season very hot putting up a .292 average with 6 homers in the last month.
All in all it wasn't a failure for the Nats at the position, but in the plan that he was a bridge player as the Nats enter 2026 more unsure than entering 2025. Bell himself is off to play in Minnesota leaving the Nats looking for a replacement. Lile and Wood both spent time at DH as the Nats rotated in OFs to get ABs.
Presumed Plan :
???? Sign someone I guess?
Reasoning behind Presumed Plan :
The Nats would prefer to see if Wood and/or Lile can hang in the outfield. More value lies there. So while either of them could end up there by September designating them a DH to start the year is unlikely. The team has no obvious options staring them in the face so it's hard to come up with the presumed plan. which could range from letting kids get hacks to doing a rotating OF situation where the DH is a rest spot to signing just a guy to fill the role. Since the new Nats management has to do SOMETHING one assumes, grabbing a veteran bat late feels like the most reasonable optionMy Take :
Internally, there are lots of bad options from the "Better to keep in AAA and see if they are something first" Yohandy Morales and Harry Ford to the "but he can't really hit" use of any of the kids that might be on the bench this year like Robert Hassell and Jacob Young. It's hard for me to believe the team would move in this direction just to save a few bucks. If they do, god save the fan.
4 comments:
Nats have only spent 5mm on a single free agent so far, and they still need a 1B; hard to see any money left over for a DH.
A team with so many terrible defenders with average-ish or better bats doesn't need to sign a DH. Give Wood and Lile and Abrams and Garcia 30 to 50 games apiece and you've basically staffed the position better than it's ever been. It also gives each of those players enough time in the field to show improvement, if they're going to improve, and gives Young and Nunez plenty of playing time for them to show improvement with the bat, if they are going to.
It might be issue that all those guys are left handed. Maybe you use a catcher (Ruiz had a 104 wRC+ last year vs lefties and Ford is right handed) against the toughest lefty starters.
Of course, this assumes that they actually sign a first baseman (who's left?) instead of converting Lile or Wood or Garcia. Or I guess they can declare Morales or someone "ready" but I agree that would be a terrible signal to fans.
I do need to point out, though, that the offseason has pretty much sent that exact signal so far - I think we are dead last in the league in terms of total new money guaranteed.
Agreed. The rotating OF idea seems the best alternative, unless the Nats come up with a terrific deal in trade or FA market. Then the Nats can keep one of their other OFs on the major league roster.
agreed, rotating DH makes sense given this year is shaping up to be a "see what we've got" year from the front office. why bother signing a vet to a 1 year deal when you want as many ABs as you can for the young guys?
as for 1B, i'd love to see them sign someone like Hoskins or Andujar, but I'm betting it'll end up being someone like Dom Smith
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