Rosenthal: Nationals remain among MLB's bottom feeders despite lengthy rebuild

When identifying baseballs perennial bottom feeders, the Colorado Rockies come immediately to mind, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins also in the conversation.

The Washington Nationals belong, too.

Since winning the 2019 World Series, the Nationals rank third in the majors in losses, one behind the Pirates, 14 behind the Rockies.

At 24-29 this season, theyre on pace to avoid their fifth-straight 90-loss campaign barely.

Advertisement Ownerships lack of investment is partly to blame.

The Nationals opened with a top-10 payroll seven out of eight seasons between 2014 and 21, but in the past three years have averaged in the bottom 10.

A perhaps even bigger problem is the teams failures in player development, as well as amateur and international scouting, going back more than a decade failures that president of baseball operations Mike Rizzos spectacular return for Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline can mask only so much.

Good teams both spend and develop.

The Nationals do neither.

So, while the Nats hold the No.

1 pick in this years draft, selecting in the same spot where they landed Stephen Strasburg in 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010, the end of their rebuild is not necessarily in sight.

Even if the Nationals raise hope of a turnaround by avoiding their seventh straight losing season, their timing might be off.

For left-hander MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams, two of the key players Rizzo acquired from the San Diego Padres for Soto and first baseman Josh Bell, free agency is an object closer than it might appear.

Gore, the major-league leader in strikeouts, is at the same level of service Soto was when the Nationals traded him two-plus years away from hitting the open market.

Abrams, tied for fifth among shortstops in bWAR, is three-plus years away.

Extensions? Not likely for Gore and two other potential building blocks outfielder James Wood, the most promising player acquired for Soto, and outfielder Dylan Crews, the second overall pick in 2023.

All are represented by agent Scott Boras, who generally prefers his clients to establish their values on the open market.

Abrams, represented by Roc Nation, held substantive discussions with the Nationals regarding an extension in the spring of 2024, according to the Washington Post .

But the interest of the Nats in keeping Abrams long term after demoting him for the final nine days of the 2024 regular season over what the team described as an internal matter is unclear.

Even if the Nationals are hellbent on retaining Abrams, their track record of extending core players is not good.

Strasburg twice was an exception, signing an extension, then re-signing as a free agent.

Harper and third baseman Anthony Rendon left as free agents (in Rendons case, it proved to be a blessing).

Soto and shortstop Trea Turner were traded Soto, after the Nationals offered him a 15-year, $440 million deal that fell short of his price in free agency by $325 million.

Advertisement Among current Nationals, the only player signed beyond next season is catcher Keibert Ruiz, whom Rizzo acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2021 deadline as part of the return for Turner and pitcher Max Scherzer.

That deal, along with the trade of Kyle Schwarber and others, marked the start of the Nationals rebuild.

Ruiz, in the third year of an eight-year, $50 million deal, was one of the worst catchers in the game in 2023-24.

He opened the current season on an offensive tear, but has since regressed.

According to Statcast, he continues to rate poorly as a blocker and framer, and is only average as a thrower.

The potential departures of Gore, Abrams and others would be less of a concern if the Nationals farm system regularly spit out potential replacements.

But since 2013, the Nationals have drafted and developed only three players with career bWARs above 5.0.

Those three Nick Pivetta, Erick Fedde, Jesus Luzardo made their marks with other teams.

A career bWAR of 5.0 is hardly a high bar.

In the 2024 season alone, Los Angeles Angels shortstop Zach Neto finished at 5.1, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho at 5.0, St.

Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn at 4.9.

Three current homegrown Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin (4.3), center fielder Jacob Young (3.6) and lefty Mitchell Parker (1.3) stand a chance of reaching 5.0 in their careers.

But none appear headed for stardom.

Internationally, the Nationals hit the jackpot in 2015 when they signed Soto out of the Dominican Republic for $1.5 million.

Since then, their best international signing was Luis Garcia Jr., who cost them $1.3 million in 2016.

None of their three most expensive international additions outfielder Cristhian Vaquero ($4.925 million in 2022), shortstop Armando Cruz ($3.9 million in 2021) and infielder/outfielder Yasel Antuna ($3.9 million in 2016) cracked Keith Laws most recent top 20 Nationals prospects .

Antuna has been out of baseball since 2023.

Advertisement Rizzo, the games second-longest tenured head of baseball operations behind the New York Yankees Brian Cashman, took action at the end of 2023, presiding over changes that seemingly were made with the intent of improving the teams scouting and player development.

Eddie Longosz, a longtime scouting executive with the club, replaced De Jon Watson as farm director.

Kris Kline, the director of amateur scouting for 14 years, moved into a special assistants role, replaced by Danny Haas from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Johnny DiPuglia, who enjoyed a similarly long tenure as the teams head of international scouting, resigned without explanation.

Rizzo, who did not respond to requests for comment, replaced DiPuglia with Fausto Severino, and after one year replaced Severino with Victor Rodriguez.

Not all is lost.

Law at the start of the season ranked the Nationals farm system 17th out of 30 , praising their 2024 draft and saying their talent was on the upswing.

The Nationals recently promoted a fourth player from the Soto-Bell trade, outfielder Robert Hassell III.

A fifth, hard-throwing right-hander Jarlin Susana, is currently on the injured list at Double A with a Grade 1 (mild) sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament.

Among the other teams other prospects, third baseman Brady House, the 11th pick in 2021, is performing well at Triple A, while righty Travis Sykora, the 71st pick in 23, is dominating High A.

Yet, even if the Nationals hit on all of those players, Wood is perhaps their only young hitter capable of reaching Harper/Soto/Turner-type stardom.

And its not as if the ownership group headed by Mark Lerner shows any inclination to spend the way it did for much of the 2010s.

Which raises the question of how the Nationals will handle the No.

1 pick.

Will they go for the highest upside and draft a high-school shortstop like Jackson Hollidays younger brother, Ethan? Or will they go for a college pitcher who might not be worthy of the first overall selection but could get to the majors quicker? Advertisement Rizzo, who signed a contract extension of unspecified length in September 2023, does not appear to be under pressure.

The Lerner group took control of the team in May 2006.

Rizzo has run baseball operations since March 2009.

Davey Martinez became the manager in October 2017.

If the Nationals give off an insular vibe, it might be because ownership only knows Rizzos way.

In July 2022, Rizzo told the Sports Junkies on WFJK 106.7, This is a reboot year.

We dont call it a rebuild because a rebuild is a five- or six-year process.

I think this is a shorter reboot.

Weve shown in the past we know how to do these things.

Alas, the promise of a shorter reboot is gone.

And time no longer is on the Nationals side.

(Top photo of Josh Bell: Greg Fiume / Getty Images).

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