Good Morning, Washington Nationals Fans,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, March 25.

Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here. Let’s talk about what looks to be our Opening Day Roster.

Leading this Morning’s Briefing: Who is making the team for Opening Day?

The Nationals made most of their final roster cuts, bringing the healthy total of players in the Spring Training camp down to 27 players. Matt Barnes, Eddie Rosario, and Jesse Winker were all informed they made the team. The only two remaining players who are non-roster invitees are Trey Lipscomb and Derek Law.

Both are favorites to make the team, but with roster crunches and many other veterans not making their teams, the Nationals have an opportunity to scoop up another player. If no one interests the Nats, then both will make the team. This is bad news for Nasim Nuñez, who did not hit enough in camp to justify carrying him on the 26-man roster for the entire season. He will likely be offered back to the Miami Marlins on Opening Day.

And while Lipscomb is certainly the best available option right now, the move leaves a poor taste in my mouth in how this offseason unfolded.

In the rotation, the Nationals decided to run it back with the rotation of Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Patrick Corbin, and Trevor Williams. That rotation was bottom three in almost any pitching statistic you can think of.  While Jackson Rutledge was not lights out in his four-game cup of coffee last season, does he not merit a spot over Williams, who was below replacement level according to both BaseballReference and FanGraphs calculation of WAR? You can at least let Rutledge learn at the major league level and get used to starting every fifth day.

By now you have all heard Mike Rizzo’s quote at the Winter Meetings when he said they would not block prospects. And while Jesse Winker and Eddie Rosario are both big improvements to the roster offensively, I cannot help but wonder why James Wood did not make the team out of camp. In his 87-game season at Double-A, Wood raked, hitting .248/.334/.492. Strikeouts were an obvious concern but alleviated some doubts in spring training, where he struck out 22.8 percent of the time. That was almost an 11-point drop from his 33.7 percent in Double-A last season. Now there were still signs of concern, including an inflated groundball rate, but Wood essentially did everything he could to earn a spot. He hit .364/.509/.705 this spring, and while that is entirely unsustainable, he still had one of the best camps in MLB.

Instead, the Nationals have gone with another prospect to break camp in Lipscomb. In his 80 games at Double-A, Lipscomb hit .284/.310/.438. Although Lipscomb was racking up hits more often, Wood outclassed him in getting on base and hitting for power. That continued into spring training, where Lipscomb hit .400/.455/.540. To say that Lipscomb is major league ready while Wood is not is baffling.

This is a problem of the Nationals’ creation. While Nick Senzel would be perfect as the platoon partner for Luis García Jr., the Nationals instead signed him to be their everyday third baseman. This leaves the Nationals with the worst projected output at third base by a significant margin, according to FanGraphs. And it’s not just at third base where the Nationals are projected to struggle. The team is projected to be bottom-three at every position but shortstop, right field, and in the bullpen.

We are entering year 2.5 of when the selloff began and won 71 games last season. Somehow, the team is getting worse and most of that comes down to poor roster construction. J.D. Davis should have been claimed to fill the hole at third. The team seems content on running it back with the worst defensive catchers in the league over Drew Millas. The nail in the coffin was Rutledge and Wood not making the team out of camp. Any of these moves by themselves is a head-scratcher, but together they indicate where this team views themselves and its timelime. The team will start to ramp up in 2025 but by then Lane Thomas, Kyle Finnegan, and Hunter Harvey will be under their last year of team control, and Gray, Gore, and Abrams will have all already entered arbitration.

The window for the current core is two, maybe three seasons. In order for the team to extend that window, they either need to extend the core or drastically improve the success rate of their drafted players. Frankly, it is hard to see either happen

Nats vs Baby Nats is tomorrow!

Are you ready to watch the major league roster lose to our top minor leaguers? Rutledge will get the start for the Baby Nats. The roster is similar to the Spring Breakout roster we saw a couple of weeks ago, and the lineup will heavily feature James Wood, Dylan Crews, Robert Hassell III, and Trey Lipscomb, among other prospects. You can see the full roster by clicking here.

Also, if you want to chat with us during the game, you can upgrade your subscription and get access to our game chat. You can read more here.

Our 40-man Roster Breakdown Continues

We will be breaking down every player on the 40-man roster until Opening Day. You can read the previous editions by clicking the button below.

Click here for the latest off-season headlines, rumors, trades, and more.

ICYMI: Latest articles on the Nats Report

Even though it is the offseason, we have been extremely busy producing great content on the Nats Report. Here are just a couple of the articles that we have published recently that you might have missed:

• Podcast: In the Clubhouse (Spring Training Notes)
• Spring Training Storylines to Watch
• Potential ballpark funding changes
• Can We Get Some Relief?
• Sleepers! Get Your Sleeper Prospects Here!

We are working on a lot of great Nationals-themed content all off-season so make sure that you are following us on all the major social media channels for the latest.

Featured Story of the Day

Orioles owner Peter Angelos died via The Athletic

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