Juan Soto will easily go down as the most important player in Washington Nationals history. Not only for his 4+ years in uniform which included a world series championship at age 20 but for the trade that has set up the rebuild.
August 2, 2022: Traded by the Washington Nationals with Josh Bell to the San Diego Padres for Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Luke Voit and James Wood.
CJ Abrams despite a late season issue for a late night casino visit, looks like a franchise shortstop. James Wood is about to explode into a potential superstar outfielder. Lefthanded starter Mackenzie Gore a former top prospect continues to improve.
Now twenty year old Jarlin Susana, a fourth member of the Soto trade is showing signs of being another top pitching prospect if he can get his control issues worked out.
The other big trade from that championship so far hasn’t been as successful but there’s still time:
July 30, 2021: Max Scherzer Traded by the Washington Nationals with Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Gerardo Carrillo, Donovan Casey, Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz.
The big names were to be Gray and Ruiz and the return has been middling at best. The catcher Ruiz (25) looks for a bounce back season after eighteen homers in 2023, his numbers tumbled. Gray was on the right track but underwent Tommy John and will miss most of if not all of 2025.
More young talented hitters
Joining Abrams in the infield is second baseman Luis Garcia. At 24 he’s already put in parts of five seasons and turned the corner in 2024. A 115 OPS+ with eighteen homers and twenty-two stolen bases. Joining Wood and speedy center fielder Jacob Young (24) in the outfield is Dylan Crews.
Crews was the second overall pick in the 2023 draft and was already a top ten prospect before the 2024 season. After just 608 minor league plate appearances he arrived in the majors late last season. He looks to get full time at bats this year to show off a power/speed combo.
Pitching needs not yet addressed
With the trade for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and the signing of free agent switch hitter Josh Bell, the Nationals leave only third base as a hitting position in need of an upgrade. Pitching is a different story.
The Nationals projected rotation of Gore, Jake Irvin, Trevor Williams, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz and free agent Michael Soroka is sub par. Despite a wave of decent top level free agent rotation options, the Nats stayed out of the fray.
They also allowed closer Kyle Finnegan to walk while also trading a decent bullpen piece in Robert Garcia to Texas to get Nathaniel Lowe. The bullpen also looks to be sub par.
While the young hitters will be a treat to watch, in a division that boasts perennial playoff bound teams like the Braves and Phillies plus the emerging Mets, that pitching staff is going to need much attention to pull the Nationals up to the cream.
