For the Washington Nationals and the rest of Major League Baseball, winter is coming.
Starting in less than a week, general managers from around the league will gather in San Diego for the annual winter meetings. And no roster is safe from a blockbuster trade or a marquee free agent signing—not even a team like Washington that could sit on its hands all offseason and still contend for a title in 2015.
Even though the Nationals don't have a desperate need to fill any particular hole in their lineup, general manager Mike Rizzo still has a to-do list that will mostly focus on the future beyond this upcoming season.
The clock is ticking on all-star caliber starters Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister. Their contracts are set to expire in a year, and this winter is the time to ink either one or both of them to extensions—or use them as trade bait.
There's also the matter of second base, the most obvious position at which Washington could use an upgrade if the deal is right.
The Nationals could also find themselves kicking the tires on bullpen help. With Drew Storen stepping into the closer role, a free-agent reliever could serve as a setup man or a contingency plan (should Storen's postseason struggles carry over into this year).
At the start of the 2014 season, The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore reported that the team's payroll was "beyond tapped out," according to principal owner Mark Lerner. But last month, The Post's James Wagner reported that, despite having a the fourth-largest projected payroll in baseball, Rizzo won't hold back this winter.
"There’s nothing off the table," Rizzo said. "There [are] no restrictions. We’re going to make good, prudent baseball moves regardless of payroll."
What to do About the Pitchers
Washington's first, second a third priorities should be extending the contracts of both Zimmermann and Fister.
The Nationals have arguably the strongest rotation of starters in the bigs, and these two were vital to that success in 2014. Only three teams had multiple pitchers finish in the top 10 for ERA in the National League. Zimmermann and Fister put Washington on that list.
The last thing Washington needs is change on the starting-pitcher front, but everything has a price.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale recently reported that Washington is, in fact, open to hearing trade offers for the duo.
For Rizzo to deal either Zimmermann or Fister, the price would be decidedly steep. So if one of the two is to leave D.C., the incoming replacements (in theory) wouldn't be a downgrade. MASN's Pete Kerzel suggests Rizzo would demand "at least one major league-ready player and a couple of decent prospects" out of the deal.
According to two separate reports from Wagner, the Nationals haven't made any progress in talks with either Zimmermann or Fister this offseason. But for the former, at least, there's no rush to leave Washington any time soon.
"I like D.C.," Zimmermann said. "I like the ownership. I like the manager, the coaches. I like everything about D.C. It’s just a waiting game right now to see what happens."
The two pitchers should be high on Rizzo's list of priorities during the winter meetings—whether it's locking them down for the future or forcing another team to empty the cupboard in a trade. But do expect the winter-meeting news on the Nationals front to center around this duo.
Second-base Scenarios
The free-agent market this offseason is decidedly scarce compared to other years, so the winter meetings would be a perfect time for Washington to address its need at second base via a trade.
One place Rizzo could look is the north side of Chicago, where the Cubs have more middle infielders than they know what to do with.
Entering the offseason, they already had the likes of Addison Russell, Starlin Castro and Javier Baez on the payroll. Now Tommy La Stella joins the mix after the Atlanta Braves shipped him off the Chicago in a trade last month.
However, despite their surplus of potential second basemen, the Cubs could have a higher asking price than Washington is willing to pay. If the Nationals get to a point where trading Zimmermann is a forgone conclusion, this kind of deal becomes more of an option. But until then, it would be irresponsible for Washington to give him up to fill a position that current National Danny Espinosa could capably step into.
Wagner reported early in the offseason that, before settling on a trade with the Cleveland Indians for Asdrubal Cabrera at the deadline this summer, Washington also tested the market elsewhere.
After the Nationals inquired about Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets and Didi Gregorius of the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, the two can be viewed as potential trade targets during these winter meetings.
But if Rizzo is to gauge the value of any of these options at second base, it would be more out of doing his due diligence than a burning desire to bring any of them in.
Bolstering the Bullpen
As goes the rest of Washington's roster, the Nationals don't have a desperate need for help in the bullpen. But that is one area of the roster that Rizzo could conceivably look to tweak during the winter meetings.
Don't expect Washington to pursue any relievers in a trade, but there are a number of free agents who could draw interest from the Nats.
Washington's relievers combined to earn the fourth-best ERA in baseball last season, but that was thanks in part to former closer Rafael Soriano (who is now gone after the Nationals declined to pick up the option on his contract).
Drew Storen will serve as Washington's closer for the upcoming season, but USA Today's Gabe Lacques did list D.C. as a potential landing spot for David Robertson in a preview of free agent relief pitchers.
Robertson is considered by some to be the class of available bullpen help, so it hurts the Nationals' chances of signing the New York Yankee if he isn't promised the closer role.
Francisco Rodriguez, Casey Janssen and Sergio Romo are also conversations that Rizzo is likely to have during the winter meetings, but any signing would be used as a setup man for Storen.
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