Today 3/25/26, the Washington Nationals, a franchise in Major League Baseball purportedly worth more than $2 Billion dollars, rolled out the following opening day 26 man lineup.
- SP: Cavalli, Griffin, Mikolas, Littell, Irvin
- RP: Henry, Beeter, Poulin, Varland, Granillo, Waldichuk, CPerez, Lord,
- C: Ruiz, Millas
- INF: LGarcia, Abrams, House, Vivas, Nunez, Tena, Chapparo
- OF: Wood, Young, Lile, Weimer
By way of comparison, here’s 2025’s opening day 25-man roster.
- SP: Gore, Williams, Irvin, Soroka, Parker
- RP: Finnegan, Lopez, Sims, Ferrer, Poche, Salazar, Ribalta, Lord
- C: Ruiz, Adams,
- INF: Lowe, LGarcia, Abrams, DeJong, Tena, Rosario
- OF: Young, Wood, Crews, Call
- DH: Bell
So that’s 1 returning Starting Pitcher, 1 returning Reliever, 1 returning catcher, 3 returning infielders (against all odds since Tena should have been DFA’d the moment we acquired Vivas), and 2 returning outfielders. That’s just 8 of the 26 men who made it a year on the roster from this time last year, and probably half the roster that even the most experienced fan couldn’t pick out of a lineup.
Perhaps another way to look at it: acquisition method of this 26-man roster. Here’s a breakdown:
- Home grown players: 8: Garcia, House, Young, Lile, Henry, Cavalli, Irvin, Lord.
- Trade acquisitions: 9: Ruiz, Chapparo, Abrams, Wood, Beeter, Granillo, Millas, Tena, Vivas
- MLB FAs: 3: Griffin, Mikolas, Littell
- MLFAs: 1: Perez
- Waiver claims: 4: Weimer, Poulin, Varland, Waldichuk
- Rule5: 1 Nunez
On the one hand, yes it’s great that 17 of the 26 are either home grown or trade acquisitions, since for the most part these trade acquisitions were prospects when we got them. But 6 MLFA/Waiver/Rule5 guys is embarrassing. That’s 6 guys who weren’t worthy of being on some other team’s entire 40-man roster but who are now on our MLB active lineup..
Somehow, this roster is costing the team $92M in 26-man payroll … until you realize that figure includes Strasburg’s $35M annual salary still on the books (as well as Adam’s split contract $500k figure and Ogasawara’s $2M/year figure still owed despite his outright). So it’s actually closer to $58M to field this team … or about $25 less than what the official 30th ranked team (Miami) is spending. Wow.
So, hey Season Ticket Fans, welcome to 2026! Thanks for your checks last fall securing your seats; hope you enjoy the season.
There’s indeed very little to be excited about at the major league level.
Even Wood’s potential breakout is less interesting now that we’ve pushed our window back a couple more years. If he turns into an MVP candidate, then we’ll just trade him like we did Soto.
Its the minors which will interest me this year, but even then, there’s almost nothing of note in the org at AA and AAA.
Will
25 Mar 26 at 3:24 pm
I’m pretty sure we have the lowest payroll in the league over the active roster. I wonder how many years you have to go back to find a team that spend less.
Such a fucking joke.
100 stupid articles about the trackjets can’t distract me from the fact that this is an obscenely low level of spending by a major league club.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
SMS
25 Mar 26 at 4:28 pm
Ted Lerner was a good MLB owner.
His kids are the worst thing imaginable. OK, they’re not Marge Schott or Daniel Snyder, but they obviously just view the Nats as another office park in the suburbs, and free agent signings are viewed with the same decision mechanism as renovating an office building out by Dulles – some three-letter federal agency will still rent it, so why bother?
Kevin R
26 Mar 26 at 10:51 am
@JohnC: A great example of what i’m referring to happened yesterday: Armando Cruz released. $3.9M bonus in 2021. Toboni’s crew has zero ties to the guy, but the previous regime would have held on to him (as they did with Antuna) until the bitter end. I’m not saying necessarily that the decision to release a guy with a career .215/.269/.278 slash line was “bad” …i’m saying that the new regime has no affinity for anyone that they didn’t draft/sign.
That can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good in that they’re not wedded to the economic fallacy that SO MANY baseball people seem to be stuck with … thinking that $3.9M paid to Cruz is an “investment” as opposed to a sunk cost. We’ve seen the Rizzo regime fall for this for more than a decade. We still see it with Elijah Greene probably. That part is great; a new set of opinion makers can make dispassionate decisions irrespective of whether a player cost $10k or $4M to acquire.
BUT. That willingness to “clean house” and “start over” also comes with it some danger. Danger of cutting loose players that weren’t “your guys” and undervaluing them in a race to remake the franchise in your vision. That’s what I worry about. A promising A-ball pitcher in Linan traded to acquire the 4th guy off the bench for your MLB roster in a season where you’re going to be lucky to win 60 games … is not the kind of move that inspires confidence.
I’m re-doing the Big Board right now for the dozens of moves announced yesterday and I’m already seeing cuts that are a little surprising given where this team is.
Todd Boss
28 Mar 26 at 10:15 am
Releasing A Cruz makes perfect sense to me. There are a ton of young 2B/SS/3B prospects in the system and they need reps. Dickerson, Fitz-Gerald, Willits, A Feliz, Mota, and Fien are all comfortably beyond the complex. There’s just no room to worry about a big bonus from 5 years ago.
But Stehly surprised me a little. I’ve never been as high on him as you, Todd, but who is he making space for at AA 2B/3B. Wallace? Made? Those 3 all seem to be pretty equal non-prospects to me, and I’d have wanted to see if Stehly could replicate his performance at AA from last year before I cut him. But still, he’s 27 year old with minimal tools and hype, so it’s not that surprising.
And let’s see if any other orgs pick these guys up. If no one does, I think the lesson should be about more how we evaluate fringe-to-non prospects and less about how the new FO compares / contrasts to the old FO.
SMS
28 Mar 26 at 5:06 pm
Strasburg deal: sorry you’re right done 2026: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A7XlAdd094f4mgiYP1Hs3FFsKiuS5KWQRK0eiMP_V5M/edit?gid=1520401900#gid=1520401900
The minor league system seems to be at 160 players right now … so they cut these 4-5 players basically to make room for other MLFA signings b/c there was no imminent roster need.
Todd Boss
29 Mar 26 at 1:03 pm