Some more veteran competition for the Nats’ young, emerging core: according to multiple reports, the team has signed outfielder Eddie Rosario to a minor-league deal.
Per the reports, the deal, pending a physical, is a split contract that would pay Rosario a base salary of $2 million in the Majors, with up to $2 million more in available incentives.
Rosario, 32, would add another lefty bat to a Nats outfield full of right-handed hitters, especially so if Joey Gallo is at first base. He hit .255 with 21 home runs in 142 games with Atlanta last year, but the Braves declined his $9 million option in November.
The nine-year vet had joined Atlanta in a 2021 deadline deal and was the NLCS MVP en route to Atlanta’s championship, but he has seen his stats decline and strikeout rate increase over the years since leaving Minnesota.
Still, Rosario gives Dave Martinez a veteran left-handed bat who can functionally play all three outfield spots if he makes the big club – and, perhaps, a trade chip if playing well come late-July – and someone who can mentor top prospects James Wood, Dylan Crews, and Robert Hassell III in the minors.
The Nats do have another veteran lefty-hitting outfielder in camp on a minor-league deal in Jesse Winker, but beyond Winker and Gallo, the six OF-capable players on the 40-man roster are all righties.