It’s hard to look at the way the Washington Nationals have played the last two years and think they’re in anything other than a rebuild.
Cornerstones from that 2019 World Series team like Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon are gone, and they’ve posted last-place finishes in the division each of their last two seasons.
It was surprising, then, that they responded to the implementation of the universal designated hitter by getting one of the better options available in Nelson Cruz. Conventional wisdom suggests it’s so they can do the same thing they did with Kyle Schwarber and Jon Lester last year. Both players signed one-year deals in Washington, then got flipped to contenders at the trade deadline.
But what if the Nationals think they’re actually just a couple of pieces away? ESPN MLB analyst Dave Schoenfield theorized on 97.3 The Fan’s “Ben and Woods” on Monday that, perhaps, they could be positioning themselves to take a run at Carlos Correa.
“They’ve got three years of Juan Soto before he’s eligible for free agency, Schoenfield said. "That’s a long time, but you also don’t want to punt two or three of those years when you have the best hitter in the game, so is there more to come from the Nationals? They’ve got money to spend, could Carlos Correa end up there? They need a shortstop, he’s a Scott Boras client, the Nationals have done a lot of deals with Scott Boras players through the years. Just throwing it out there, but maybe Correa as a surprise goes to Washington, you never know.”
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You never know, and obviously Schoenfield is just kicking around an idea. The latest on Correa is that the possibility is increasing that he returns to Houston on a short deal, then tests free agency again soon.
But the Nats aren’t that far removed from a World Series, and the addition of the expanded postseason does make it a tad easier to get into the playoffs. The Nationals would need to do far more to their roster than just add Correa, but such a gamble would bring them closer.
If nothing else, it would help them better compete in a National League East that has the reigning World Series champs in the Braves, a high-spending team in the Mets and a Phillies side that might one day reach their potential.
Say this much, though: Correa, Soto and Cruz in the middle of the Nationals’ order would be impressive.
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