The 2018 Nationals – Free Agent Departures
Hope springs eternal, as they say, and every new baseball season brings with it a feeling of infinite possibility. In today’s game, each offseason inevitably brings changes; goodbyes to familiar favorites and hellos to new faces. The Nationals have less of that this year than most, having kept together the core of the NL East champion team they fielded for their ill-fated 2017 playoff run. In the few days left before Opening Day, we’ll take a quick look at who departed, who’s new, and who remains from last year’s squad. Below is a look at the most notable departures from the team:
Notable Departures
- Jayson Werth – This list couldn’t start with anyone other than Number 28. A longtime National and a fan favorite, his production had been on the decline in recent years and the team did not extend his contract at the end of 2017. In a tough offseason for free agents, Werth has not been signed elsewhere and his career has likely reached it’s end. Jayson’s huge contract with the Nats (7 years for $126 million) brought legitimacy to an organization that had been something of a joke up to that point. He’ll be missed by fans, but with an outfield corps as deep as any in baseball, there was no place for him on this year’s Nats roster.
- Adam Lind – Lind signed with the Nationals for just $1 million prior to the start of the 2017 campaign as a multi-tool bench player. He was incredibly successful in that role, making dozens of starts at both first base and left field, as well as becoming one of Dusty Baker’s favorite pinch hitting options. He finished the year with stellar numbers; 14 HR, .303 BA, .362 OBP, and 59 RBI. It was a big surprise that the Nats didn’t resign him, choosing instead to go with Matt Adams, a similar player who is a bit younger and whom they were able to pay a bit less. It speaks to how strange the free agent market is this year that even after such a great 2017 performance, Lind has been signed and released by the Yankees and remains jobless as of this writing.
- Matt Albers – Albers, who barely made the Nationals club last year after being released and resigned, turned out to be an unexpectedly important piece of their 2017 bullpen (which was nothing short of a dumpster fire for most of the season’s first half). He was on a minor league contract, but joined the big club in April and went on to have one of the best years of his career, pitching to a 1.62 ERA with 7 wins and 2 losses. He also notched the first save of his career in his 461st relief appearance, a major league record unlikely to ever be broken. He played himself into a handsome contract with the Brewers for 2 years/$5 million. He’ll be missed, but with the law firm of Kintzler, Madson, and Doolittle locking down the late relief role in the Nats pen, there just wasn’t room for another pricey reliever.
- Jose Lobaton and Stephen Drew, both backup pieces for Washington last year who never quite performed at a high enough level, were released by the team and at this point remain unsigned.
So that’s who we won’t be seeing in a Nats uniform this season. The next installment of this series will look at the new additions to the team, including free agents and young players trying to break into the big leagues. The final roster will be set in the next week and the official 2018 Nationals will embark on what they hope will be a deep postseason run. Stay tuned!
