As a disappointing season winds down for the Washington Nationals, these three players won’t be back next season.
The Washington Nationals were in a position they aren’t used to being in this July–a trade deadline seller. And sell they did, trading Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Brad Hand. Since July 1, they have a 13-32 record. So they are playing out the string at 53-70 overall, with 90-plus losses in play and a practical lock.
Looking to next season, the Nationals could reload quickly around young star Juan Soto. Or they could play it a little slower, and build around Soto with the group of prospects they got in the aforementioned trades and some outside supplementary moves.
Regardless of what the plan is for 2022, there are some players who won’t be part of the start of the next phase for the Nationals. In particular, these three players won’t be back next season.
3 Washington Nationals players who won’t be back next season
3. C Alex Avila
Avila signed a one-year deal with the Nationals last offseason. Amid stints on the COVID-19 list and being on the IL with bilateral calf strains, he is hitting .167 in 24 games (66 at-bats) this season. When he’ll be healthy enough to return to action is unclear, and he’ll be buried on the depth chart.
At 35 years old by the time next Opening Day comes, Avila may be nearing the end of the line. It’s a foregone conclusion he won’t be back with the Nationals next season.
2. SP Joe Ross
Thus far Ross has avoided a second Tommy John surgery, as he will not require surgery to fix a partial tear of the UCL in his throwing elbow that has shut him down for the rest of the season. That the evaluation came from the doctor who performed his Tommy John surgery in 2017 comes off as meaningful.
#Nationals Joe Ross is shut down for the year but he won't need surgery for the partial tear of his UCL. The injury was determined to be treatable as a sprain. Ross will undergo extensive rehab and get time off so he can be ready to go by spring training, Dave Martinez said.
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) August 17, 2021
But partial ulnar collateral ligament tears can easily become full tears, and Ross would not pitch until late next season at best if he had to have Tommy John again. After opting out of last season, he pitched to a 4.17 ERA with solid peripherals (9.1 K/9, 2.8 BB/9) over 20 appearances (19 starts) before his arm issue. He’s also arbitration eligible one more time this offseason.
The Nationals could simply not tender Ross a contract offer for 2022, and let him go free of their control if there are any questions about the health of his elbow. Even if his elbow is fine heading into spring training, he has been a mid-level arm and he’s never made more than 27 appearances in a major league season.
Washington should tilt toward upside/youth or proven high-level ability to fill out their 2022 starting rotation. Ross will turn 29 early next season, his resume is what it is at this point and his ceiling isn’t high. He’s hardly automatic to be back.
1. 1B Ryan Zimmerman
Retirement rumors have easily lurked around Zimmerman in recent years, but he came back this year after opting out of the abbreviated 2020 campaign. He has actually been a solid bat for the Nationals when called upon this year (11 home runs over 216 plate appearances).
Zimmerman is the quintessential Nationals’ player. His first taste of big league action came in 2005, the franchise’s first season in Washington after moving from Montreal. For a stretch of years (2006-2013, with a 36-homer resurgence in 2017), he was one of the more underappreciated hitters in baseball. He is the all-time hits (1,833), home run (281), doubles (412) and RBI (1,055) leader in Expos/Nationals history, with top-10-12 rankings in some other categories.
But these days, Zimmerman is a 37-year old (on Sept. 28, to be fair) part-time player who has struggled to stay healthy. He may very well call it a career when the season is over. Seeing him in another uniform would be weird if he wants to keep playing and the Nationals don’t bring him back, but interest from other teams is sure to be minimal. Ideally, the final weeks of this season will be a proper send-off for one of the best players in Nationals’ franchise history.
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