This Decision Shows Nationals Are From Being 'Serious Players' in Important Market
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In the midst of the headlining news that the Washington Nationals found the next manger of their franchise -- 33-year-old Blake Butera who becomes the youngest MLB skipper hired in 50 years -- some player transactions have started to take place.
Once the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers concludes either on Friday or Saturday, the MLB offseason will officially be underway as teams start to get their rosters down to the requisite 40-man mark.
The Nationals have started to do that by optioning players to Triple-A Rochester, which has resulted in three players -- relievers Mason Thompson and Eduardo Salazar and catcher Jorge Alfaro -- electing to become free agents instead of accepting that assignment.
Lost in the shuffle of that is the fact Shinnosuke Ogasawara -- the team's first-ever Japanese free agent signing from this past offseason -- was outrighted off the 40-man roster where he cleared waivers and was sent to Rochester.
Outrighting Shinnosuke Ogasawara Shows Nationals Have Ways to Go
The good news is that Ogasawara is still with the organization. After he came on late in the season following a conversion to a bullpen role, he was effective for Washington at times and became one of their high-leverage left-handers.
Still, in the mind of Mark Zuckerman of MASN, the fact the Nationals outrighted him off their roster proves there is still a long ways to go when it comes to their viability in an increasingly important region that's filled with talent.
"... his removal from the 40-man roster only one year after (Mike) Rizzo signed him to a two-year, $3.5 million contract as the Nationals’ first free agent from Japan underscores how far the franchise still has to go to become serious players in the Asian market," he stated.
Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Very Nice 69mph Curveball. 👍
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) February 28, 2025
Oohs and ahhs from the crowd. pic.twitter.com/RXzbO8DLvD
It's hard to argue with that assessment. Amidst all the excitement that Washington had finally landed a Japanese international when Ogasawara signed his deal, there weren't a whole lot of evaluators out there who believed the lefty could be a high-end starter in the bigs.
The Nationals tried to see if he could crack the Opening Day rotation through his performance in the spring, but he wasn't able to do so and eventually was moved into a relief role.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the 28-year-old this offseason. With a new regime in place, there's a chance they could offer some tweaks so his stuff plays better in the states than it did previously to try and get him back into being a rotation arm.
But even if that's the case, the underwhelming performance of Ogasawara in 2025 that caused the Nationals to outright him off their 40-man roster shows this franchise has some work to do until they are landing gamechangers out of Japan.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai