Washington Nationals Must Still Address Last Season's Biggest Weakness

The Washington Nationals have made a handful of moves this offseason, but none of them have addressed their largest weakness from a year ago.

Sep 15, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals third baseman Jose Tena (8) attempts a throw to first base against the Miami Marlins during the second inning at Nationals Park. | Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals have made some intriguing moves this offseason, but none of them have addressed their biggest weakness from last year.

MLB data account BrooksGate recently shared a graphic showing each team's worst offensive position from last season (using fWAR) and what the plan is to address it for this upcoming year.

The Nationals' worst was third base, which ranked No. 28 across the league at that position.

It was a combined effort from Trey Lipscomb, Nick Senzel, Ildemaro Vargas and José Tena. They had a total slash line of just .228/.285/.304 with seven home runs and 45 RBI. That is nowhere near an acceptable level of production for the hot corner at the plate.

While Washington has fixed first base, reworked their bullpen and rounded out their starting rotation, they have not made any additions to third this offseason.

It was among the few '2025 Outlooks' that BrooksGate mentioned with a question mark, listing either Tena or prospect Brady House to fill the role.

Tena was actually a bit of surprise last year after the trade deadline, but still might be underwhelming unless he can add another dimension to his game.

The 23-year-old posted a .274/.305/.363 slash line with three home runs and 15 RBI over 41 games for the Nationals last season. He has a solid hit tool, but needs to either draw more walks or add a bit of power.

Washington acquired him from the Cleveland Guardians as one of three players in the Lane Thomas trade. Tena could be a ok stopgap in the hot corner, but will likely be more used as a utility man in the future.

If all goes the Nationals' way, they will have not had to make in splash signings and just give the job to House to start the year. A rough campaign in the minors could bring that into question, though.

Once a top-50 MLB prospect, he struggles last season and has now fallen out of the top 100. He posted a .241/.297/.402 slash line and struggled mightily with Triple-A pitching.

Hitting 19 home runs in a year is nice, but a 5.7% walk rate and 26.4% strikeout rate could have Washington wanting to let him sit in the farm system for a little longer.

His performance during Spring Training in a couple of weeks could go a long way in deciding if he could start the season in the Majors or take a trip back down to Triple-A to develop.