Why Pursuing All-Star Slugger in Free Agency Makes Sense for Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals are coming into the offseason with a couple of clear needs as they hope to contend in the near future.

For the second straight season, the Nationals were only able to win 71 games. While that might feel like a failure, a lot of the talented young players were up and performing well in the big leagues in 2024.

There is reason to believe Washington is getting close to bursting out of their rebuild, but they will need to fix a few issues.

While their lineup is loaded with young talent that is only getting better, like CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr, James Wood, and Dylan Crews, they do have a few big holes.

Power has been a major problem for the franchise, as while they have a lot of good young hitters, they are more balanced players at the plate compared to big-time run producers as of now.

From a positional standpoint to address the power, the three likely spots they can upgrade are first base, third base, and designated hitter. Ideally for Washington, Brady House will have a great spring and be the starting third baseman on Opening Day. However, free agency and the top free agents at the third base position will be long gone by then, and the Nationals could handicap themselves in that scenario.

At first base, the free-agent pool is a little bit deeper with players like Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, and Christian Walker headlining the class.

However, when it comes to DH, there is an appealing player who could make a lot of sense for Washington, and that is Joc Pederson.

While Pederson’s days of playing the field seem to be done, he is a slugger that has a lot of power and could provide a fair amount of value for the Nationals.

With the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, the left-hander totaled a .275 batting average, 23 home runs, and 64 RBIs in 367 at-bats. Pederson was strictly used against right-handed pitching, as he would be best-suited in a platoon role with Washington as well.

However, even though there are some limitations, the slugger can flat out hit right-handed pitching. With the ability to hit for power and drive in runs, Pederson makes a ton of sense to use in the middle of the order against right-handers.

Since he is basically just a designated hitter and shouldn’t be used against left-handed pitching, the Nationals would also likely be able to get him for an affordable price, which will allow them to spend elsewhere. Overall, the slugger would be a great fit for the Nationals.