Washington Nationals ‘not ready for prime time’ as they miss MLB playoffs

The Washington Nationals’ young core showed a lot of potential this season, but just wasn’t ready for the playoffs yet.

As ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle examined what went wrong for each MLB team that missed the postseason, the Nationals were declared as “not ready for prime time” at the moment.

“Rebuilding Washington hasn’t taken root yet, but you can see the plan taking root. And this thing might be ready to take off,” Doolittle said. “The Nationals will have long-term solutions in place at every position in the middle and both corners of the outfield, just for starters. And while we shouldn’t expect the Nationals to go wild in free agency, they probably could if the property was signed on that.”

As the writer later pointed out, Washington will have plenty of money to work with this winter thanks to Patrick Corbin’s massive contract that was finally released.

While the main goal is likely to be a reunion with Juan Soto, giving him a blank check to return to the team and complete the rebuilding loop, it is extremely unlikely that this will happen.

Instead, they should be a little more flexible with their money to fill a few spots on the diamond that they aren’t completely set on.

Another starting pitcher will likely be one of the biggest targets, as they have a few promising arms but are missing a true ace at the moment.

DJ Herz made his debut this year and was much better than expected. He should absolutely have a spot in the rotation next season.

Mitchell Parker and Jake Irvin also established themselves as starters this season, but that was more expected.

However, each of the young arms had an ERA north of 4.00 on the year and would likely benefit from hiring a more reliable veteran than Corbin has been in recent years.

The other biggest need will be to bring in power to complement the speed and contact ability of the younger bats in the lineup.

Only the Chicago White Sox have hit fewer home runs than the Nationals this season, which is obviously not acceptable.

Washington only had 28 combined home runs from first base and designated hitter spots in the lineup.

The core lineup should continue to improve and become “more ready for prime time,” it’s simply up to the decision-makers to surround it with complementary players.