The time has come to say goodbye to The Nats Blog... “It is an honor and a privilege to know that after 11 years of coverage…these will be the eight very last words ever written here: The Washington Nationals are the World Series Champions.” https://t.co/vF2y9Or6gq

It’s crazy to me to think about how when Bryce won his first MVP he was the same age as James Wood, Brady House and Dayden Lile and younger than Abrams, Crews, and Hassell 🤯

lol Bob starting a sentence about how Riley Adams is hitting like he’s in his late 20’s only to realize he is in his late 20’s mid sentence and try to save it.

I have no knowledge of anything… But if Lowe’s gone there’s a good chance that none of the Nats returning players will make more than $10 million in 2026. There is a vacancy at manager. A vacancy at GM. Senior business vacancies (CRO, CMO…) Seems like a clean slate to sell.

Love me some Brad Lord. So happy they put him back in the rotation.

Last year he gave up no more than 4 earned runs in his first 11 starts…and then gave up 5+ in 4 of his next 7

In his first 15 starts this season Mackenzie Gore gave up more than 4 earned runs 0 times. He has done it now 4 times in his last 8 starts.

None of this matters if there isn’t investment to take this team to the next level. The system isn’t good enough to build from the ground up alone…but it’s good enough to try and build around. Unfortunately as optimistic as I am, that’s the part I’m least optimistic will happen

Let’s compare this to the 2011 Nats. The year before the turn around. They had 1 player 26 or under with a 3+ WAR…that was Tyler Clippard (Stras got Tommy John that year). They had just drafted Harper…but their minor league system was way worse than it is now.

We just had the No. 1 overall pick. We’ve added depth through trades the last three deadlines to our farm system and had our most promising overall draft in a long time.

This August the Nats will have 4 players who have been top 10 prospects in baseball in the past 5 years in their lineup. That has never happened for them. House, a legitimate prospect, is having the best year of his career. Hassell has turned it around with a 837 OPS in AAA.

The Nats are going to have 3 major leaguers 26 or younger finish with a 3+ WAR (probably at least 2 with 4+). Abrams - 24 - 3.6 WAR Wood - 22 - 3.9 WAR Gore 26 - 2.9 WAR The only times that’s happened were 2012 and 2018. This is the lowest payroll we’ve had out of those years.

I’m as frustrated as anyone with the Nats current situation. I wanted this team to start bolstering their young talent with outside help the last two offseasons and we didn’t…and here we are. That said, it’s not all doom and gloom. Here’s the case for optimism:

Say what you will about Mike Rizzo, and there’s a lot to say. But in his Nats tenure, he may go down being remembered for: - The most successful free agent signing ever (Max Scherzer) - The most successful “we gotta dump this guy “trade ever (Juan Soto)

I’m getting Jim Riggleman resignation Deja vu.

It’s worth noting that in the past 2 months or so all these people have exited or been exited from the Nats organization. - Chief Revenue Officer - Chief Marketing Officer - General Manager - Manager

Gore and Wood are All-Stars. Harper, Soto, and Turner are not. This is meaningless yet feels meaningful at the same time.

Bryce Harper age 22 season: 9.1 WAR Juan Soto age 22 season: 7.3 WAR Ryan Zimmerman age 22 season: 4.7 WAR James Wood age 22 season pace: 45+ home runs, 100+ RBI, .950 OPS

Guess who is hitting .331/.386/.520 with 6 homers and 6 doubles in his first 32 games at triple A for another team?

Three really good players that didn't make any of these lists... Jordan Zimmermann - 4.9, 3.5, 4.7, . 3.1 WAR from 12-15 Dernard Span - 3.1, 4.3 WAR from 13-14 Ian Desmond - 3.4, 4.4, 4.1 WAR from 12-14

Takeaways... - Rendon under appreciated (even though we love him) as one of the best Nats contributors ever. - How the hell did we not win it all in 2017? - We got to see some amazing baseball from 2012-2022.