Washington Nationals

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Wilson Ramos
• C – Brian Schneider
• 1B – Ryan Zimmerman (3B)
• 2B – Danny Espinosa
• SS – Trea Turner
• 3B – Anthony Rendon
• CI – Nick Johnson (1B)
• MI – Daniel Murphy (2B)

Outfielders:

• LF – Ian Desmond (SS)
• CF – Jayson Werth
• RF – Bryce Harper
• CF – Victor Robles (LF/RF)
• LF – Juan Soto (RF)
• CF – Denard Span (LF/RF)

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Max Scherzer
• SP – Jordan Zimmerman
• SP – Stephen Strasburg
• SP – Austin Voth
• SP – Doug Fister
• SP – Gio Gonzalez

I’m not going to lie to you – the Nationals face the stiffest uphill battle of any team in Eternal Baseball. Because every team is pulling from the best players in their own history, the ancient franchises (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals, Athletics, Cubs, White Sox, Pirates, Phillies) have an advantage over the expansion teams, and even the older expansion teams (Mets, Angels, Royals etc.) have an advantage over the newer ones (Diamondbacks, Rockies, Marlins, Rays).

Because we gave baseball back to Montreal, the Expos legends are all playing up in Canada, leaving Washington with only 15 seasons of Nationals baseball to pull from. The Nats have drafted well and field some incredible talent, but they haven’t had the overall time to build much depth for their all-time roster.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

We leaned on WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, to identify the top candidates for the Nationals roster.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond, Trea Turner, Nick Johnson, Wilson Ramos, Danny Espinosa, Jayson Werth, Denard Span, Juan Soto, Adam LaRoche, Daniel Murphy, Brian Schneider, and Ryan Church.

Victor Robles, Endy Chavez, Austin Kearns and Jesus Flores also merit consideration.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Wilson Ramos, Brian Schneider
FIRST BASE: Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson
SECOND BASE: Daniel Murphy, Danny Espinosa (sometimes)
SHORTSTOP: Trea Turner, Danny Espinosa (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Anthony Rendon
LEFT FIELD: Ian Desmond, Juan Soto
CENTER FIELD: Jayson Werth, Victor Robles (sometimes)
RIGHT FIELD: Bryce Harper, Victor Robles (sometimes)

Like I said above, the starting lineup is aboslutely credible but you can see a bit of a dropoff when you get to the bench.

That leaves inactive roster spots for: Adam LaRoche, Ryan Church, Austin Kearns, Jesus Flores, Adam Eaton, and Denard Span.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive.

With 19 players on the total roster we have room for 21 pitchers. Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Nationals) we came up with: Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Livan Hernandez, Tanner Roark, Jordan Zimmerman, Tyler Clippard, John Lannan, Chad Cordero, Jon Rauch, Drew Storen, John Patterson, Sean Burnett, Doug Fister, Matt Capps, Rafael Soriano, Joel Hanrahan, Blake Treinen and Sean Doolittle.

Young star Austin Voth and Erick Fedde deserve consideration as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Max Scherzer, Jordan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, Austin Voth, Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez
RELIEVERS: Drew Storen, Matt Capps, Tyler Clippard, Blake Treinen
SET-UP: Rafael Soriano
CLOSER: Chad Cordero

The top of the rotation looks dangerous with Scherzer/Zimmerman/Strasburg, especially in a playoff series.

The inactive pitcher options are Jon Rauch, John Lannan, John Patterson, Sean Doolittle, Tanner Roark, Sean Burnett, Joel Hanrahan, Livan Hernandez, and Erick Fedde.

So how did we do?

Does Ian Desmond get some at-bats in left field or is it Juan Soto’s world now?

Would you use Chad Cordero as your closer?

Is it too soon to pitch Austin Voth every fifth day?

Let us know in the forums below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Nationals for Eternal Baseball.

• Nationals by Lori Shaull
• Nationals Park Sunset by Rudi Riet
• Max on Mother’s Day by Steve Lathrop
• 8th by Cathy T