SURPRISE: Washington Nationals Tender Luis Garcia Jr. And Solidifies His Future In DC

SURPRISE: Washington Nationals Tender Luis Garcia Jr. And Solidifies His Future In DC

The Nationals tender contracts to all seven players, including Luis Garcia Jr., who we had plans for up the middle, but right now those plans seem to be Luis Garcia Jr., You are Locked on Nationals, your daily Washington Nationals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And I am your host Ryan Clary. You can find me over on Twitter, Ryan Clary11, and also look up Locked on Nationals wherever you get your podcast, whether it’s on Apple, Spotify, and of course the video version over on YouTube. We are part of the Locked On podcast network where it’s your team every single day. And later on in today’s program, we’ll have a discussion surrounding this Nationals bullpen because let’s be honest, this bullpen probably needs the most help out of all the position groups. So, let’s kind of jump into that as free agency is here and the Nationals are still trying to make some moves here. So, we’ll have that for you later on in the show today. And in the second segment, we’ll have the discussion surrounding some question marks with this team because as we said, there are a lot of question marks. The number one being probably what happens with the bullpen, but there are a couple of others that I think will have some major implications this off season. So stay tuned for that discussion in the second segment. We start off discussing the Nationals tendering contracts to all seven available, but more importantly, Luis Garcia Jr. that came to a surprise for some people in the baseball industry. But today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. The Nationals tendered seven contracts to all of their potential free agents this off season and decided not to move off of anybody, including Luis Garcia Jr. And honestly, I think that right there was probably the biggest surprise of all of these guys. So, the Nationals obviously had a couple of question marks. We knew that they were going to tender a contract to CJ and uh we knew that they would probably tender a contract to Jake Irvin, Kate Kali, and all the other guys in that mix as well. But the big question marks were surrounding Luis Garcia Jr. and honestly for me personally, Jake Irvin as well, but I want to talk about Luis Garcia Jr. first because we all kind of said that this off seasonason was going to be a very big one for this Nationals group and kind of this would be the off seasonason to decide whether they’re going to stick with Garcia at second or if they would move off of him and try to find some other partner, maybe a trade partner or maybe something that you just DFA him and he hits free agency and maybe you bring him back similar to what you did with Kyle Finnegan this past winter. But I think that the Nationals right now, it sounds as if that they are going to stay put, but that might not just be the full long-term plan. I still think there are there is a shot at Luis Garcia Jr. not being on this Nationals roster this upcoming spring. I would not be surprised at all to see Luis Garcia Jr. traded maybe for some pitching help and maybe that the Nationals ultimately decide that CJ Abrams gets moved to second base. There are a lot of different possibilities at this point in time, but I think the most intriguing one is Luis Garcia Jr. because I think while some of it is in his control and while he’s coming off of a down year in my mind, I do think there is a case to have him be your second baseman of the future. And maybe with his high contact rate and his low strikeout percentage, maybe Paul Tabon and company look at him as someone that they could potentially fix offensively. But here’s really the big question. Can you fix him defensively? That is probably the biggest task for Luis Garcia Jr. going forward. I think I assumed at this juncture that the Nationals probably would be moving off of Garcia. And honestly, I think that was kind of like the quote unquote surprise move that I truly believe would happen. I think there is still a good case that can happen and that the Nationals do go in and find a second baseman maybe through the free agent market, but also in this possibility of CJ Abrams being moved over to second base. I think that was probably the most realistic option for me. But now that the Nationals have tendered a contract to Luis Garcia Jr., I do think there is a real case to be made that they’re just going to run it back with the middle infield from this past season. The middle infield for the Nationals has been an issue defensively speaking. And I think in 2024, we saw some improvements from Abrams defensively. We saw some improvements defensively from Luis Garcia. We saw him really take a step up offensively. And even then, Abrams was an all-star in 2024. But then this past season, each of them that regressed in both those areas defensively, offensively speaking, and it was just a really, really rough season for the Nationals middle infield there, especially on the defensive side. I think that at this point, the Nationals are probably just going to go back out there with Garcia and with Abrams and they’re going to try to run this thing back. But still, they should keep an open mind for what possibilities could come. Whether it be in the trade market, if someone out there is like, “Hey, we need a second baseman and we need someone who’s going to be an offensive first guy.” Maybe they trade for Luis Garcia Jr., maybe the rumors are true and the Nationals are actually shopping CJ Abrams. then ultimately you’d probably want to have a veteran up the middle and you don’t want just want to call up or sign that random somebody off the streets and come in and be your shortstop every single day. You have to have a plan in place and I think obviously the Nationals do have a plan in place, but it’s whether or not does that plan surround Luis Garcia Jr.? It feels like right now this new regime is just kind of getting a feeler for what they want to do. And honestly, they have a plan and I think it’s obviously in place and they’re going to execute it and they’re going to do everything possible that they can do, but it feels more and more as we get deeper into this off season that the Nationals are not going to be making some real personnel changes at this point, especially when it comes to this roster. I’m convinced of the fact that you will trade McKenzie Gore. I’m not convinced that you will trade a CJ Abrams and I’m at this point I’m not convinced that you’re going to move off of a C a Luis Garcia Jr. That’s probably your biggest question mark for Paul Tabone is what will you do outside of McKenzie Gore. What will you do over at second base and shortstop? The Nationals could easily roll forward with Luis Garcia Jr. and they could tell me during spring training, hey, this is someone who is an offensive first profile and we think that he can get enough out of him defensively to make him an average competent second baseman, then okay, if you truly do believe in that, you could convince me of it. But also, I feel as if that we already kind of know what Garcia is. And that is just my personal opinion. I feel like right now the Nationals should try and move off of Garcia and they should try to trade him whether it be for bullpen help, a catcher, another second baseman, a younger prospect, a lottery ticket prospect, I’m open to that possibility, but also you have to have a plan in place. And if the plan in place is you’re going to go sign a shortstop andor a second baseman and move CJ Abrams over to second or potentially trade him if the price is right, then that’s a discussion that I think the Nationals are certainly willing to have at this point. But right now, seeing that the Nationals did tender a contract to Garcia, are you surprised by it? I certainly was. I felt as if the Nationals there was a lot of smoke surrounding him potentially leaving. Like our own Grant Pollson, he was saying that he expects the Nationals to move off of Luis Garcia Jr. They he expected him to be a free agent. I think that was kind of eye opening honestly and ultimately that did not happen. And I think that everyone out there, every Nationals fan out there obviously knew that this was a possibility that the Nationals would bring back Garcia, but maybe not at this price. Maybe they would have done the same thing with non-tendering uh Kyle Finnegan back in 2024 and you bring him back on a one-year deal. That was kind of the scenario that I kind of thought in my head would happen with Garcia here. I thought the Nationals would potentially just do that, maybe bring him back on a cheaper deal, but they signed up for all $7 million of what he’s going to be making in 2026. And I think that came to as a surprise for a lot of different people. But right now, the Nationals have got a lot of holes and free agency is ongoing and the Nationals have yet to really make any big major moves. We got to have some positions filled out here. You got to have some competition because I think that’s the big key for this Blake Butra, Paul Tabone era coming to town is that there will be competition, but it’s going to have to start by signing some free agents. We’ve got some holes. I’m going to address those holes and tell you some of the biggest needs for the Washington Nationals and the biggest this NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. And even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. And plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a larger payout. And it keeps every game so exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. For instance, the Wizards, you always have to bet the over on that game. They have the worst defense in the NBA, but also they’ve got some of the most exciting young talent. Alex Sar over on the rebounds. I’ve always got Keshan George over on his three-point attempts. He hits that every single night. And also again, Alexar on the rebounds. It makes it more exciting with our friends at FanDuel. And if you’re a new customer, well, luckily enough for you, FanDuel. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. All you have to do is head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. We are back here on Locked on Nationals and we are discussing some of the holes for the Washington Nationals in the biggest question mark surrounding this team as we enter free agency. But later on in the show today, the biggest hole is the bullpen. And we’ll have a full segment just kind of how they should address it this off seasonason. But we start off with the three biggest holes for the Nationals. And my number one is the catcher position. I do feel as if, and by the way, whoever made that fake Andrew Golden account and said that Keuise was DFA, and just for the record, he was not DFAD by the Nationals. They got me for the first time ever. Not proud of it, but you saw that the Nationals, they’ve got a obvious hole at catcher. You have Ke Ruiz under contract all the way through 2030. And I think that at this point there is a real question surrounding his health. I mean he has had some health issues this past year. Really unfortunately had the concussion issues that really struck him. They do expect him to be back 100% for the nationals this off this offseason entering spring training. But I think that the catcher position is going to be a big question mark and really probably the biggest kind of task for the Nationals this offseason outside of trading Mackenzie Gore. You have to get a better product from your catchers. You have to you tenered a contract to Riley Adams in which by the way his contract’s a little weird. He has $500,000 for the AAA roster and then just over a million dollars for the major league roster. So he’s someone who’s going to be back and forth and who will to compete for that starting catcher role. But I feel as if that right now if I’m the Nationals, I am trying to set yourself up perfectly to address that position via a trade and more importantly via a McKenzie Gore trade. We’ve talked about the different scenarios here. I think the Mariners will be big players in the Mackenzie Gore market. I think teams like the Padres’s will be big players in the Mackenzie Gore market. I think the Cubs will be back in on McKenzie Gore just like they were this past deadline. All three of those teams have top prospects that are catchers. You got Ethan Solless with the Padres’s, Boise Ballister with the Chicago Cubs, and Harry Ford with the Seattle Mariners. My personal favorite is Harry Ford of those three guys. I really like Ford. I think he can be okay to pretty good defensively. I think he’s got a lot of room to grow there, but he’s great offensively speaking. Baliseros kind of has that same market. I think he’s a little more special in the power category. And then Ethan Solos is a stub defensively, still very young, and ultimately has had some back injuries, had some weird kind of growing since that he just hasn’t really taken the step up that I think a lot of people in Major League Baseball expected him to do at this juncture. But I still feel as if that the catcher market is going to be a big one in which the Nationals will be active in. Will they try to go out and sign a free agent? Will they address it via the trade market? Here’s my thing with it. You’re not going to probably solve your catcher situation this off season. You’ve got Karuise tied in through 2030. You don’t really have that many guys outside of Caleb Blavita that are that intriguing in your farm system. So, you’re probably going to have to be a little patient if you’re in the Nationals. And I do think they will be. I do feel as if that the Nationals should be patient and you should not be trying to find your long-term answer at catcher. It would be nice to, but also you still have Ruiz under a contract. That is a little confusing in my opinion. And I feel as if that the Nationals are going to have to try to find a way to navigate those waters. Now, luckily enough, the Nationals, if you were to decide to move off of Akowise, you move off of $35 million for the next five years. That’s not that much. And even if you decide to have him be your backup catcher and just kind of sit behind whoever comes in or maybe you have a platoon situation with Ruiz, I don’t think it’s that crazy of an idea because Ruiz’s contract is not hindering you all that much. But it’s the matter of fact is you’re going to have to add someone. If the Nationals go in this spring training with Keowise your starter, Riley Adams the backup, and Drew Millis your third guy, something went wrong. And in my mind, something just does not add up. I need to see them really address that position in a big way this off season because I think the catcher position obviously it’s important but I feel as if its importance kind of gets lost in it sometimes. We blame the pitching a lot of the time and in a lot of cases we should have been because the pitching has been really bad here for years but also the catchers are not helping them out at all defensively. When you have your third guy, Drew Milis, coming back from Triple A, going back and forth from the majors, back down to Triple A, then back up to the majors, and you see him, and he’s not even some defensive stud, but compared to Riley Adams and Key Ruiz, he absolutely is. And you do see some better pitching performances when Milis is on the is behind the dish compared to Key Ruiz or even O’Reilly Adams. Because here’s the thing, Ruiz is statistically the worst catcher in baseball. And really, that is kind of the consensus surrounding him. You have to address that at some point. That is not a winning recipe, especially for a not so talented pitching staff. Not all the blame is on Ruiz here, but still, this is a big hole that needs to be addressed. And will the Nationals do that? That’s probably the big question moving forward. And I think that right now that’s probably the biggest question mark for me surrounding this off season. Second, we kind of hit on it in the first second first segment is the middle infield. Will the Nationals go out there and address second base? Will they move CJ Abrams to second? Will they trade Luis Garcia Jr.? Well, a lot of people expected for them to non-tender him this year. They did not. They decided to pay him the $7 million, whatever it was exactly, to continue to play over at second. And I think that that came to a surprise to a lot of people. But you got to think of it this way. The Nationals are going to have to do something eventually, especially if you do decide to trade CJ Abrams. And if you do decide to trade CJ Abrams, then obviously your shortstop position becomes the number one need for this off seasonason. You’re gonna have to find someone to replace the offensive metrics for Abrams, and you’re gonna have to find someone to play good defense over at shortstop. Is it Nim Nunees? Probably not. But we’ll just have to see and the Nationals cross that bridge eventually. Last but not least, the back end of this rotation. The back end of this rotation for the Nationals. It’s a mess. I mean, there are a lot of question marks. We talked about Jake Irvin kind of being a surprise. You could have made a case for him to get non- tender, but the Nationals decided to bring him back. He has been one of the worst starting pitchers, statistically speaking, for the last year and a half. Ever since that All-Star break hit in 2024, he has not been the same pitcher. He has been tattooed, giving up a ton of home runs, the most home runs in baseball, the most earned runs in baseball, an erra north of five. It has been a really bad time for him. And then you also have Josiah Gray coming back from Tommy John. Will he be 100%. Kade Kavali has obviously had his fair share of injuries. Will he be 100%. Then you have DJ Hers coming off of Tommy John surgery. Is he going to be 100% at some point this year? You have got a lot of different issues there in that back end of the rotation, especially if you trade McKenzie Gore and you do not get guys to come back and return that can help your rotation. Now, I would certainly expect the Nationals to go out there and ultimately sign someone, not to some massive deal, but at least to address the back end of that rotation. And not even just the back end, but also the front end. because right now that is kind of where the Nationals need most is that starting pitching. And again, I made the case for catcher being the bigger need, but also you need a ton of pitching help. And I think that right now the consensus is around this Nationals organization is that they need help everywhere. But these are my three biggest needs. You got to address the middle infield some way somehow, especially if you decide to move off of CJ Abrams. You got to address the catcher position. You don’t really have a long-term answer. The consensus is out on Kowiz. And then the back end in this rotation. What do you do with Mitchell Parker? What do you do with Jake Irvin? Josiah Gray, all the other question marks surrounding this team. That’s what I’m really curious about moving forward. I want to get into this next though with the Nationals because they do have a big question surrounding this Nationals bullpen, but will they do a lot to address it? I think that’s going to be a big question moving forward from the Nationals and we’ll discuss that after this. 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So download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply. Again, that’s promo code L K D O N MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. We are back here on Locked on Nationals as we continue to tackle one of the biggest question marks for the Nationals this off season, which is the bullpen. This bullpen was at first to begin the year statistically one of the worst bullpens since 2000. That’s how bad it was. And as the season went on, it did get better. You did see some improvements. The Angels ultimately kind of ended off with a worse bullpen, even though that is debatable. But right now, you trade after you trade Kyle Finnegan to the Tigers, you had that hole. Now over at the closer position, Jose Fra is probably the guy who kind of takes that step up. I think a lot of Nationals fans would like to see, but even then, he was inconsistent this year. Now, I like Jose Fra. I like what he brings to the table. I do ultimately think that he will be the successor for uh Kyle Finnegan, and I do think that he will be the Nationals closer moving forward. But outside of that, you got another big-time mystery. Is it Cole Henry as your setup guy? And do the Nationals actually go out and address these situations? Do you actually go out and try to make some headway in the free agency market? Or do you try to make some trades? or do you call some guys up maybe a little prematurely this off season? We don’t really necessarily know what the plan is. But here’s what I can tell you about the plan is they better have one. You better go out and address this bullpen because if the Nationals, let’s say they just had an average bullpen this year. There would be a real case to be had there that the Nationals would have won north of 71 games and we would not have been talking about a complete regression as far as this team goes and we’d be talking about a little improvement and maybe there is some uh sun or some light at the end of the tunnel for the Nationals this year. That’s the kind of conversation that we would be having if it weren’t for this bullpen. Now, it’s easy for us to say that, but will they address it? That’s kind of the big question mark. You can’t just totally gut this bullpen from top to bottom because number one, I do think there are some individual talents like Ferrer and Cole Henry, but also, do you go out there and spend big on free agents and do you try to swing some trades? I don’t think it’s time for trades, but I do think you can make the case, especially for a rebuilding team, to try to go out and address the bullpen in free agency. For rebuilding ball clubs, it’s not a bad idea to do that. In fact, I think it’s a pretty good one because let’s say that the Nationals do sign a middle-term reliever who can come in, sign him for like $6 million this season, and he’s like a eighth inning, seventh inning guy who can eat up some innings. That’s kind of the ideal situation. But let’s say it goes really well, but it’s ultimately not helping this team win in 2026. Then you trade him at the deadline. And even then, if he’s all that not too good, then you can try to trade him at the deadline again or you move off of him. I think that’s kind of the category where the Nationals and Tabone should be trying to fill out this year. And I think that you can try to do that, but it really starts with what you do now. And if the Nationals do decide to address the bullpen, then I think you will see a lot better results moving forward. But thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen. I will catch you guys on the flip side. Have a good one. Go Nationals.

Washington Nationals surprise fans by tendering contracts to all seven eligible players—including Luis Garcia Jr.—upending offseason expectations. Could Garcia Jr.’s future still be uncertain, or will he anchor the Nationals’ infield alongside C.J. Abrams? Host Ryan Clary weighs the implications of this move, debating whether Garcia Jr. could be traded for much-needed pitching or if the team will “run it back” with last year’s struggling middle infield. Key topics include looming offseason priorities: upgrading the bullpen, resolving the Nationals’ catching situation with Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams, and addressing the rotation’s back end amid injury concerns for Josiah Gray and Cade Cavalli. With free agency heating up and MacKenzie Gore surfacing as a possible trade chip, the Nationals face critical roster decisions. Can Washington’s front office shore up its weaknesses and restore hope for contention?

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0:00 – Nationals Tender Contracts:
Overview of the Nationals tendering contracts to all seven players, with focus on Luis Garcia Jr. and the implications for the middle infield. Ryan Clary discusses why Garcia was a surprising contract tender and explores scenarios for the middle infield.

11:41 – Biggest Team Needs:
Analysis of the three biggest holes for the Nationals: catcher position, middle infield, and back end of the rotation. Insight into potential trades (especially Mackenzie Gore), free agency approaches, and what moves could shift the roster’s outlook.

22:34 – Bullpen Overhaul Needed:
Deep dive into the Nationals’ bullpen struggles, possible solutions through free agency, and whether to trade or sign relievers. Emphasis on why addressing bullpen woes could be critical for short-term performance and longer-term strategy.