The Washington Nationals have a lot of improvements to make this offseason, and they started that work on Wednesday.

Following a brutal 66-96 season and their fifth last-place finish in six years since winning the World Series, the Nationals have a new president of baseball operations, and they’ll soon have a new manager as well. But revamping the roster, particularly on the pitching staff, will be the real determining factor as to how much they can improve before next season.

To begin the process of transforming the pitching staff, the Nationals outrighted three pitchers off the 40-man roster on Wednesday, according to the transactions log on their official team site. The list included Eduardo Salazar, who has three seasons of major league experience with the Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Nationals.

Though the Nationals may not have had Salazar in their plans moving forward, outrighting him didn’t guarantee he’d leave the organization. But Salazar ensured that would happen later on Wednesday, when he elected free agency, according to his official roster page.

Salazar, 27, had shown some promise for the Nationals at the end of last season, so the team kept him on the 40-man roster throughout the winter and he made the big-league club out of spring training. But this time around, it was an abject disaster for the 6-foot-2 right-hander.

In 30 appearances this season, Salazar pitched to an ERA of 8.38 and allowed 47 hits, including seven home runs, in 29 innings. His last major league appearance, ironically enough, came during the series against the Boston Red Sox that immediately preceded the firings of president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez.

After finishing out the year in Triple-A, Salazar was a fairly easy cut candidate for the Nationals as they bring back players from the 60-day injured list. Washington gave him the best opportunity he’s had so far to break through, but he’ll have to keep hoping more doors open up moving forward.

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