Nationals president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke this week about the upcoming offseason, with relaying some the details. Rizzo stated that the club is looking to bolster both its starting and relief pitching, as well as mentioning a middle-of-the-order bat. That the club is open to additions all over the roster is hardly surprising since they have been aggre sively rebuilding for a while now. The past few years have seen , , and many others flipped for prospects, leading to the Nats finishing last in the National League East three years running. The 2023 club won 71 games, a jump of 16 from the dismal results of 2022, but there were also some le s-encouraging signs. The club had a run differential of -145, second-worst in the National League, ahead of just the Rockies. They outpaced their expected win-lo s record of 66-96 thanks to some help from a record of 28-21 in one-run games and a 6-2 mark in extra innings. On the pitching side, the club had a collective earned run average of 5.02, a mark that topped just the Royals, Athletics and Rockies. The starting staff and the relief corps were equally ineffective, as both groups had matching ERAs at that 5.02 figure. is still on the roster, although he wont be a factor going forward. Its been known for some time that his battle with thoracic outlet syndrome isnt going to allow him to compete at the major league level anymore. He and the Nats were discu sing a retirement deal last year, even though his contract runs through 2026, but the club walked away and he was activated from the IL Topias Vilen Jersey earlier week. Both Rizzo and Scott Boras, Strasburgs agent, admit that the rightys pitching days are done. Medically, its going to be difficult to see him pitching again at the big league level, Rizzo said, per . We understand where hes at physically. We have understood it since last year, so that hasnt changed. While coming to some sort of agreement about his retirement would allow the club to free up a roster spot, that doesnt seem imminent. The roster spot is important, Rizzo says. But theres certain rules and protocols that have to be met within the CBA to conclude these types of things when [players] are under contract. He didnt clarify which parts of the CBA are currently standing in the way of Strasburgs retirement. Without Strasburg, the rotation currently consists of , , , and .Corbin hasnt been terribly effective lately, with his strikeout rate having dropped in each of the past four years. But he will likely continue to hold a place based on his contract. Hes set to make $35MM next year, the final year of his deal. Since hes a fairly reliable innings eater, the Nats will likely give him the ball every fifth day as they manage the workloads of their younger pitchers. Gray had a 3.91 ERA last year but may have been lucky to do so. His 20.5% strikeout rate, 11.5% walk rate and 37.8% ground ball rate were all worse than league average. An 80.4% strand rate likely helped to keep some runs off the board, which is why he had a 4.93 FIP and 5.08 SIERA. Gore had better peripherals but allowed more home runs, leading to a 4.42 ERA. Both of them are still fairly young, Gray going into his age-26 campaign and Gore his age-25, and neither has reached arbitration yet. They will be in the rotation again next year as the Nats hope they take a step forward in 2024. Williams signed a two-year deal with the Nats last offseason but the first season of that contract didnt go especially well as he posted a 5.55 ERA over 30 starts. Similar to Corbin, he could serve an innings-eating role but the club is likely le s committed to Williams. Hes only making $7MM in 2024 so his deal would be easier to walk away from. Irvin had a 4.61 ERA in 2023 with fairly uninspiring peripherals. The Nats also have , , and on the roster, though each of those guys is likely stuck in a depth role until they have better results. Given the current options, its fair to see how Rizzo could find room for an external addition or two. Its unclear who the Nats would target but they kept things fairly modest last year. Apart from the two-year contract for Williams, they stuck to one-year deals for bounceback candidates like and . If they set similar targets this winter, they could perhaps look to pitchers like , , , , and others. On the bullpen side of things, there are plenty of arms available they could look to add, but it also sounds like subtraction is po sible. Rizzo says other clubs have been asking about righties and , per . Its not a surprise to hear that the two are drawing interest, both because of their strong results and because they also were in trade rumors at the deadline a few months back. Both players stayed and Finnegan finished the year with a 3.76 ERA, racking up 28 saves in the proce s. Harveys ERA was almost a full run better at 2.82, striking out 28.5% of batters while notching 10 saves and 19 holds. The Nats dont need to move either, since they are both controllable via arbitration through 2025. However, performance from relievers can be volatile and an injury can happen at any time. The Nats could open their next competitive window in the next two years but there would be some sense to flipping these guys for players that could be more meaningful pieces of that window. As for the middle-of-the-order bat Rizzo referenced, there are plenty of options available, depending on how aggre sive they are willing to be. First baseman Dominic Smith and third baseman are both non-tender candidates. If Smith were out of the picture, could take on some extra first base time, or the club could look outside. In the outfield, is coming off a solid season but did most of his damage against lefties. also had a good year but finished it on the injured list due to a fractured leg. is coming off another frustrating season. If the Nats wanted to make a splash, they could target players like , or , but other options include , , and . Brett Pesce Jersey