“I’m definitely going to miss watching the knuckleheads every day,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters late Sunday afternoon before the final game of the 2024 season in Washington’s capital. he said.
“I spend all year with these guys,” Martinez continued. A year goes by, and once that’s over, I wake up tomorrow morning and say, “Okay, what are we going to do?”
It all comes to an abrupt end for players, coaches and fans. For the teams that will advance to the 2024 postseason, there’s still baseball to go, but for everyone else, 2025 is just beginning.
Martinez will leave the team, many of them will come back, but some of them will move on.
“It’s tough not seeing them, not talking to them, not working with them, because like I said, we spent a lot of time together,” the seventh-year captain added. .
A series win and finishing the season with a 71-91 record, the same as their final record in 2023, was a good way to cap things off, Martinez said. They dropped the finale against Philadelphia philliesHowever, the bases were loaded in a rally late in the game, giving the Nationals another chance to turn the game around in a season with the bases loaded, but three consecutive batters were pitched scoreless, and the home team had four hits for 13 at bats, with a runner scoring. We lost 6-3 and our overall ranking dropped.
“We made it interesting,” Martinez said. “A testament to this year’s players. They fought hard all year long. I’m proud of them. Obviously, no one wants to go home at this time of year. They want to keep playing. But the effort was definitely there this year and they played hard. And our young players have gotten better, we’re going to continue to get better, and good things are going to happen. Good things will happen.”
The final test against a ballclub competing in the postseason gave the young Nationals one more chance to measure themselves and see how they stack up against competitive teams.
“We played really well. Winning a series against the Phillies, who obviously are going to the playoffs in a few days, says a lot about our club,” Martinez said. They’re hungry and want to be the Philadelphia Phillies and every other club in the playoffs. I know that’s what they want, and I want that more than anything. So for them to go out there and compete and not give up and keep fighting and then hit the winning hit today at home base says a lot.”
in Recent interview with Bill Ladson of MLB.comGM and Director of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo talked about what the Nationals will do this winter as they look to take the next step.
Will they spend time in free agency again? Trade what they need? With talent in the pipeline, they can continue to promote from within or trade for future capital.
“I think we need to improve ourselves in every way possible,” Rizzo said. “Free agency is definitely going to be one of the ways we look to improve.
“We also have to look at the trade market and the development market. We have to be firing on all cylinders to get where we want to go.”
MLB.com: Are you looking for a first baseman?
Rizzo: I wouldn’t open the keyhole at first base. We need an attack. We need some hitters who can hit in the middle of the lineup to take some of the load off of these talented young core players and help them generate points for our offense. We have a core lineup of center hitters.
“Adding one or two bats to that group will take the pressure off everyone a little bit and allow everyone to relax a little bit more and develop into the players we expect them to be.”
After Game 162, Martinez was asked if he thought it was time to replace all the talent he had acquired through free agent signings and/or trades.
“I always say this: At the end of the year, we have a lot of conversations. For me, it’s something [Rizzo] And ownership is up to you,” Martinez said.
“Yeah, we’d like to get some veteran players, but give us 26 players and we’ll do our best. We have to make a good play,” and that’s what we did. But let me tell you this: I believe we are really close. That’s really true. And there were some pieces that turned out to be really good. Like I said before, I think a lot of them have the potential to be All-Stars in the future, so I’m really looking forward to it. ”
Where do managers’ minds go when they think about the future?
“It’s about watching them grow. We talked about where that power comes from. I think some of these guys will eventually develop it. Again, You met James. [Wood] at an important moment [in Saturday’s game] He hit the ball into the left field seats and hit a home run. I think we’ll see more of him when he gets a little older. I think it’s my right fielder. [Dylan Crews] I’m going to drive the ball, catcher. [Keibert Ruiz] We’re going to drive the ball. acquired a shortstop [CJ Abrams] He’s back, and as you can see, he did really well. [first] half. I think it’s only a matter of time before he puts it all together throughout the year.
“So we’ll be good. Now, if they decide we need a few more bats in our lineup, that’s great. So we’ll see.”
Continued growth from top prospects (Wood, Cruz, Lewis, Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr. – players who had breakout seasons) as well as impressive performances from players who arrived a little earlier than expected (D.J. ) Hurts/Mitchell Parker), it’s hard to consider a 71-win season a success, but Martinez really thinks they’re close to it.
He really is.
“We didn’t get to where we wanted to be, which is to make the playoffs again, but I think we’re really close to that day.”