Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 post-season.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 post-season. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
22. Washington Nationals, Mike Rizzo, president of baseball operations and general manager, -1.0
With a young and developing team in a difficult division, Mike Rizzo’s front office largely took a laissez-faire approach to 2024. Moves made by Rizzo’s front office involved only 37 major league players, equaling the second smallest volume of activity (ahead of only the Phillies) in all of baseball.
Instead, Rizzo relied on the natural growth of the team’s young controllable core including C.J. Abrams, Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, Joe La Sorsa, Luis Garcia, Kyle Finnegan, Mackenzie Gore, and Jake Irvin.
Rizzo was particularly cautious about moving talent out of town. Only nine members of the Nats’ 2023 or 2024 rosters were traded away or released to free agency, Only Ben Cherington’s Pittsburgh Pirates had fewer departures to other big league rosters (eight).
Easily the most noteworthy of those eight was Victor Robles, an outfielder released by Rizzo in June. Batting in the low .100s and blocking the progress of James Wood or Jacob Young (take your pick), Rizzo jettisoned Robles only to see him signed by the Mariners, for whom he hit .328 with an .860 OPS.
Five most impactful Rizzo moves
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Released Victor Robles to free agency | -2.3 |
Signed free agent Eddie Rosario | -1.9 |
Signed free agent Nick Senzel | -1.4 |
Signed free agent Dylan Floro | +1.2 |
Signed free agent Derek Law | +1.2 |
A curious fact about Rizzo’s 2024 activity: two of his most significant moves involved the signing of players he subsequently flipped.
Nick Senzel was signed as a winter free agent following his release by the Cincinnati Reds, only to saddle the Nats with a -1.4 WAA. Since that obviously wasn’t what Rizzo had in mind, he released Senzel in July, watching him sign with the Chicago White Sox for whom he generated a -0.9 WAA.
Rizzo also signed Dylan Floro as a free agent bullpen pickup last December. Floro was a +1.2 aid to the Nats’ bullpen, but since good bullpens are a luxury so-so teams can’t afford, Rizzo traded Floro in July to Arizona.
If I were a Nats fan, the concern I’d have is with the lack of development of that young core. Rizzo had 21 holdover players under controllable contracts following the conclusion of the 2023 season, with Gray, Gore, Abrams and Ruiz among them.
They ought to be the core of the next great Nationals team. Yet those 21 players produced a cumulative -5.4 WAA — not exactly a promising sign of things to come — and that included negative values by Ruiz, Gore and Gray, possibly the three most well-known names among that core.
In fact, the two most productive moves Rizzo made all season both involved journeymen. Floro was one; the other was the signing of free agent pitcher Derek Law. Pitching in relief for his sixth team, Law went 7-4 with a 2.60 ERA in 90 innings, good for a +1.2 WAA.
That would be encouraging for an up-and-coming prospect; for a 33-year-old veteran, it’s just a footnote of little consequence.
Previous Rankings
24. Detroit Tigers, Scott Harris president of baseball operations, -5.3.
23. Pittsburgh Pirates, Ben Cherington, executive vice president and general manager, -2.2
22. Washington Nationals Mike Rizzo, president of baseball operations and general manager, -1.0
Next: 21. Toronto Blue Jays, Ross Atkins, executive vice president and general manager, -0.6