The Nationals havent made many notable acquisitions this offseason. They signed middle reliever and former top prospect to affordable one-year pacts and plucked infielder from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft. Its not all that surprising that a still-rebuilding Washington team coming off a 71-91 showing hasnt been aggre sive, but GM Mike Rizzo had suggested at the Winter Meetings the team was open to a multi-year free agent pickup in the right situation ( ). With all of $4.25MM in free agent spending committed to Floro and Senzel, there should still be financial room at Rizzos disposal. That doesnt guarantee theyll hand out any kind of significant deal, particularly with a lack of great options in the middle tiers of free agency. Yet itd be a surprise if the Nationals were finished with their offseason activity. One area where some kind of addition seems likely: a left-handed bat. Both the Talk Nats blog and MLB.coms Je sica Camerato suggested in late December that Washington was looking to bring in . The Nats best lefty or switch-hitting bats , , and all have middling pop. Only the Guardians had a lower ISO (slugging minus batting average) against right-handed pitching in 2023. Acquiring a lefty power source makes plenty of sense. Its hard to see Washington spending at the level itd take to land . Even though hes young enough to be a veteran cornerstone for a team that could more realistically seek to compete by 2025, the Nationals have a pair of top center field prospects in and . Theyre also still faced with the MASN rights uncertainty and on the hook for significant money to , Franmil Reyes Jersey and deferrals in the short term. Its probably not the right time for a top-of-the-market splash. Well look a few tiers down. Where might that search lead Rizzo and company? Free Agency : Belt, even going into his age-36 season, should command the loftiest guarantee of the players in this group. Hes coming off a very strong offensive showing for the Blue Jays. He hit 19 homers and walked more than 15% of the time he stepped to the plate, leading to a .254/.369/.490 line through 404 plate appearances. Favorable matchups played a role in that strong rate production; Toronto limited him to 39 PAs against left-handed pitching. Washington could deploy him similarly at designated hitter and/or first base, where only (coming off a league average offensive showing) stands in the way. : The Blue Jays are the only club publicly tied to Pederson this winter. Hes coming off a middling season in which he hit .235/.348/.416 with 15 homers through 425 plate appearances for the Giants. Thats not huge power production at first glance, but Pederson has five 20+ homer seasons on his rsum (four with at least 25 longballs). He made hard contact an exit velocity of at least 95 MPH on more than half his batted balls last season, a in the majors. Pederson is a limited player. Hes best served as a DH and is mostly limited to facing right-handed pitching. He still has life in the bat, though, even if last years results were underwhelming. : There hasnt been any public chatter on Rosario since the Braves declined a $9MM option at the start of the offseason. He should command a one-year deal at a salary thats not too far below that rate. Rosario is coming off a reasonably effective year. He hit 21 homers with a .255/.305/.450 line in 516 trips to the plate. That was the fourth time in his career that he surpa sed 20 longballs. Rosario is mostly limited to left field but rated reasonably well with the glove last year. His performance varies wildly within seasons, but he tends to produce roughly league average numbers by the end. : Gallo hit 21 homers in just 332 plate appearances a season ago. The flaw in his game, huge swing-and-mi s rates, has only magnified in recent seasons. Gallo hasnt hit above the Mendoza line since 2019. Hes hitting .168 with a .290 on-base percentage in 742 plate appearances over the last two campaigns. There are a lot of uncompetitive at-bats. Few players fit the profile of a left-handed power bat quite like Gallo, though. Trade Po sibilities Its tougher to identify great fits on the trade market in the absence of many clear rebuilding teams. The Nationals could theoretically take a bigger swing at a player with an extended control window (e.g. , ). Thats not an easy task to pull off, particularly since Washington is probably reluctant to part with significant prospect talent. There are a few veteran bats whod make some sense as speculative trade candidates for a le ser return. : Bell had a productive stint over his year and a half in Washington from 2021-22. He hit .278/.363/.483 in just over 1000 plate appearances before being included in the trade. Bell has changed uniforms twice more since that deadline blockbuster, signing with the Guardians before being flipped to the Marlins last summer. The switch-hitting first baseman struggled in Cleveland (.233/.318/.383) but generally turned things around in South Florida (.270/.338/.480). That reasonably strong finish wasnt enough for Bell to forego a $16.5MM player option for the upcoming season. It stands to reason the Fish would be happy to get out from under the bulk of that deal if the Nationals were interested in a reunion. : As GM David Forst indicated at the beginning of the offseason that he to trade Brown. Thats presumably more about Oakland feeling that other teams wont meet their ask than an indication they wouldnt consider offers on a 31-year-old platoon player. Brown is a career .237/.305/.471 hitter against right-handed pitching. He can play first base or the corner outfield and is under arbitration control for three seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasts him for a $2.4MM salary. : Yastrzemski is projected for a $7.3MM salary in his second-to-last arbitration season. He hit 15 homers in 381 plate appearances a year ago, running a .233/.330/.445 line overall. The Giants arent likely to urgently shop Yastrzemski, but the singing of pushes him from center field to the corner opposite . Trading paved the way for a Lee, Conforto, Yastrzemski outfield supplemented by righty-hitting , but the Giants also have , and as options on the gra s. Minor League Deal Candidates Each of these players has turned in above-average offense from the left side in their careers. None hit free agency under great circumstances. Choi had an injury-plagued 2023 campaign that kept him to 39 games without much production. The other four players were either non-tendered or elected free agency after an outright. Meadows has mi sed most of the past two seasons attending to anxiety; it is unclear if hell be in position to return next year. Ford and Vogelbach are largely limited to DH, while Walsh hasnt been the same since he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome in 2022. None of these players are likely to be Washingtons top acquisition, but theyd be viable depth targets if the Nats wanted a second lefty bat on a minor league or low-cost MLB pact. Nick Anderson Jersey