While other baseball teams were making high-profile free agent signings before the game closed up shop due to the owner’s lockout in their labor dispute — Max Scherzer to the New York Mets was particularly painful — the Washington Nationals were doing their grunt work, signing a one-year deal with infielder Cesar Hernandez and bringing back infielder Alcides Escobar on a one-year deal.
These were solid deals, but no press conferences and nothing in particular to make their fans feel encouraged about climbing back from their last-place finish 65-97 in 2021.
But Washington made a big splash last week doing international business, landing one of the prize young free agents and one of the top prospects in the pool — Cuban outfielder Cristhian Vaquero, who came to the Dominican Republic in 2020.