The Nationals brought back on a two-year, $14MM this week. The veteran righty spoke with the Washington beat (including and ) this afternoon and indicated hell be part of Dave Martinezs rotation. While thats not surprising in isolation, it potentially sets up a camp battle if Washington sticks with a five-man staff. They signed righty to a $9MM deal to work as a starter. The Nats are also bringing back four pitchers who started at least 19 games last season: , , and . All four of those returning arms had productive campaigns. Gore is a former top prospect who posted a 3.90 earned run average while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents acro s 32 starts. Hell certainly be in the rotation. Irvin led the team with 187 2/3 innings Aron Baynes Jersey and turned in a 4.41 ERA with decent underlying metrics. The 27-year-old righty did seem to wear down in the second half, as he allowed a near-6.00 ERA after taking a 3.49 mark into the All-Star Break. He still seems likely to be a starting pitcher himself. If Washington wanted to begin the year with a five-man staff, that could leave Parker and Herz battling for a job if everyone comes through Spring Training healthy. Herz showed more swing-and-mi s ability, fanning nearly 28% of opponents with a 12.9% swinging strike rate in 19 starts as a rookie. The southpaws 9.4% walk rate was the highest of any of Washingtons starters, though. Herz has had far more worrisome walk numbers in the minors, including a ma sive 19% clip over 10 Triple-A starts last year. Parker, 25, profiles as a steadier back-end arm. He made 29 starts during his debut campaign and turned in a 4.29 ERA through 151 innings. He struck out 20.6% of opponents against a tidy 6.7% walk percentage. Parker doesnt throw quite as hard as Herz does and doesnt mi s bats at the same rate, but he looks the part of a league average starter. Washington used a six-man rotation when Williams returned from injury late last season. , who is now a free agent, was on hand in the role that Soroka would play this year. Thatd be the simplest solution if all six starters are available on Opening Day. Each of Gore, Irvin, Parker and Herz have minor league options, though, so the Nats could send anyone from that group to Triple-A if they wanted to move to a five-man staff. Prospect will be in the mix after mi sing nearly two full seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Nusbaum writes that Cavalli, who made his big league debut with one start in 2022, is likely to open the year in the minors. Thats designed to allow the team to monitor his workload since he has only thrown 8 1/3 minor league innings over the last two years. Cavalli is expected to factor into the MLB staff at some point in the season. Jevon Carter Jersey