3 teams Zack Greinke could return with after KC Royals farewell bombed

Washington Nationals

The Nationals have also started cooking a bit this offseason, with signings of reliever Dylan Floro and outfielder Nick Senzel. In the starting pitching department, the Nats actually don't have as much of a need to be urgently looking for starters as many other teams. All five of their expected 2024 starters — Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Patrick Corbin, and Trevor Williams — pitched over 120 innings for the Nationals in 2023. Did they do it exceptionally well? That's sort of a different story. Washington's pitching staff ranked 27th in ERA in 2023, fourth in earned runs against, and first in home runs allowed.

Greinke could be considered something of a risk for a lot of teams given his age and his performance this year, but maybe the Nationals assuming that risk, which comes with a pretty good history behind him, would actually be beneficial to them. Gray, Gore, and Irvin are still young and have a lot of upside that the Nationals could use to shop one or more of them in order to accommodate Greinke. There's no getting rid of Corbin's contract, but even a trade of Williams could free up a considerable amount of money that could go to Greinke. It might be a shake up for Washington, but at this point, isn't anything worth trying?

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