WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals made six more cuts this afternoon, bringing the number of remaining healthy players in camp down to the requisite 26 but leaving open the possibility of acquiring someone from outside the organization to fill out their bench or bullpen before the Opening Day roster is officially set.

Right-hander Paolo Espino and infielder Jeter Downs were optioned to Triple-A Rochester, while relievers Alex Colomé, Andrés Machado and Wily Peralta were reassigned to minor league camp.

First baseman Matt Adams, meanwhile, was informed he won’t be making the club but is still deciding whether he will accept an invitation from manager Davey Martinez to come with the team to D.C. for Tuesday’s exhibition finale against the Yankees and whether he will report to Rochester or become a free agent.

Those moves seemed to set the Opening Day roster, with infielder Michael Chavis winning the final spot on the bench and Anthony Banda, Thaddeus Ward, Mason Thompson and Hobie Harris filling the last four spots in the bullpen. But Martinez insisted the roster is not set in stone yet and said he has not informed any of those players they’ve made the club yet.

“There’s no set roster right now,” Martinez said. “We still have decisions to make. We probably won’t make any decisions until we go back to D.C.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – If the Nationals were choosing the final four pitchers to make their Opening Day bullpen based strictly on spring training stats, the decision would be fairly simple.

Andres Machado (zero runs, zero walks in four innings), Hobie Harris (one run, three hits in nine innings), Paolo Espino (one run in eight innings), Thaddeus Ward (four runs, 12 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings) and Mason Thompson (three runs in seven innings) have performed the best among the relievers competing down to the wire.

Alex Colomé (six runs, 19 baserunners in 9 2/3 innings), Anthony Banda (seven runs in 11 innings) and Wily Peralta (12 earned runs, 24 baserunners in 9 2/3 innings) have not.

Opening Day roster decisions, however, aren’t as simple as that. It’s not just about spring training numbers. It’s about track records. It’s about contract statuses. It’s about who has minor league options.

And ultimately, it’s about keeping as many pitchers in your organization as you can, knowing you’re going to need them all at some point during the long season.

JUPITER, Fla. – The handful of competitions in Nationals camp this spring involve the bullpen and bench. General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez have a multitude of ways they could go about deciding who makes the Opening Day roster and who doesn’t, and today they’ll get their first look at several of the competitors.

The Nats bullpen can probably be divided into two categories: Late-inning specialists and multi-inning arms. The former group is mostly set, with Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey and Sean Doolittle (if healthy) all but assured of making the club. The latter group is more wide-open.

Only Erasmo Ramirez has a guaranteed contract. Paolo Espino, Cory Abbott, Mason Thompson, Jordan Weems and Victor Arano all have minor league options. Thaddeus Ward, a Rule 5 draftee, must remain on the big league roster or be offered back to the Red Sox. Alex Colomé and Andres Machado are trying to make the team off minor league deals.

The big question, ultimately, may be this: How many multi-inning relievers do the Nationals want to keep?

“It’s going to be a competition, because we have so many of those guys,” Martinez said. “But I like them all.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The first live batting practice session of the spring is always going to favor pitchers over hitters. Pitchers have been building up to this for a while. Position players, on the other hand, haven’t even officially reported to camp yet.

So most eyes this morning at Nationals camp were focused on the likes of Patrick Corbin, MacKenzie Gore and others who faced hitters free to swing away if they liked. Corbin went up against projected regulars Joey Meneses, Luis García and Dominic Smith. On an adjacent field, Gore faced Stone Garrett, Michael Chavis and Derek Hill, all trying to crack the Opening Day roster as bench players.

All told, 11 pitchers took the mound for about 10-15 minutes a piece: Corbin, Gore, Trevor Williams, Jose Ferrer, Hunter Harvey, Kyle Finnegan, Wily Peralta, Paolo Espino, Erasmo Ramirez, Alex Colome and Thaddeus Ward.

“My focus was really on watching pitchers, their mechanics and where they’re at,” said manager Davey Martinez, who bounced from field to field, trying to get a glimpse of as many guys as he could. “For today, basically I was trying to get everybody to throw the ball over the white of the plate. Just hit the white and focus on hitting strikes.”

Which isn’t to say there wasn’t some reason to notice what some hitters were doing. Chief among them was García, who after facing Corbin in the first round of live BP had to go up against the hard-throwing Harvey in the next round.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sixty-seven players (27 of those non-roster invitees) will participate in big league camp for the Nationals this spring, a list that includes a combination of familiar names of the past and newcomers looking to make a name for themselves for the first time.

With the first official workout of spring training underway this afternoon, the Nats announced their full list of non-roster invitees to major league camp. Among those here are 11 players who have been in the majors with the team before: pitchers Sean Doolittle, Andres Machado, Evan Lee, Jackson Tetreault, Francisco Perez, Alberto Baldonado and Tommy Romero; first baseman Matt Adams; infielder Lucius Fox; and outfielders Yadiel Hernández and Donovan Casey.

Doolittle, who returns on a minor league deal after missing the majority of 2022 with an elbow injury, and Adams, who is back with the club three years after winning a World Series ring, are familiar veterans hoping to force their way onto the Opening Day roster.

The others all were in the big leagues at some point in the last two seasons but were designated for assignment and dropped off the 40-man roster. They’ll now attempt to make it back, albeit as non-roster invitees.

The Nationals added several veterans this winter with major league experience on minor league contracts, headlined by pitchers Wily Peralta, Alex Colomé and Chad Kuhl; plus infielder Michael Chavis.

We’ve reached the final countdown to spring training, so we’re counting down the biggest storylines facing the Nationals this spring in West Palm Beach. We continue today with a look at players not on the team’s 40-man roster who might still have a shot to make the Opening Day roster …

For a team coming off a miserable, 107-loss season, the Nationals don’t appear to have that many jobs up for grabs this spring. Assuming perfect health – it’s never a good idea to assume perfect health, by the way – we could probably pencil in nine everyday position players, five starting pitchers, at least four relievers and a couple bench guys before anyone has officially reported to West Palm Beach.

Which isn’t to suggest there can’t still be some surprises in store over the next six weeks. Or that everyone who heads north with the club has to come from the pre-existing 40-man roster.

The Nats haven’t formally announced how many players in total will be in big league camp, but we already know there will be a healthy number of players invited to compete who signed non-guaranteed, minor league deals over the winter. Some of them, actually, are very well-known players, including a couple with significant recent history with this organization.

None of these players is assured of a job come March 30, but all of them should have a legitimate chance to make their case to the coaching staff and front office this spring. And if anybody does enough to stand out from the crowd, there’s ample reason to believe a roster spot or two could be created for them.

In some respects, the Nationals’ signing of veteran reliever Alex Colomé to a minor league deal Friday makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t this team take a chance on a 34-year-old with 159 saves and a 3.34 ERA over 446 career big league appearances, especially on a contract that won’t cost them anything unless he makes the club out of spring training?

But will he actually make the club? Is there room for Colomé in a bullpen that already looked plenty deep on paper prior to his signing?

The unquestioned strength of the Nationals during a dismal 2022 season, the bullpen returns almost entirely intact in 2023. Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr. and Hunter Harvey all avoided arbitration and agreed to affordable one-year deals. Erasmo Ramirez, so valuable last season as a jack of all trades, re-signed for a guaranteed $1 million, with the possibility of earning another $1 million in incentives.

Mason Thompson, who impressed in limited big league time last season, is back and should be given a good look as a potential long-term piece. Thad Ward, the top pick in the Rule 5 draft, has to make the team and stay in the majors or else be offered back to the Red Sox. And conventional wisdom suggests the Nats will keep either Paolo Espino or Cory Abbott as a long reliever and emergency starter.

So that’s seven spots right there, and we haven’t even mentioned Sean Doolittle, attempting to return from an elbow procedure and serve as the only left-hander in the 'pen. Or Victor Arano and Jordan Weems, who seemingly are in the mix but are likely saddled by the fact each still has minor league options.

The Nationals added another experienced reliever this afternoon to what already looked like a deep bullpen, signing veteran right-hander Alex Colomé to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

Colomé, 34, isn’t guaranteed a spot on the Opening Day roster and will have to prove himself during spring training. But his lengthy track record as a late-inning reliever should give him a leg up over others trying to break camp with the club.

The Nationals have long been intrigued by Colomé, his name having come up several times in the past when they were searching for late-inning help at the trade deadline. Only now, on the heels of back-to-back rough seasons with the Twins and Rockies, is he finally joining the club.

Owner of 159 career saves, Colomé was an All-Star with a 1.91 ERA in 2016 and closed out 47 games for the Rays in 2017, leading the league.

Traded the following year to the Mariners – along with former Nationals center fielder Denard Span – he continued to enjoy success in Seattle and then in Chicago with the White Sox. At the end of the 2020 season, he sported a 2.95 ERA and 1.177 WHIP across 326 big league appearances.

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