The Nationals made a flurry of roster moves last week to begin the offseason, thanks to two deadlines. Earlier in the week, they had to remove players from the 40-man roster and add eligible prospects they wanted to protect from the Rule 5 draft. Then a week ago today, they needed to tender or non-tender contracts to their 10 arbitration-eligible players.

In all, they removed seven players from the 40-man roster (Tres Barrera, Francisco Pérez, Seth Romero, Yadiel Hernandez, Jackson Tetreault, Evan Lee and Tommy Romero) and added six Rule 5-eligible prospects (Jake Alu, Jeremy De La Rosa, Jackson Rutledge, Jake Irvin, Matt Cronin and Jose Ferrer). They then agreed to terms with Ildemaro Vargas on his 2023 salary, tendered seven contracts to arbitration-eligible players (Lane Thomas, Victor Robles, Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey, Tanner Rainey and Victor Arano) and non-tendered Erick Fedde and Luke Voit.

A lot of movement to keep track of in one week of the offseason.

Two of those moves, however, are the latest examples of an underlying issue the Nats have had in roster construction over the last decade. Fedde and Seth Romero are the newest names added to a growing list of failed first-round draft picks made under Mike Rizzo’s tenure as general manager.

Fedde was non-tendered in his second year of arbitration eligibility after parts of six seasons with the Nationals. He was the 18th overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (just days after having Tommy John surgery) with expectations of being a part of the big league rotation for years to come.

Seth Romero’s tumultuous five years with the Nationals came to an unceremonious end this evening when the organization requested unconditional release waivers on the left-hander, one day after he reportedly was arrested for a DWI in his home state of Texas for the second time in 2022.

Romero, 26, immediately comes off the Nationals’ 40-man roster, opening a spot for them to protect another minor leaguer subject to this year’s Rule 5 draft one day before Major League Baseball requires all teams to make such transactions. The Nats now have two openings on the 40-man roster, with the possibility of more to come before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

A first-round pick in the 2017 draft, Romero’s career has been an unquestionable bust, both because of injuries he sustained on the field and his actions off it. The Nationals knew they were taking a risk using the 25th overall pick on the talented-but-troubled lefty, who had been suspended multiple times at the University of Houston and ultimately was kicked off the team. They nonetheless gave him an above-slot $2.8 million signing bonus.

Romero did little to restore his reputation at the outset of his professional career, getting sent home from his first spring training camp for violating team policy. He missed the entire 2019 season following Tommy John surgery on his elbow, returned to make his major league debut late in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season but appeared in only three games before going back on the injured list after breaking his non-pitching hand upon slipping on a stairway.

Romero never returned to the big leagues after that, spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons bouncing between minor league affiliates and the 60-day IL with a calf strain. All told, he pitched only 100 1/3 professional innings for the Nationals, all but 2 2/3 of those in the minors, with only one appearance above Double-A.

The Nationals announced two minor, but noteworthy, roster moves before their second game of this weekend series against the Reds.

Yadiel Hernandez was transferred to the 60-day injured list, ending his season while he still recovers from a left calf strain. He was placed on the 10-day IL on Aug. 20 (retroactive to Aug. 19), but his calf was not healing at a rate in which the team thought he could be ready to play in any of the remaining 35 games.

So the Nationals decided to shut down the 34-year-old outfielder so he can start getting ready for next year.

“He's had a calf, and from past experience with these calves, it's going to take a little bit longer than we anticipated,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference. “But those calves, you gotta be really careful. So we didn't think that he was going to be ready in time. 

“What I'd like to see is that when Yadi leaves here for this winter that he's completely healthy. That he's running without all the baseball (things), but that he's running full tilt, can do some outfield stuff. This way he doesn't have to go home and worry about that. He just could have a normal winter and get ready for spring training.”