The Nationals made a flurry of transactions to clear up space on their 40-man roster this evening, parting ways with a couple of well-known veterans in the process.

Joey Meneses and Ildemaro Vargas both cleared outright waivers and chose to become free agents rather than remain in the organization. The same was true of Triple-A right-hander Michael Rucker, who declared for free agency after clearing waivers. Pitcher Thaddeus Ward, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers by the Orioles and has thus seen his time with the Nats come to an end.

Those moves, along with the activation of four players off the 60-day injured list (Joan Adon, Cade Cavalli, Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson) wrapped up an eventful first official day of the offseason, leaving the Nationals with 36 players on their 40-man roster as they prepare for what could be a far more active winter than they’ve experienced since embarking on their franchise rebuild in 2021.

The decision to part ways with Meneses and Vargas, while somewhat surprising in the latter’s case, underscores the organization’s desire to move on from veterans who helped the team get through these recent lean years and perhaps signals an intention to more aggressively attempt to field a winner in 2025.

Meneses, 32, became one of the unexpected cult heroes of the rebuild when the career minor leaguer was called up from Triple-A on the same day superstar Juan Soto was traded to the Padres. He proceeded to homer in his major league debut and finished with 13 home runs and a .930 OPS in 56 games to close out the 2022 season. He remained a productive hitter in 2023, though experienced a drop in power and finished those same 13 homers and a .722 OPS despite playing in three times as many games.

PITTSBURGH – Tonight's game between the Nationals and Pirates has been postponed due to a line of storms expected to arrive about an hour after scheduled first pitch and linger throughout the night.

The two teams will now play a split doubleheader Saturday, with the makeup game at 1:35 p.m. followed by the originally scheduled game at 6:40 p.m.

After a brief period of rain this afternoon, the skies over PNC Park actually cleared up and looked to remain that way until approximately 7:30 p.m. In theory, this game could have started on time at 6:40 p.m., with officials hoping to get as many innings as possible in before the rain arrived.

But with the storms expected to be strong and last throughout the night, the Pirates decided not to take any chances and announced the postponement about 30 minutes before first pitch.

DJ Herz, who was supposed to pitch tonight, will now start Saturday's 1:35 p.m. game. Mitchell Parker will start the 6:40 p.m. nightcap as planned.