New Nationals skipper Blake Butera, as noted by many, does not have much professional playing experience, spending just 2 seasons in the minor leagues for the Rays before calling it quits, peaking at the Low
A level. Before that, he spent 4 years playing collegiate ball at Boston College, where he was a spark-plug up the middle for the Eagles, posting a .378 on-base percentage and tallying over 200 hits in his collegiate career. Many will criticize Butera’s lack of professional playing experience, but the truth is managers in today’s era of baseball are perfectly capable of pushing all the right buttons without having been the ones on the field, and their more important task is managing all the personalities inside of a clubhouse.
One interesting aspect of having a manager so young is that many of the connections he made along the way in his career are still kicking it in the majors. Take, for example, the Hudson Valley Renegades, the Low A affiliate of the Rays in 2016, where Butera played 4 games, who had 5 future big leaguers on their roster, including Nathaniel Lowe, the former National. The same can be said for the Princeton Rays, one of the Rays’ two rookie teams at the time, who also had 5 former big leaguers who played alongside Butera, the most notable being Josh Lowe and Jesus Sanchez.
The connection I want to look at, however, actually comes from Butera’s college days. Michael King, pitcher for the Padres who will likely be a free agent this offseason, pending his decision on his contract option, played 2 years with Butera at BC, posting a 2.93 and 3.03 ERA in those years, respectively. King has transformed himself throughout his career, going from a starter at Boston College to a reliever with the Yankees, back to a starter again for the Padres after joining them in the second Juan Soto trade. Now at 30 years old, he will finally hit the open market, where he should be a hot commodity, although there are a few arms who may distract the richest ball clubs from pursuing him first, such as Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease.
So could King be enticed to come play under his former college teammate in DC? While it is rather unlikely, as contenders will be lining up for King’s services, it isn’t worth ruling out, as often in the offseason, there are always a few players who end up taking contracts they were not expecting to take at the beginning of winter. Often, these players go into the offseason with unreasonable contract expectations, and when the market will not budge, they have to settle for a short-term, high average annual value contract, putting them in a position to test the market again in a year or two. A recent notable example of this is Blake Snell, who, after winning the NL Cy Young with the Padres in 2023, had to settle for a 2 year, $62 million contract with the Giants, which he opted out of after 1 season and signed with the Dodgers.
So if King finds himself in this position this offseason, where no one is willing to give him the number of years he desires in a deal, there is an opportunity for the Nationals to swoop in and give him one of those short-term deals. For King, the benefit of this type of deal would be that he gets his first real payday, all while getting another chance on the open market the following offseason if he performs to his best level. He can also practically guarantee he will find himself pitching in the postseason as well, as either the Nats make a run and he remains on the club, or the team is out of the playoff race by the trade deadline and King is flipped to a contender for prospects.
For the Nats, the benefit is that they get an ace for a rotation that is in dire need of help, especially if MacKenzie Gore is, in fact, traded this offseason. They also, if they find themself out of contention, have the ability to trade him at the deadline and bolster the farm system some more. While I would not expect the Nationals to be favorites by any means in the Michael King sweepstakes, weird things can happen during the offseason, and Paul Toboni may want to make a signing that announces himself in a big way this winter.
