Washington
Washington Nationals’ Four Best Contracts on Next Season’s Payroll
The Washington Nationals showed the world in 2024 that their rebuild this time may not be as lengthy as their previous rebuilds.
While they do still have a long way to go to be competitive in the toughest division in baseball, the National League East, their young core has started to make their Major League debuts and prove that the hype surrounding them was justified.
It is only a matter of time before the Nationals are back on the island of relevancy, and these four contracts on their 2025 payroll are massive boons to their success.
All figures accurate as of December 2
Dylan Crews was the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 MLB draft and quickly rose through the minor leagues before making his Major League debut on Aug. 26.
While his Major League numbers may not look that promising on the surface, it was a small sample size, and when you dive deeper, things begin to look much better.
First, Crews batted .219/.288/.353 with three home runs, eight RBI, 12 stolen bases, and an 82 OPS+ across 132 plate appearances in 31 games.
However, over the last week of the season, Crews batted a much better .286/.400/.429 with no home runs or RBI, three stolen bases, and a 144 OPS+.
The rookie had an xBA of .253 for his time in the Majors and an xSLG of .418, so there was a good bit of bad luck playing into his results.
Crews is under team control for at least five more years, and after seemingly finding his footing at the Major League level to end 2024, it could be off to the races in 2025.
Pre-Arb, League Minimum
Derek Law is a journeyman relief pitcher, who has been much too good throughout his career to not have a forever home with a contending team.
That was no different in 2024, as the reliever was a free agent until Washington signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal on February 21.
Law would go on to pitch to a 2.60 ERA across 90 innings in 75 games with 76 strikeouts and a 155 ERA+.
The 34-year-old is arbitration eligible for one more year and will spend more than one season with a team for only the third time since his Major League debut in 2016.
Arbitration Projection of $3 million
MacKenzie Gore is an interesting piece in the middle of the Nationals rotation.
He joined the club as part of the trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2022 and made his team debut in 2023.
He has improved his production and his innings count in each of his three seasons in the Majors, with an 84 ERA+ across 70 innings in 2022, a 96 ERA+ across 136 1/3 innings in 2023, and a 103 ERA+ across 166 1/3 innings in 2024.
His success this year came from an extra mile-per-hour added onto his fastball, seemingly from using it less throughout the campaign.
In 2022 and 2023, Gore used his fastball 61 percent and 59 percent respectively, but dropped down to 55 percent in 2024, mixing his pitches more, and throwing that pitch harder, leading to more whiffs.
If Gore can continue his string of yearly improvements, perhaps even dropping the fastball usage to 50 percent, he will be an even bigger piece of the team’s rotation.
Arbitration Projection of $3.1 Million
Left fielder James Wood was another part of the Soto trade in 2022, but he did not make his Major League debut until this year.
Patience proved to be a virtue, however, as the young star produced a promising 122 OPS+ across 336 plate appearances in 79 games.
When Wood connects with the ball, he does not miss, carrying an elite exit velocity (92.8 MPH) and hard-hit rate (52 percent) while pairing those skills with an elite chase rate (21 percent) and walk rate (11.6 percent).
Wood needs to get under the ball more and try and drive it into the gap if he wants to take that next step forward in his game, as he carried a 2.4 launch angle, showing that he got on top of the ball and drove it into the ground more often than not.
With how hard he can hit baseballs if he can improve that launch angle, he will quickly become one of the preeminent power threats in the game today, all at the low low price of league minimum.
Pre-Arb, League Minimum
Federal authorities are planning a “summer surge” aimed at reducing crimes committed by young people in D.C. sources tell News4.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro is expected to announce Friday that the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force will do additional enforcement and get more resources, law enforcement sources said.
The move comes about two weeks after the D.C. Council chose not to vote on extending Mayor Muriel Bowser’s emergency youth curfew zones over the summer.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 that established the task force. He declared a crime emergency and temporarily federalized the locally run Metropolitan Police Department in August 2025.
Trump threatened to seize control of MPD after teens attacked then-Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee Edward Coristine, who was known by the nickname Big Balls.
Pirro has repeatedly railed against youth who commit crimes and told News4 she would like to see children as young as 12 prosecuted as adults.
“The time for coddling young people – 14, 15, 16, 17 – is over. And it’s time that we lowered the age of criminal responsibility,” she said in August.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The owner of a popular Washington Avenue restaurant says he was arrested after a dispute with city health inspectors over whether his business had a valid permit to operate.
Surveillance video recorded May 6 inside Betelgeuse Betelgeuse shows owner Chris Cusack speaking with Houston Health Department officials before he was taken into custody.
“I was pretty dazed, and all I could do is comply until it all got figured out,” Cusack said.
Cusack was charged with failure to comply with local health and sanitary laws after authorities accused the restaurant of operating without a food dealer’s permit.
The Houston Health Department says food dealer permits are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.
Cusack disputes the allegation, saying he has paperwork he believes proves the business had renewed its permit in March.
“I pulled it off the wall and showed it to him,” Cusack said. “He said it wasn’t the right business. I said it has my business’ name and address on it.”
Cusack said inspectors questioned whether the permit was tied to the correct business identification number.
“(The inspector) saw the first ID and said, ‘Ah ha, that’s the one you’re working under, so therefore this isn’t valid,’” Cusack said.
ABC13 reached out to the Houston Health Department with questions about the arrest. The department referred questions to the Houston Police Department.
According to HPD, the health department ordered the business closed in October 2025 for operating without a permit, though officials did not specify which type of permit was involved.
Police said the business was instructed to remain closed until it complied with health regulations. On May 4, inspectors learned the restaurant was open, according to HPD. Inspectors returned two days later, when Cusack was arrested.
Cusack said he was never told to shut down the business and questioned why inspectors waited months before returning.
The restaurant, known for pizza and drinks, reopened following the arrest and was serving customers again on Wednesday.
Cusack also expressed concern about what he described as aggressive enforcement targeting Washington Avenue businesses.
The entertainment district has faced increased law enforcement scrutiny in recent years as city leaders attempted to curb reckless behavior and nightlife-related crime.
“Washington Avenue business owners are just being confused by these intense raids on businesses for what are typically really basic scenarios,” Cusack said.
Court records show Cusack is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday on the charge.
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Metro is not recommending the construction of a new Metrorail station at the Commanders’ future home at the RFK Stadium site, documents released Tuesday reveal.
The transit agency instead recommended the creation of a rapid bus line called the Gold Line that would connect to Metrorail and buses at Union Station.
Metro also recommended major improvements to the Stadium-Armory Metro station. Without these measures, they warned it could take more than two hours to clear crowds after events at the stadium.
Metro said it projects that building a new rail station would cost about $1 billion and not be complete by the time the stadium is set to open in 2030.
More than half of people heading to events at the new stadium are expected to take public transportation.
Metro studied potential locations for a new Metro station, including Oklahoma Avenue and Benning Road NE.
Neighbors have repeatedly said they’re worried about traffic and parking.
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