The Nationals announced that they have declined their 2024 club option on Victor Robles. The outfielder is not a free agent as he has less than six years of service time and the club could decide to tender him an arbitration contract for next year.
Robles, now 26, avoided arbitration with the Nats last offseason. He agreed to a salary of $2.325MM while granting the club a 2024 option valued at $3.3MM. He spent most of 2023 on the injured list due to back spasms, only getting into 36 games.
After a mostly lost season, it’s understandable that the Nats didn’t want to pick up that option and give him a raise of almost $1MM. But he remains on the roster and could be retained for 2024 via arbitration. The projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegged Robles at $2.7MM for next year, making it possible the Nats could keep Robles but at a lesser price point than the option they declined today. The non-tender deadline is November 17, so the Nats have a couple of weeks to decide if they want to keep Robles for another year, work out a trade or non-tender him.
Though he was once considered one of the top prospects in the league, he hasn’t yet established himself at the major league level. His speed and defense give him a solid floor but he has hit just .238/.312/.360 in 1,801 plate appearances at the major league level dating back to 2017.