I was driving around yesterday and was thinking what upgraded performances could we hope for to make up for Rendons output offensively. I believe Turner and Robles are the key with Castro playing a secondary role. Kendrick, Cabrerra will regress due to age and playing time and Eaton and Soto will stay the same.
I expect more out of Thames and RZ at 1st.
Rendon was a Fangraphs 7 win player last year, and 3d overall was 6.6.
Last year, the Nats had 2.9 WAR from 1st, 2.6 from 2d, 2.8 from SS, and 2.5 from CF. That's 10.8, I think. They project Kiebrera for 2.0, so there's 5+ to make up from 1st, 2d, SS, and CF. They project Thamerman 1.6, 1.7 from Castdrick, 4.2 from Turner, and 3.4 from Robles, for 10.9 WAR. Still 5 short, before you get into Soto (they have him projected 0.9 improvement). I expect maybe they are low balling the right side in their projections, so add a win there. Still 3 short. Kieboom, if he's above average his rookie year, say 2.5 - 3 WAR, pretty much wipes out the difference (2 WAR) before accounting for bullpen improvement and maybe 2 more months out of Scherzer.