Getting the Nationals perspective
District on Deck's site expert Nick Meyers shared his thoughts on who will get better quicker (so that way there are no out-of-town stupid accusations from the Nationals' fan base....
I think the Nationals are closer than the Sox. Abrams is emerging into a star and James Wood could probably step in right away and hit cleanup for this team. Gore is looking more like an ace and Irvin and Parker have really stepped up. And now Young and Garcia are producing when they weren’t expected to be key contributors. Basically we have a lot more depth pieces we’ve developed recently that we didn’t have more. So now we just need our stars to reach the majors and we’re going to take off.
They’ll need to pay up for a big-time free-agent starting pitcher like they did for Scherzer. The depth is nice but we need more elite arms
It makes sense since Washington had a head start.
Divisional competitiveness
The one thing the Sox have over the Nationals is that Sox do not have to jump juggernauts like the Atlanta Braves or the Philadelphia Phillies. Also, the Nationals have to deal with the deep-pocketed New York Mets who are run by David Stearns. Stearns built the Brewers into a consistent winner on shoe-string budgets. Imagine what he will do with nearly unlimited money.
If the White Sox ever acted like a big-market club, they could at least outspend their four smaller market division counterparts.
Yes, you need to spend wisely, but the Sox could start acting like they have the resources to make those moves to put them over the top in free agency or trades.
The White Sox have the advantage when it comes to dealing with a weak division. Overall, the Nationals have all the other advantages to get back to being a contender and staying one over the White Sox.