WASHINGTON -- The Nationals checked off a large, daunting box with the re-introduction of Stephen Strasburg on Tuesday at Nationals Park, but hanging over the celebration was the bevy of work still to be done.

Despite lobbying from several current Nats, Anthony Rendon is an Angel. Several free agents from the World Series-winning squad remain unsigned. Washington has not inked a Major League relief pitcher so far this winter.

On Tuesday, general manager Mike Rizzo confirmed reports that the team has been in on free-agent third baseman Josh Donaldson to plug the hole left by Rendon. But to that end, Rizzo said he's considered a number of other options and is thinking about top prospect Carter Kieboom as a solution as well.

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“We have interest in Josh Donaldson,” Rizzo said. “We're in conversations with a lot of different people and [there are] a lot of moving parts, and he's one of them."

If not the former MVP in Donaldson, one free-agent option could be Asdrúbal Cabrera, a utility-type player who has been with the franchise in two instances and tallied 40 RBIs in 124 at-bats last year after joining Washington in August.

“He fits a nice role for us,” Rizzo said. “We know the player, I love the makeup and the character of him, specifically.”

As for Kieboom, he’ll have to fight for his spot. MLB’s No. 20 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, hit .128/.209/.282 in 39 Major League at-bats last season when he filled in for an injured Trea Turner.

“I think he’s very, very close to Major League ready,” Rizzo said. “… If I feel he’s ready to make the club -- and make an impact on the club -- he’ll certainly get an opportunity.”

On the other side of the diamond, Rizzo said he is still in contact with Ryan Zimmerman’s representation about a return for 2020. Zimmerman has made clear his desire to return to D.C. over any other team.

“Ryan Zimmerman is one of the guys that are near and dear to our hearts," Rizzo reaffirmed. "We feel that he is another legacy player and we’ve been in contact with his people. I’ve seen Zim several times since then in and about the neighborhood.”

“We’ve discussed a lot of different things with a lot of different players,” Rizzo later added, “and I think at the end of the day we’re going to put together a team that you guys can be proud of -- that D.C. can be proud of -- that gives us a chance to repeat as champs.”

Relief market touch and go

Outside of signing career Minor Leaguer Kyle Finnegan, the Nationals have yet to make a move to address their historically poor bullpen from a season ago.

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Rizzo, for his part, said that may be more due to the nature of the relief market than a lack of urgency.

“You’ve got some older relievers with less miles on their arms and you have some young relievers with a lot of miles on their arms,” Rizzo said. “We are going to rely on our analytics and our scouts to determine who fits best for us and try to upgrade ourselves there going into Spring Training and, obviously, always give ourselves opportunities to make changes as we’ve done in the past.”

Those opportunities for changes could mean payroll flexibility, which the Nationals tried to prioritize at the onset of 2019 and appear on track to do again in ’20.

“Ownership here has been more than fair with the way we've allocated funds for this team,” Rizzo said. “I think that’ll continue to be so. You have to be creative and smart on how you spend your money, and I think we've been that.”

Scherzer reports health

In attendance to support Strasburg on Tuesday, Max Scherzer said that after “a really nice hangover” following October’s festivities, he underwent MRIs to examine his back after a mild strain of the rhomboid muscle sidelined him for a majority of July and August in 2019.

Results showed no long-ranging damage from the injury, which had been a worry given its nature and was compounded by how deep into the year Scherzer and other Nationals pitchers threw.

“There's nothing there. I got all my strength,” Scherzer said. “Got everything situated in that regard. Started picking up the ball, started playing catch, started working on my body to make sure that I'm as strong as possible. Strong as ever, to be able to go into a season and fully anticipate making all my starts.

"Last year was the best year of my career. I'll take that every year. I'll win the World Series every year, but frustrating how I got hurt and that I was missing starts in the critical time of the year. That's something that I definitely don't want to happen two years in a row."