Latest news and updates about the Nationals
Since he was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2023 MLB Draft, Travis Sykora was seen as a crown jewel in the Nationals system. Despite not being taken until the 71st pick, Sykora got $2.6 million, which was top 35 money in his class. He was a 6’6 flamethrower from Texas with an upper […]
Two of the biggest names on the Nationals have avoided arbitration and have come to terms on deals for the 2026 season. Paul Toboni was able to avoid arbitration with both CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore. With their salaries confirmed for 2026, it could potentially kick start trade talks, especially for Gore. Earlier today, Andrew […]
Yesterday, we saw a big name starting pitcher get traded by an NL East team, but it was not MacKenzie Gore. Instead, the Marlins decided to trade Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for a prospect package headlined by outfielder Owen Caissie. This takes another potential Gore suitor out of contention, while also setting the market […]
The great folks over at Baseball America just released new top 30 prospect lists for every team entering the 2026 season. Of course, that means the Nats have a new top 30 list. We don’t want to spoil too much, but I just wanted to highlight some of the rankings I found notable. If you […]
Josh Bell returned to the Nats as a cheap DH option for 2025 to bridge the gap between competitiveness and not. A well-liked vet who had a couple of quietly solid years with the Nats in 2021 and 2022 Bell had bounced around unable to get back to levels you want a guy focused on hitting to be at. The reunion looked very dicey as Bell started extremely slow and followed up a good May with a terrible June. But Josh's second half was better and he ended the season very hot putting up a .292 averag...
After a disappointing 2025 season and a new regime coming in, most of the Nationals roster has a lot to prove. However, there are some players that are under more pressure than others. Players like CJ Abrams and James Wood had disappointing second halves, but they have still proven themselves. We are going to talk […]
After 4.5 years with Keibert Ruiz taking the bulk of the catching responsibilities, the Nationals will enter the 2026 season likely with a new starting catcher in Harry Ford, acquired from the Seattle Mariners this offseason for Jose A. Ferrer. Ford brings with him a background of strong hitting performance in the minor leagues, led […]
Yesterday Barry Svrluga reported that the Nats hired Jason Sinnarajah as the President of Business Operations. He was previously with the Kansas City Royals and has also worked for the Buffalo Bills. It looks like the new era of Nationals baseball is not just happening on the baseball operations side. Obviously, baseball is more than […]
The Royals have signed veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro to a minor league contract, according to Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. Alfaro is a nine-year veteran with the Phillies, Marlins, Padres, Rockies, Red Sox, and Nationals. In 510 career games, he has hit .253/.301/.391. Last year he appeared in 14 games with the Nationals and went […]
Today, we stand 80 days away from the Cubs’ Opening Day game March 26 against the Nationals at Wrigley Field. That’s 11 and a half weeks, which is plenty of time for the Cubs to sign or trade for new players, and I am reasonably certain they will add one or more such players, even […]
The holidays are over and it's time to get serious. But what does that mean? For the Nats we still don't know. After the trade of Jose Ferrer for Harry Ford the Nats made two moves. 1) Traded Jake Bennett for Luis Perales. This was a "good prospect for good prospect" trade where the Red Sox looking for a certain type of pitcher, were willing to give up a good prospect of their own. Perales is arguably "more certain" than Bennett - younger, closer to the majors and both ...
Every year MLB teams sign youngsters out of Latin America looking for the next Juan Soto or Ronald Acuna. Hitting on these international prospects is an important part of building a strong farm system. The signing deadline for these prospects is on January 15th. Here is what we know about the Nats international free agent […]
There has been a lot of conversation around what the Nationals could do at the first base position in 2026. Most have assumed that the Nats would bring in some sort of veteran option at the position. Toboni hinted at that idea during the Winter Meetings. However, as we get deeper into the offseason, we […]
One of the most interesting moves the Nats have made this offseason is when they acquired Luis Perales from the Red Sox for Jake Bennett. It was a rare prospect for prospect trade, which saw the Nats acquire Perales, who has an electric arm. Jake Bennett was seen as the safer prospect though. Despite being […]
Back in October, I took a look at Paul Toboni’s history of drafts with the Boston Red Sox in hopes of finding a clear trend in his draft philosophy. What I discovered was a tendency to target hitters in the first round, up the middle position players, and big-time strikeout stuff when he does go […]
When the clock struck midnight, it marked not only a new year, but also the expiration of the Washington Nationals deal with MASN. The Nationals marriage with MASN was forced upon them by the Orioles as a condition to moving to DC. It has created plenty of tension between the two franchises, but after a […]
2025 was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty bad year for the Washington Nationals. Expectations weren’t especially high, with most fans expecting a win total in the 70s and a few holding out with playoff hopes, but the team wasn’t able to achieve even that, finishing 66-96 and resulting in the firing of Manager […]
Entering 2026, the Washington Nationals bullpen is loaded with uncertainty. The unit had the worst bullpen ERA in all of baseball last year, with a 5.59 mark. Rather than adding to the unit, Paul Toboni has made the group even worse on paper so far this offseason by trading presumptive closer Jose A. Ferrer to […]
There were no blockbuster moves made by the Nationals this past week, but there were a couple interesting news items I wanted to discuss. With the holiday season, the MLB offseason has slowed to a crawl this week. However, there was still some movement and fun things to take a look at. The most noteworthy […]
After spending the 2024 season with the Milwaukee Brewers as a solid swing-man, the Phillies gave Joe Ross a one-year deal for what seemed like a similar role. Over the course of seven seasons with the Washington Nationals and the aforementioned Brewers, Ross has made 86 starts while coming out of the bullpen 37 times. […]
As we enter 2026, one thing I will be keeping track of this season is the progress of the Nationals top 5 picks in the 2025 draft. Armed with plenty of bonus pool money, the Nationals were able to land five of MLB Pipeline’s top 100 players in last year’s draft. With Paul Toboni bringing […]
Yesterday afternoon, Prospects Live, a site dedicated to covering the minor leagues, MLB Draft, and dynasty fantasy baseball rankings, put out their prediction for how the Nationals roster would look in the year 2028. I wanted to break down some of their choices, as while I agree with many of their decisions, there are as […]
One interesting and underdiscussed storyline from this offseason is the future of Luis Garcia Jr. in DC. Despite some speculating that Garcia would be non-tendered, Paul Toboni decided to bring the 25 year old back into the fold. Now that he is back, the biggest question now is how he will be deployed. Down the […]
Today is Christmas Day and also, today we stand just 91 days from the Cubs’ 2026 season opener against the Nationals at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have, well, not put much under fans’ Christmas trees, player-wise, yet. Perhaps we’ll all get some New Year’s gifts upcoming. I hope this holiday season, whatever holiday you celebrate, […]
Yesterday, Ryan O’Hearn signed a 2-year $29 million contract with the Pirates. This is relevant to the Nats in a couple of ways. The most obvious is that the Nats missed out on a first base target. I wrote about O’Hearn as a fit and even said a potential contract could be 2-years $28 million. […]