Latest news and updates about the Nationals
The catcher position remains one of the Washington Nationals biggest needs. Despite bringing back Riley Adams for 2026 and having Keibert Ruiz under contract long term, that is not good enough. There have been suggestions the Nats could run it back with the same catching core, but I do not think that would be a […]
I’m going to skip a couple players who are on the ballot for the first time: Gio Gonzalez pitched 13 seasons in the majors, with the A’s, Nationals, Brewers and White Sox. He had a 131-101 record, a 3.70 ERA in 344 games, 328 starts and a 29.8 bWAR. He had a stretch where he […]
In July, the Nationals made a bold move by making 17 year old Eli Willits the youngest first overall pick of all time. Willits still has not turned 18 yet, with his birthday coming up on December 9th. However, the type of game Willits plays is very mature. That means he can move quicker than […]
Anthony Rendon’s disastrous Angels tenure is finally over. Reports have come out that Rendon and the Angels are in talks to buyout the final year of his 7-year $245 million contract. He was such a great player with the Nats, but things did not work in LA due to injuries and Rendon’s prickly attitude. Unfortunately, […]
MacKenzie Gore was one of the starting pitchers most mentioned in trade rumors last July. In the end, just as was the case for every big-name starting pitcher, he wasn’t traded, largely because it was perceived that the Nationals were asking for more in return than teams were willing to give. Gore had good numbers […]
The pitching for the Washington Nationals was mostly disastrous in 2025, but Brad Lord was a bright spot. There is a pitcher in the Nats system with a lot of similarities to Lord and could make the same kind of impact in 2026. That guy is Riley Cornelio, who had a breakout year in the […]
While the Nationals have not been extremely active on the free agent market in the past few seasons, there was once a time when they would spend as big as anyone, bringing in stars such as Max Scherzer on lucrative deals. Today, I’m taking a look at the best free agent signings the Nationals have […]
As every Nationals fan knows, the bullpen was an absolute disaster in 2025. The unit’s 5.59 ERA was by far the worst in baseball. We all know reinforcements are needed, but where will they come from? One player I think the Nationals need to look at is Emilio Pagan. Last season Pagan had a fantastic […]
The non-tender deadline has come and gone. With teams making cuts, there are some new additions to the free agent market. While most teams, including the Nationals decided to tender contracts to many of the players seen as non-tender candidates, there are a few interesting new additions to the free agent pool. I am going […]
One thing that the Toboni regime has clearly emphasized is that the players on the roster have another gear to reach. Toboni has said that both in his words and his actions. By tendering contracts to all 7 of the Nats arbitration eligible players, Toboni is betting on internal improvement. Here are three players that […]
The Washington Nationals new regime is continuing their youth movement. While no hitting coach has been named yet, the Nats have hired an assistant hitting coach. That would be Andrew Aydt, formerly of Driveline Baseball. He is not even 30 years old yet, but he is already well known as a bright hitting mind. Like […]
Entering 2024, there were high expectations for Jose Ferrer and the kind of breakout he could have after a strong 2024 season where he posted a 3.38 ERA and 2.76 FIP over 32 innings. While his season didn’t get off to the best of starts, posting an ERA over 5 in the first half of […]
Teams across the league had to make Rule 5 Draft related 40-man roster decisions the other day. Now that has happened and we know who is available to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. As a bad team, the Nats are likely to pick a player because they can afford to roster that player […]
A lot of things went wrong in 2025 but none were so clearly made to work NOW and so clearly a failure then the Nats' answer at 1B. The Nats brought in Nathaniel Lowe with a trade* to man the position in 2025-2026 likely with an eye for having him possibly be there beyond. He had been a sneaky good 1B, one that ranked 5-10 overall with consistent solid hitting since arriving in the majors and glove that he worked into average to good. There was one thing they didn't consider though... Nat...
The GM meetings are underway in Las Vegas currently, and teams are making and taking calls on all sorts of players and positions of need. In the Nationals case, they have been looking to add to the organization’s catching depth, according to Jim Bowden, and are actively making calls about it, along with the Rays, […]
In the last couple of days, there has been some buzz about a potential CJ Abrams trade. It has not been as loud as the smoke around MacKenzie Gore, but it is out there. Yesterday, MLB Trade Rumors put out a story on finding a match for an Abrams trade, and it got people talking. […]
There are a lot of question marks throughout the Washington Nationals roster, but the most uncertainty lies in the teams starting rotation. This is a stark contrast to last offseason where the rotation felt relatively settled after a few breakout performers in 2024. However, after regression and potential trades, it is anyone’s guess as to […]
Huh. That was a longer break than I thought. Thanks for the kind words in the comments. Yes, I'm not as motivated to post as I have been in the past, but rest assured I won't end the blog with a ghosting. First I'll try a couple new things if I really can't keep up what I've done in the past. Then I'll let you know if that ain't working for me. Speaking of what I've done in the past - Off-season position reviews. The Nats catcher situation was bad. Having your ca...
After firing 64 year old Mike Rizzo, Nationals owner Mark Lerner has seemingly been searching for the Fountain of Youth. In the past six weeks he has hired a 35 year old GM, a 33 year old manager and a 30 year old pitching coach. Clearly, the Washington Nationals have a new and very young […]
So, the Washington Nationals have a new pitching coach and his name is Simon Mathews. That is right, only one T in Mathews. At 30 years old, he continues the trend of the Nationals hiring young. However, Mathews is deeply knowledgeable about the current trends in modern pitching. He is equipped to bring the Nats […]
Since taking over as the pitching coach/guru/director for the Cincinnati Reds, the club has consistently established itself as a pitching-first organization that’s earned quite the bit of respect around the league. They’ve drafted well in that time, too. Adding the likes of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns, Tony Santillan, Graham […]
While it is possible, I find it unlikely that the Washington Nationals will be shopping at the top of the free agent market. However, I do think and hope that they attack the middle of the free agent market. The Royals 2023/24 offseason is always one I look at and think why can’t the Nationals […]
Daylen Lile was the best thing Washington Nationals fans had in the second half of the 2025 season. As the rest of the team floundered, Lile looked like a star. His September was the most exciting month from a National since Kyle Schwarber’s June in 2021. He got rewarded with a 5th place finish in […]
The Washington Nationals rebuild started at the 2021 trade deadline when they traded away a large chunk of their roster. However, 4.5 years later it is clear that those moves set the rebuild back rather than giving it the intended jolt. I wanted to look back and analyze the moves made at that deadline. Let’s […]
Over the years we have seen a few pitchers who struggled in the MLB reinvent themselves in the KBO. A couple recent examples are Merrill Kelly and Erick Fedde. This offseason, there is a former big league pitcher who put up record setting numbers in Korea and his name is Cody Ponce. If you have […]