There was a lot of good last year for the Washington Nationals -- the emergence of Cade Cavalli, CJ Abrams and James Wood establishing themselves as All-Stars, as well as the acquisition of forward-focused prospects in the minors: a long list including first-round pick Chris Hacopian. You also can't overlook the acquistion of Connelly Early, who projects to be a consistent rotation arm for all five of his remaining years of team control. And above all, the Nationals were competitive -- well, at least until August.
We all know there was also plenty of bad. The bullpen was consistently frustrating from April to September. The Miles Mikolas and Zach Littell experiments backfired big time. Dylan Crews didn't progress as many thought he would, now drawing doubt to his future with the franchise.
Paul Toboni's job is to improve this franchise. With all the work that was done to improve the farm system this year, and the success of young players within the franchise, I, along with many Nationals fans, are choosing to believe that Toboni will look to free agency for established major league talent to supplement the young core of this team. Not pushing all of his chips to the table (because he shouldn't), but instead adding talent who can help Washington's youngsters take another step forward, playing more meaningful games, and pushing to October.
While we have all winter to speculate and analyze and discuss the additions that Washington could make come December, right now we can look at the holes and shortcomings from last years roster -- and identify a few players who really should not be returning, if Paul Toboni is serious about building a winner.
Jose Tena, DH
2026 Statistics: .222 BA, .302 OBP, .370 SLG, 7 HR, -0.5 WAR
It's somewhat of a wonder that Washington's designated hitter who appeared in 114 games this season did not hinder the Nats offense enough to keep them from being a top-5 offense in the entirety of baseball this season.
You'd think that with such a high powered offense, you'd have a mainstay, consistent designated hitter who actually... helps. Jose Tena didn't do that. Striking out roughly one-third of the time, only hitting 7 home runs, and only getting hits in 57 of his 288 plate appearances, the case for Tena to return leaves much to be desired.
If the Nationals care to contend, or, at the very least put a team together that is competitive enough to play meaningful games into September and push for a playoff appearance, I believe that there needs to be a better solution at DH -- after all, the designated hitter needs to actually be a hitter. Novel concept, right? Add some more pop to this lineup, let's get fun.
Drew Millas, C
2026 Statistics: .185 BA, .277 OBP, .262 SLG, 2 HR, -0.6 WAR
A poor 2026 showing from Millas hurt his case to be considered as a longer-term back up catcher to Keibert Ruiz, especially after the Nationals acquired Harry Ford before the season began.
And while Riley Adams' decision to head to free agency does leave the Nationals needing a third string, but I'm going to choose that they'll elect for an established catcher from elsewhere -- after all, the did trade a reliever in Jose A. Ferrer for him.
I'd feel much more comfortable with a more routine tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Harry Ford playing the majority of 182 games, instead of giving nearly a third of them to a negative WAR bat, who couldn't even hit .200.
Max Kranick, RHP
2026 Statistics: 17 G, 9.33 ERA, 18.1 IP, 13 BB, 11 K
Yes, the Nationals bullpen was a rotating door of players throughout the course of the year, especially late. There were bound to be some hits, and some swings and misses. Eddy Yean, Will Dion looking like hits, and among quite a few others, Max Kranick was certainly a miss.
In 17 appearances, Kranick tallied 19 earned runs -- that's more than a run per inning. With more walks than strikeouts to his name, Kranick struggled to do what relievers are asked to do: get batters out. With a 13.3/H9 total, it felt like every time Kranick took the mound, runners got on base, and subsequently crossed home plate.
We all know that bullpen is a huge position of need that Paul Toboni needs to address this winter. However, Kranick's struggles were so great that if Toboni made only a few changes to the bullpen around the edges or for depth, I'm still not sure Toboni would even want him back in the organization.
Fresh off of shattering the all-time blown saves record, we know that the Nationals can't win unless they spend signficant resources into fixing the relievers group. If Washington wants to win, players of Kranick's caliber will not be around anymore.
Do you think any of these three players will be back with the Nationals next season? Are there any others you want the Nats to part ways with? Let us know in the comments, or on X (@andrewpindc).
(Credit for all statistics to baseball-reference.com).
Add us as a preferred source on Google