Once again, the Los Angeles Dodgers have flipped the baseball world upside down. This time with their record breaking, four year, $240 million deal with Kyle Tucker. The back to back World Series champions are adding to their reputation as the 'Evil Empire' with the signing of seemingly every single All-Star caliber player in the league.
While fans everywhere are losing their minds over the newly polished Dodgers' $400 million payroll, Washington Nationals fans should be feeling something much worse... fear. The Kyle Tucker isn't just another "rich get richer" story. It's a direct blow to the Washington Nationals' timeline that could prove to be devastating. It exposes the conservativeness of Paul Toboni's front office for not wanting to push the chips in.
For the last three months now, the narrative in D.C. has been a simple one... Wait for the market to settle down. Wait for the big fish to land so that the trade market for Gore heats up. Well, the biggest fish just landed, and the ripples just washed away the Nats' leverage.
By signing Tucker, the Dodgers who were rumored to be a potential high end suitor for a Gore trade, are officially out of both the outfield and starting pitching market. More importantly, the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets, the two teams who just lost the Tucker sweepstakes have now entered desperation mode.
At first glance, you would think that would do nothing but help the Nats... Desperate teams overpay, right? Wrong. Desperate teams end up pivoting. With Tucker off the board, the Mets are already shifting their focus to Cody Bellinger and high end pitching like Framber Valdez. Every day that passes with the Nationals sitting on their hands, the options get thinner and return hauls potentially smaller.
I've already talked about how James Wood and Dylan Cews are being thrown to the wolves of the big leagues without solid veteran protection. While the Nationals were obviously never going to be contenders for any of the major bats in free agency, there is a chance that any proven options out there now might sit back and demand more money.
With the Blue Jays and Mets along with other suitors now flush with "Tucker money" that they didn't end up spending, the market for the rest of the slightly lower level players is going to be an expensive one. The Nats, with their bottom ten payroll and reluctance to spend are now effectively priced out of the very market that they needed to stabilize their young core.
The Dodgers are doing everything they can to three peat. The Mets are pivoting to scorched earth spending. And the Nationals? Not to worry, we're claiming Paxton Schultz off waivers and talking about 'process'.
By not being aggressive before the Tucker domino fell, Paul Toboni has allowed the market to dictate the Nationals' future. Now he might just find himself in a position where the only thing to do is hope for scraps to fall from teams that actually have a plan.
The 2026 season was supposed to be the year that the Nationals became relevant again. Instead, thanks to the Dodgers' latest heist and Toboni's inactivity, it's looking like another year of kicking the can down the road while the best get better and build dynasties. Maybe 2027 will be the year we can finally look forward to something exciting?