This offseason will be a very interesting one for the Nationals. The first and most obvious question is who will be making the decisions. Mike DeBartolo was hired as interim GM last month, and there’s been some talk that he could remain as the long-term GM. But whoever ends up in that position, what should their plan be this offseason?
There are two general strategies Washington could employ. The first is to continue the process of rebuilding; the second would be to make a concerted effort to start winning again for the first time in years. They don’t necessarily have to sell out for one strategy or the other, but they should at least have an idea of what the general direction of their organization is.
The Nationals have been in tear-down mode since the July 2021 trade deadline, when they parted ways with stars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Since then, they’ve been getting rid of big-league talent in exchange for prospects, and cutting costs during a period when contending has not been very possible. Their rebuild is already over four years underway. That’s a pretty long rebuild, and all rebuilds have to come to an end eventually. Some might argue that by this point, they’ve compiled enough prospects and saved enough money, and they owe it to their fans to make a run at winning now. Many of the prospects they’ve accumulated through trades and the draft are already in the major leagues, so it may seem to be time to start adding pieces to supplement them. They’d in a sense be wasting the young talent they’ve assembled if they didn’t really try to do anything with it.
If the Nationals choose this path, they’d be following a strategy that was famously successful for the Astros and Cubs around a decade ago, and has been somewhat successful recently for the Orioles, Tigers, and Royals. The Royals’ rebuild is an especially good comparison since the Royals were still struggling mightily, just as the Nationals are now, when they suddenly made a commitment to winning after 2023. They were coming off a 56-106 season, but then they acquired several quality players and made a remarkable turnaround in 2024, going 86-76 and winning a playoff series.
With all this said, the Nationals’ rebuild simply hasn’t gone that smoothly. Sure, they’ve acquired many highly regarded prospects, but they haven’t been able to develop them too well. Looking at their current big-league roster, there just doesn’t seem to be much to build around, and thus they wouldn’t really be “wasting” much talent if they choose to continue to rebuild and save money rather than acquire talent this offseason.
Sure, they have James Wood, but he isn’t a complete superstar yet. Their only other players who can safely said to be above-average are CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, and even they might only be slightly so. Abrams is pretty good, but his poor defense limits how valuable he can be. According to Baseball Reference, for his career he has -5 Defensive Runs Saved and a terrible -35 Total Zone runs.
Gore, meanwhile, has put up excellent strikeout totals, but his other stats have mostly been average. Walks in particular have been an issue. He’s also faded in the second half two years in a row, which is concerning.
The rest of the Nationals’ roster is clearly weak. Several former prospects who were highly regarded have already made it to the majors, including Robert Hassell III, Dylan Crews, Brady House, and Cade Cavalli. However, the first three have all struggled quite a bit (it’s still too early to say anything about Cavalli, although in the minor leagues he was struggling a lot too). It’s hard to know what, if anything, to expect from any of these players in the near future.
For these reasons, the most prudent path forward for the Nationals would be to continue to rebuild for another year. They shouldn’t spend much money on a big-league team that is still very far from contending. They’re 50-75 this year, and that record feels like an accurate reflection of the current and near-future quality of their team. Maybe their young players will gradually improve and soon get to the point where they constitute a core good enough to build a contender around, but that time is not yet here.
If Washington chooses to continue to rebuild, they almost certainly will not contend in 2026, and thus they should probably also consider trading away some of their big-league pieces.
And they should also give trading their ace, Gore, a look. He’s only under club control through 2027, and he’s a client of Scott Boras, who usually prefers for his clients to test free agency rather than sign extensions. Why keep Gore around for 2026 and 2027 when the team will probably have little chance of competing in those years, no matter what strategy they adopt? It would be better to trade him now while his value is still relatively high. That’s especially true considering that his value looks like it might potentially be slipping, and that might accelerate in 2026 if he can’t turn things around. CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson ranked Gore as the 7th-best trade candidate for the 2025-26 offseason, and District on Deck’s Jackson Lynch wrote on August 11 that the Nationals should trade Gore, citing recent drops in his velocity and spin as signs that his value might continue to decline.
One other interesting question for the Nationals this offseason is what they’re going to do about an outfield that is in theory a bit crowded. They have five options: Wood, Crews, Hassell, Jacob Young, and Daylen Lile. They can rotate them through the DH spot next year, but there’s still kind of one player too many, which might leave the door open for a trade. Washington could potentially pull off a “challenge trade”, sending one young player (not Wood) to another team in exchange for a young player or a prospect at a different position. But if the Nationals don’t believe in all five of the guys they currently have, such a trade might not be necessary. Hassell’s struggles at the plate this year in the majors suggest that he might need more time in the minors, and on Friday District on Deck’s Thomas Carelli suggested they should do just that. If the Nationals choose to resolve their outfield that way, they could wait to see how things unfold until Hassell is ready (if he ever is), and only consider their options once they get to a theoretical future point of an actual logjam. For now, no logjam might exist.