Nationals News: Team begins hectic offseason with flurry of transactions

With the offseason just kicking into gear after the Milwaukee Brewers finished off a World Series victory last week, teams have been busy this week getting their rosters in order before the transactions began to happen. Monday was a busy day for the Washington Nationals, as the team announced status updates on eight players via their official communications channel on socials.

Breaking down the news

The moves see five players departing the organization immediately, with a sixth possibly on the way over the next day or two. These were all done in service of getting the secondary roster down to 40 by 5 PM EST (it's Standard Time now that Daylight Savings is over for the year!) on Monday evening. Players were also required to be activated off the injured list at that time.

Free agents

All five players leaving are pitchers, most of whom were on the fringes in the organization. PJ Poulin was the first to go, as the Nationals designating him for assignment. He cleared outright waivers and was allowed to elect minor league free agency.

After starting his career with Colorado, the 2018 11th-round pick Poulin made his way to the Tigers. He was claimed off waivers by Washington at the 2025 trade deadline en route to his major league debut in his age-28 season. The left-hander Poulin had a decent run of it in about a season's worth of games across the last two months of 2025 and first three of 2026 before a left flexor strain shelved him halfway through July. His Nationals tenure, at least for now, ends with a 3.08 ERA in 61.1 innings. Blake Butera was fond of having him open ahead of Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell.

Past just his ERA, things were a little less rosy for Poulin. He looked serviceable enough in 2025, but his K rate nosedived and his walk rate shot way up in 2026, leading to a horrific 2.6 K-BB% and 4.95 FIP. Poulin was largely bailed out by a .225 BABIP. The team could re-sign him to a minor league deal, but it's just as likely he seeks employment elsewhere.

Joining Poulin will be fellow left-handed relievers Ken Waldichuk and Richard Lovelady, who also passed through outright waivers unclaimed. Both men had previously been recipients of an outright assignment, so by rule were allowed to reject the assignment in favor of declaring major league free agency, which they did.

Both Waldichuk and Lovelady were topics of my recent piece detailing the Nationals' slate of arbitration-eligible players this offseason. Lovelady didn't seem to command the $1.7 million he was projected for in arbitration, and Waldichuk underwent elbow surgery in April. Neither man survives on the roster long enough to reach the nontender deadline.

Waiver claims

Also placed on outright waivers were right-hander Paxton Schultz and left-hander Mitchell Parker. The latter Parker was claimed by Atlanta. The 27-year-old lefty had a bumpy tenure in Washington that saw him undergo Tommy John surgery in July, which could very well keep him out for all of 2027. He was projected for $1.1 million in arbitration, but if he sees that money now, it will have to come from another organization.

Schultz, a 28-year-old reliever drafted in the 14th round in 2019 by Milwaukee, heads to Cincinnati after they claimed him off outright waivers. It'll be his fourth MLB organization. After debuting in 2025 with Toronto, he flashed some upside with a 25.5% K rate. Washington claimed him off waivers in January, but his second trip through the bigs was less than ideal. Schultz's strikeout rate dipped 5% and his home run issues didn't resolve themselves. He was optioned three times over the course of the year, and didn't resurface after the end of July. Schultz, who finished the year with a 6.40 ERA in 27 appearances, now gets a fresh start with the Reds, still retaining one option year.

Other moves

The last move to clear a spot off the 40-man roster was the designation of José Tena. Acquired from Cleveland in the 2024 Lane Thomas trade, Tena, 25, got the most run he'd ever gotten in his career this season with 288 plate appearances in 115 games, receiving 67 starts. Tena, who bats from the left side, mostly faced righties, but was unable to show the Nationals anything they hadn't already seen. He finished the year with a strikeout rate north of 30%, and major improvements in bat speed came at the cost of contact quality. Tena's rate of squared-up contact dipped 10 percentage points from 2025 to 2026.

That resulted in a .222/.302/.370 slash line, good for just an 85 wRC+ with 7 home runs. Tena also hasn't been able to find a home defensively. Initially reaching the majors as a shortstop, he slid to second and third base and has struggled to establish himself as particularly effective at each position. The bulk of his MLB plate appearances in 2026 came from the DH slot.

Tena's designation for assignment does not mean his tenure with the Nationals is done necessarily. It's unclear whether or not the team placed him on waivers; players can only be designated for assignment for about a week, so they have five days from the time of his designation to decide if they're going to waive or trade him. Otherwise, he must be added back to the 40-man roster.

If he passes outright waivers without being claimed, the team will assign him outright to Triple-A Rochester. While this would normally mean he goes straight to Triple-A, as players with fewer than three years of MLB service cannot reject their first outright assignment under most circumstances, his time as a professional might allow him to elect minor league free agency if he so chooses.

All these moves serve to clear space on the 40-man roster for right-hander Matt Waldron and catcher Drew Millas, who were on the 60-day injured list and, by rule, were required to be activated from it on Monday. It's very possibly Waldron's future with the team is limited; the Nationals were his third team in 2026. Before inflammation in his chest sidelined him in September, the 29-year-old knuckleballer posted a 6.54 ERA in 42.2 innings, mostly as a long reliever.

Millas, 28, has only managed 302 plate appearances in his first four major league seasons. While he's solidly a backup at this stage in his career, especially with the resurgence of Keibert Ruiz to MLB-caliber player, he posted just a 53 wRC+ in 152 PA in 2026 while dealing with repeated injuries to his left index finger. He needed surgery to repair a joint in it at the end of 2025, underwent a procedure when it fractured in July, and is now recovering from a third surgery on the finger after it didn't heal the way he wanted it to. Millas should be ready for spring training, presuming work stoppages don't interfere with the timeline.

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