At the time of writing, things are looking...interesting for the Washington Nationals so far in the young 2026 season. Surprisingly, the team has been very respectable at the plate, but they have been severely let down by their pitching.
Some starters like Zack Littell, Cade Cavalli, and Foster Griffin all have been respectable so far through their first couple starts, but guys like Miles Mikolas and Jake Irvin have weighed the team down. The bullpen is the same way, as outside of Cole Henry, there might not be a single guy who can be relied on for a relatively clean outing.
It is a story similar to Nationals teams of previous years, and although the regime of front office and coaching staffs have changed, there are still some principles and ideas that must continue to be adopted to modern times by the organization.
One of those ideas is the concept of early contract extensions, something the previous front office only did one time, and that became a poor investment into Keibert Ruiz. Given that the Nationals have a lot of young talent, they are a team that has a lot of potential early extension candidates.
Perhaps their most extendable candidate might be Daylen Lile, who is not a client of Scott Boras, and seemingly fits everything the Nationals would want to have in a player for years to come. He plays hard, hits the ball well, and is with an agency that has had numerous youngsters earn early contract extensions.
Which is why it is partially surprising that the Nationals have yet to approach Lile's camp in any capacity about a new deal, as his agency has gotten early deals done for guys like Jackson Chourio and Kristian Campbell done before. Campbell's deal was one that got done while Toboni was part of Boston's front office last year, and perhaps could serve as a bit of a model for Washington.
In case you need proof, The Athletic's Spencer Nusbaum wrote earlier this week that "the Nationals have yet to broach Lile with an extension offer." which could also be partially because the front office wants to see a larger sample size. Lile has yet to even play a full season of games in the majors, and while the early returns are positive, perhaps they want to see him make adjustments before giving him a long-term deal.
As I will write in the coming days, Lile still seems like the most affordable candidate to earn an extension from the Nationals among all of their youngsters, and the team should seriously consider paying him now before he becomes more expensive later this year or next offseason.
Do you think the Nationals will look to extend Daylen Lile? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.