We are just two days from the 100-day countdown to Opening Day for the Washington Nationals. If they don’t trade MacKenzie Gore or CJ Abrams before Opening Day on March 26, the roster additions might only be for pitchers and a first baseman. President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, was transparent on the needs a month ago when he also mentioned the catcher’s position. After a trade to acquire top prospect Harry Ford, we can erase that off the checklist.
Statistically speaking, the pitching roster was terrible as a whole. But you don’t allow the bad apples to spoil the whole bunch. There had already been massive DFA’s during the 2025 season which clearly was addition by subtraction. The Nationals finished the season with a better grasp of their future bullpen. Plus they just drafted Griff McGarry from the Rule-5. While McGarry isn’t guaranteed to make the Opening Day roster, he is certainly in the mix to most likely be a long-man.
“Where my head goes first [for new acquisitions] is pitching — starting pitching and relief pitching. That’s not to say that’s the only positions we’re going to tether ourselves to — but I think that’s probably the most realistic avenue.”
— Toboni said at the Winter Meetings
The Pitching Situation
As you know, the overall pitching situation in the 2025 season was horrific. The worst pitching in Nationals history. If not for the Colorado Rockies, the Nats would have taken the ignominious prize for being the worst. But there were some players who stepped up, and will be part of the 2026 roster.
There were two for departures from the Nats’ bullpen in the past four months all via trades. The team traded their two best high leverage relievers in Kyle Finnegan and Jose A. Ferrer. They combined for 31 of the team’s 37 recorded saves this year. Next up was Cole Henry with two saves, Clayton Beeter, PJ Poulin, and Mitchell Parker had one each. There is no indication as to what role Parker and Brad Lord will have in 2026. Both were starters and relievers. Figure that Henry, Beeter, Poulin, Jackson Rutledge, Konnor Pilkington, and McGarry are penciled in as six bullpen arms on the depth chart. You would still like to see two strong moves for hi lev arms. And maybe one of those arms is sitting in the Nats’ minor league system.
That brings us to the discussion of fireballer Jarlin Susana. He dealt with a sprained UCL as well as an upper lat tear that required surgery this year. He could be the second-coming of a young Aroldis Chapman. While Susana will turn 22 in Spring Training, Toboni and his staff hold the key to his near-future. And nothing has to be permanent. Clay Holmes began his career as a Pirates starter and was converted to a shutdown reliever. The Mets acquired him and made him a starter again. Chapman began as a starter also. Nothing has to be permanent. But with the injuries stacking up for Susana, does he stay healthier as a reliever? Again, Toboni has to answer that.
A quick look at the 40-man roster gives you an idea of the other names who will be seen in big league camp. Some are injured like DJ Herz and Trevor Williams. Some will most likely be assigned to a minor league team like Jake Bennett, Riley Cornelio, Jake Eder, and Andry Lara. Keep an eye on Bennett. He has been on the TalkNats watchlist for a while. At one time he was a Top-5 prospect in the Nats system until his UCL tear that required TJ surgery. Cornelio shined at Double-A in 2025 and was promoted to Triple-A and got a 40-man spot last month.
With Gore, Lord, and Parker in a possible mix of what/where they are in 2026, add the other starters like Andrew Alvarez, Cade Cavalli, Josiah Gray, and Jake Irvin as the seven main characters competing for starters spots — unless Toboni and his staff have different ideas — and you would expect that with Gore most likely traded that number becomes six, and one goes to the bullpen as a long-man leaving five — and another probably goes to Triple-A as depth. In all, maybe Cavalli is the only name you can safely pencil in for the 2026 starting rotation.
First Base is a First Need
You have only one first baseman on the 40-man roster in Andres Chaparro. You have another with two games of experience at first base with Luis Garcia Jr. The first base position has been an issue for much of the past six seasons. A long-term fix could come via a trade or free agency.
While the Nats have not been attached to any specific first basemen in trades, the names Bryce Eldridge with San Francisco and Jac Caglianone of Kansas City come up on the fan’s list of players they would like to trade for.
“I would love to see [the Nationals] pick up Ryan O’Hearn. Don’t know if they wanna pay that much –but he is a stud. Great clubhouse guy, and a really hard worker. Regardless of production, O’Hearn is more of a leader type. Not necessarily a rah, rah [type], but he’s solid — and he knows how to fit in on a team of younger players.”
— a source from Baltimore told us that the Nats should be looking at O’Hearn
The other option is jumping into the free agent market. One name kind of stands out above the rest, and that is late-bloomer, Ryan O’Hearn. He was almost out of baseball after his age-28 season and struggling in Kansas City. His contract was purchased by the Orioles, and newly hired Nats’ hitting coach, Matt Borgschulte, turned him from a .611 OPS hitter to an .801 in just one season. That was an improvement of over 30 percent. The issue might be that O’Hearn is still a gamble, and he turns 33 right after the All-Star break in 2026.
Here’s another positive with O’Hearn in that he put up a +4.0 OAA in his time at first base. Being a positive defender helps. He is another left-handed bat, and that might be the issue here. MLB Trade Rumors projects him at $13 million a year for two years, and ranks him as their 30th best free agent.
The last part is that Ryan Zimmerman talked recently on his 11th Inning Podcast about the need for a veteran team leader on a 2-to-4 year deal, and added, “I’m not saying to go crazy to get the top of the [free agent] list — that would be cool too.” Listen to the Voice of the Franchise. O’Hearn might fit that need. While he isn’t the superstar that you might covet, he is a fit, and especially if Toboni was willing to add a third year.
There are other first basemen out there on the free agent market. Josh Bell is on that list. His value based on past results is a mixed bag. Yes, he finished at a +0.1 WAR in 2025 for the Nats. That values him at $800,000. The price tag estimate is 10-times that amount at $8 million. Bell turns 34 in August. The first base market is thin on producers with the two best free agents off the board.
Decision Time
The Nats are just one of four teams without a free agent signing on an MLB deal at this point. That will change obviously. Figure the shopping list is down to one starting pitcher, two relievers, and a first baseman.
FanGraphs is more positive today about the Nats than you might think. They are projected for over 74 wins as of today. They have Ford contributing +0.8 to this 2026 season as the team’s best catcher. O’Hearn on the free agent board at FanGraphs is a +1.4 WAR. That would get the Nats to about 75 wins, before you consider Gore possibly being gone. There will be many more changes to the W/L projections.
