The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

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.

Some of you have said that you want to stop talking about the failures of the past. But successful business executives often talk about the past successes and failures as learning tools. This subject was covered published in the Harvard Business Review titled, Why Making Mistakes Is Essential for Growth as a Real Leader and the author wrote, ❝ Acknowledging and learning from wrong turns helps leaders make their teams and businesses stronger.  Failing to take advantage of the opportunity for reflection and change can lead to repeated mistakes, reduced morale, and missed growth opportunities. ❞ While painful to rehash those wrong turns, that is what former Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo called his annual ‘autopsy’ after a failed season.

Baseball rumors that go viral on social media actually can turn into money if you are designated as an influencer. Buzz creates traffic and clicks. So why not pounce on the hottest tidbit leading into the Winter Meetings that MacKenzie Gore is due to be traded. That certainly isn’t going out on a limb. But leading readers to believe it would happen in days turned out to be false. The meetings in Orlando finished up early yesterday — but truth be told, the place cleared out Wednesday after the Rule-5 Draft was over.