The Winter Meetings ended & MacKenzie Gore is still with the Nats … for now!

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.

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The 10% difference with a good coach

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Trading short-term assets for long-term success is not guaranteed…..

Depending on when you grew up, trading baseball cards was a big deal in the 1960s. There would be some kid trying to take advantage of you for your 1967 Mickey Mantle card in exchange for a 1967 Frank Howard because he knows that you’re a Washington Senators fan. When you trade with emotion, you often make a bad trade if your goal was purely economic. Trades and bartering usually have winners and losers. While you might want a breakeven, they are hard to achieve. Baseball trades are all about improving your team. You can’t trade your best pitcher with emotion as if it is a baseball card.

While the trade of Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals to the San Diego Padres was a blockbuster in a haul of top prospects, there is risk that the prospects will not all meet their projected ceilings. The Nationals received CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Robert Hassell III, Jarlin Susana, and James Wood. Some would say that Hassell hasn’t shown the potential he had as a Top-30 prospect on Baseball America’s rankings back in 2022. And Susana hasn’t made it to the Majors at this time. But most people feel the Nats won that trade by a landslide.

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The Rule-5 draft on Wednesday; Who should the Nats pick?

The Rule-5 Draft is Wednesday afternoon at 2pm in Orlando at the 2025 Winter Meetings. The list is very long of eligible Rule-5 players including several first round draft picks from the college ranks of the 2022 draft. While there is little chance of the Washington Nationals losing players like Trey Lipscomb or Tyler Stuart, there is a good chance that Paul Toboni, President of Baseball Operations, will choose at least one player in the Rule-5 Draft. The Nats pick third in this draft.

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What Nationals Fans Should Watch Ahead of the 2026 Season

The Washington Nationals are walking into 2026 with more than just cautious optimism; they’re carrying a sense of possibility. With a new manager and 10 new coaches for the 12-man staff in the dugout and bullpen, manager Blake Butera and President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, have a fresh slate.

After a few years of rebuilding and recalibrating, the organization finally looks like it’s turning a corner in setting a foundation that they can build. The roster has youth, energy, and the beginnings of a new identity.

What’s exciting for fans (and for anyone tracking the sports betting markets) is that this isn’t a team banking on luck. It’s a group of players and decision-makers who’ve spent the past few seasons laying fundamental groundwork. Now, that foundation starts to matter as Toboni has said.

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Winter Meeting interviews with Paul Toboni

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The first full day of the Winter Meetings, and the Nats are in plenty of rumors!

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Toboni has a plan. And Buster Olney thinks GORE is GONE in a matter of days.

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Toboni doesn’t wait for the Winter Meetings tomorrow to make a big trade!

While the Winter Meetings start tomorrow on Sunday evening, the fireworks usually do not go off until Monday night — and Paul Toboni didn’t wait. Most were waiting for headlines of a blockbuster trade of MacKenzie Gore, yet it was a trade of Nats’ closer Jose A. Ferrer that stoked the hot stove quickly in a Washington state trade with Washington, D.C. For most of us, we didn’t see this coming. We heard the rumors of demand for Ferrer, and that the Nats wanted Ford. But nobody said this would be the trade!

With this Toboni trade to acquire catcher Harry Ford and pitcher Isaac Lyon for Ferrer, you hope this is Toboni’s equivalent to the Nats sending the Twins closer Matt Capps for catcher Wilson Ramos (ranked №58 by Baseball America) and pitcher Joe Testa over 15 years ago. If you remember, Ramos was blocked by a star catcher named Joe Mauer, similar to Ford being blocked by Cal Raleigh.

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Not a popular opinion, a full-scale rebuild might be the answer!

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