Offseason Outlook: Washington Nationals

The Nationals hoped the 2025 season would represent a step forward in their rebuild, but the opposite took place. The results were discouraging enough that ownership fired not only manager Davey Martinez but longtime president/general manager Mike Rizzo, who’d run the team’s baseball operations for nearly two decades. A new front office regime will try to turn things around for a club that won more games in 2024 (71) than in 2025 (66).

Guaranteed Contracts

• Keibert Ruiz, C: $35MM through 2030 (contract contains club options for 2031-32; neither has a buyout)
• Trevor Williams, RHP: $7MM through 2026
• Shinnosuke Ogasawara, LHP: $2MM through 2026

Other Financial Commitments

• $35MM in dead money owed to RHP Stephen Strasburg

Total 2026 commitments: $49MM
Total long-term commitments: $79MM through 2030

Option Decisions

• None

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz):

• Jorge Alfaro (5.160): $1MM
• Luis Garcia Jr. (4.142): $7MM
• Josiah Gray (4.075): $1.35MM
• Mason Thompson (4.022): $1MM
• MacKenzie Gore (4.000): $4.7MM
• Riley Adams (3.171): $1.5MM
• CJ Abrams (3.130): $5.6MM
• Jake Irvin (2.152): $3.3MM
• Cade Cavalli (2.141): $1.3MM

Non-tender candidates: Alfaro, Garcia, Thompson, Adams

Free Agents

• Josh Bell, Paul DeJong, Derek Law

The Nationals’ summer ousting of Rizzo kicked off an executive search while longtime Rizzo lieutenant Mike DeBartolo ran baseball operations through the trade deadline and the end of the season. Washington spoke with executives from multiple clubs and ultimately settled on Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni to head up the organization. Because he was in the running to be promoted to Red Sox general manager under chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Toboni was hired with the title president of baseball operations. The Nats could hire a GM to work underneath him at some point, but it wasn’t framed as an immediate priority at Toboni’s introductory press conference.

Changes in the front office have already begun. The Nats will retain DeBartolo in a yet-to-be-announced role, but assistant GMs Eddie Longosz and Mark Scialabba are set to depart the organization amid further changes in the scouting department. Even if Toboni doesn’t immediately add a general manager, it seems likely that he’ll bring on some new hires to take over some of the AGM and scouting responsibilities (particularly if DeBartolo is moved to a role other than assistant general manager).

The Nats will also need to hire a new skipper. Interim manager Miguel Cairo is a candidate in the team’s ongoing search, Toboni indicated this week, but the Nationals are also in the process of interviewing candidates from outside the organization. Washington is one of an incredible seven teams looking for a new manager and one of an even more remarkable nine clubs that will have a different manager on Opening Day 2026 than on Opening Day 2025.

Of course, beyond the broader changes at the highest levels of the organization, fans are more concerned with what the offseason will look like under the new regime. Toboni naturally didn’t delve into specifics at his introduction. He spoke in general terms, repeatedly mentioning the desire to build a “scouting and player development monster” that eventually stands as the envy of the industry.

Even more pressing, however, is what the future holds for some of the organization’s key young players. While emerging outfielders like James Wood and Daylen Lile are controlled for another five-plus seasons, many of the team’s other most important contributors are already halfway — or more — through their original level of club control. That’ll put Toboni in an interesting spot this winter as he looks to determine whether some of his core players are building blocks or whether they’re best used as trade currency to further stock a farm system that, even after picking No. 1 overall in July and trading several players at the 2025 deadline, ranked 21st in the majors at Baseball America and 23rd at MLB.com.