The days leading up to and through pitchers and catchers reporting to West Palm Beach next week are likely to include more additions to the Nationals roster via minor league signings with big league camp invites.

That trend started this morning when the Nats announced they have agreed to terms with left-handed reliever Colin Poche on a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.

Poche, 31, has spent his entire four-year major league career in Tampa Bay, going 22-12 with a 3.63 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, 12 saves, 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and 2.95 strikeouts per walk in 225 relief appearances. After making his debut in 2019, he missed all of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and the 2021 campaign while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery (his first coming after his sophomore season at the University of Arkansas in 2014).

The Rays non-tendered the southpaw in November after he had a 3.86 ERA and 1.152 WHIP in 37 ⅓ innings over 43 appearances in 2024.

Part of his struggles last season came from his inability to get out left-handed hitters. Lefties hit .260 with an .811 OPS off Poche while he held righties to a .193 average and .592 OPS. That was a stark contrast from his career splits, in which he’s held lefties to a .197 average and .679 OPS while righties have hit .202 with a .630 OPS off him.

It’s finally February, and you know what that means: Baseball is on the horizon.

Nationals pitchers and catchers report to the team’s facility in West Palm Beach in a mere 10 days, officially kicking off the 2025 campaign.

“But Bobby, the Nats still have holes on their roster. They’re not ready!”

Yes, looking at the roster as currently constructed, general manager Mike Rizzo would probably want to enter the season with a few more pieces. But fear not: Opening Day is still about two months away, and the roster on the first day of camp is never the same roster that is introduced on the first day of the season.

The Nats have the next week plus a couple of days before pitchers and catchers hold their first workouts on the back fields at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. The first full squad workout is almost a week after that.

For 26 years, it was a place Washington, D.C., professional sports teams had only visited once. From Super Bowl XXVI in January 1992 until the Stanley Cup Finals in June 2018, the 1997-98 Capitals were the only Washington team among the four major North American sports to reach its league semifinals.

Unfortunately, the Capitals’ run that season ended with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Wings in the finals. And to add salt to the wound, that was the last time local fans would cheer on a deep postseason run for the next 20 years.

But over the last seven years, D.C. sports fans have enjoyed six separate runs to not only league semifinals, but league finals and four championships. And they’re in the midst of an impressive seventh now.

The Capitals started this trend in 2018, when – after years of playoff disappointment – they finally got past the second round (and the rival Penguins) to make the Eastern Conference Finals. They upset the top-ranked Lightning in seven games to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals and then beat the favored Golden Knights in five games to win the franchise’s first championship.

A year later, the Caps’ BFFs, the Nationals, made their improbable run to a championship. After the now infamous 19-31 start, the Nats fought back to make the postseason as a Wild Card. With unforgettable moments and incredible comebacks, the Nats finished their fight to win the World Series while knocking off the top-seeded Dodgers, the favored Cardinals and the heavily favored Astros along the way.

We’re less than a month away from the start of spring training and there are still plenty of questions swirling around the baseball offseason.

As it pertains to the Nationals, we know you still have a lot of questions before the team reports to West Palm Beach next month. Mark Zuckerman’s weekly Q&A sessions with readers have been filled with your inquiries on the club’s roster, farm system and projections for the 2025 season.

But this morning, I had the thought to turn the tables on you, the readers.

Here are some Nats-related questions for you to ponder and answer in the comments section below:

Which offseason addition (so far) will have the biggest impact this season?

It’s rare for a player to be traded away and then return to that same team later in his career. It's even rarer still for that to happen and the player becomes teammates with the players he was once traded to acquire.

That will be the case when Josh Bell reports to West Palm Beach for the second time in his career next month. He’ll be back in the clubhouse where he last reported ahead of the 2022 season, only this time he’ll be joined by young players to whom he’s forever linked but have never before been his teammates.

Halfway through that 2022 season, Bell was included in the biggest trade deadline deal in major league history. Joining superstar Juan Soto, the veteran first baseman was sent to the Padres for a historic returning package of prospects: CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, Robert Hassell III and Jarlin Susana.

Three of those prospects – Abrams, Gore and Wood – will be key figures for the Nationals this season. As will Bell, who signed a one-year, $6 million deal last week to return to Washington 2 ½ years after his departure.

“It's exciting. It's definitely a lot of people that can be household names here very soon,” Bell said of the young talent on the Nats roster during his re-introductory meeting with the media over Zoom. “Just looking from afar, I've heard great things about James Wood. Obviously, I've seen CJ play. Dylan Crews, you name it. You have superstar talent. Guys that have gotten a taste of the big leagues, had some success and coming back for more time. This is when they can continue to take that step forward and make themselves elite in this game. So I'm excited to hopefully help guide and also learn from them. Also benefit from having speed in front of me. So I'm definitely excited. I know that both parties will benefit, myself and them.”

The Nationals made the sixth addition to their major league roster in the last month Saturday afternoon. The team announced signing reliever Jorge López to a one-year deal, adding the former All-Star closer to the back end of the bullpen.

López, who turns 32 in February, will earn $3 million plus incentives this year, a source confirmed. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman was first with terms of the deal.

Over a nine-year career that includes stops with the Brewers, Royals, Orioles (twice), Twins, Marlins, Mets and Cubs, the right-hander has a 5.25 ERA, 1.462 WHIP, 31 saves and 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 282 appearances (58 starts). However, since moving to a full-time reliever with the Orioles in 2022, López has a 3.74 ERA, 30 saves, 21 holds and 171 strikeouts in 183 innings.

Last year, López went 2–3 with a 2.89 ERA, 50 strikeouts and four saves in 52 appearances between the Mets and Cubs. He caused some controversy in New York when he was ejected in the eighth inning of a May 29 game against the Dodgers and threw his glove into the stands while walking off the field. After the game, he was quoted as seemingly calling the Mets “the worst team” in the majors.

Though he tried to clarify that he was calling himself “the worst teammate on the worst team in baseball,” the Mets designated López for assignment the next day and released him on June 5.

The Nationals’ offseason got a little warmer on Sunday night when they agreed to bring back Josh Bell on a one-year, $6 million deal, a source confirmed.

The deal, which is pending a physical, was first reported by The New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

Bell, 32, spent 1 ½ seasons with Washington after coming over in a trade with the Pirates on Christmas Eve 2020 that saw minor leaguers Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean go to Pittsburgh.

In his first season with the Nats, the switch-hitting Bell slashed .261/.347/.476 with an .823 OPS, 24 doubles, 27 home runs and 88 RBIs in 144 games.

Bell then slashed .301/.384/.493 with an .877 OPS, 24 doubles, 14 RBIs and 47 RBIs in 103 games in 2022 before being included in a blockbuster trade with the Padres. The Nats had already agreed upon a historic package of prospects (MacKenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, James Wood and Robert Hassell III) for Juan Soto. But general manager Mike Rizzo reportedly also wanted right-handed flamethrower Jarlin Susana.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2024. We continue the series today by looking at the moves the Nats did and did not make at the trade deadline …

For much of a decade, the Nationals used the trade deadline to add to their major league roster in order to compete for a World Series championship. Of course, they reached that goal in 2019. But at the cost of their farm system.

In the years since, general manager Mike Rizzo has used the deadline to rebuild the farm system by trading major league talent for minor league prospects.

It started with Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and a host of others in 2021. Juan Soto and Josh Bell netted a historic return in 2022. And then Jeimer Candelario was used to acquire two more young players, one of whom played a big role in the starting rotation this year, in 2023.

But what about 2024?

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2024. We continue the series today with the emergence of the young starters in the rotation …

Under Mike Rizzo, the Nationals have always built their roster around starting pitching.

“You can never have enough starting pitching,” the long-time general manager routinely says when discussing his roster.

Just look at the additions he’s made over the years: Drafting Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in 2009, trading for Gio González, and signing Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, Patrick Corbin and Aníbal Sánchez.

But since starting this rebuild in 2021 by trading Scherzer, the Nats have turned their focus into acquiring and developing young starting pitchers to build a new dominant rotation.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2024. We begin the series today looking back at the departures of the final pieces from the 2019 World Series championship team …

The revolving door had been turning since that glorious night in Houston on Oct. 30, 2019. The roster that helped the Nationals clinch their first World Series championship in franchise history would never be assembled again. But that didn’t mean pieces couldn’t linger.

Players – both of the utmost importance and those who were along for the ride – stayed around in the years since. That was until this year when, finally, the last pieces of that championship squad departed D.C.

The first to leave in 2024 was the World Series MVP, Stephen Strasburg. After a convoluted and confusing path to get there, the 36-year-old officially retired on April 6, months after plans were already in place to announce the end of his career due to complications from thoracic outlet syndrome.

The hold-up? The money still owed Strasburg, who only pitched 31 ⅓ innings in three years after the World Series, from the seven-year, $245 million extension he signed in December 2019. He was still owed $100 million over the next three years.

Merry Christmas to all! To those who celebrate, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday with friends and family. And to those who don’t, I wish you a day filled with peace and love.

One of my favorite holiday songs, “The Christmas Waltz” originally by Frank Sinatra, has a line that says, “It's that time of year when the world falls in love.” And that could not be more true this year for me.

My wife and I welcomed our first child into the world last week. An early Christmas present and the best we’ve ever received.

Robert Callum Blanco was born a healthy baby boy in D.C. Callum and mom are doing great. He’s an absolute bundle of joy with five tools: snuggly, squishy, smiley, squeaky and simply lovable. And his mother is a superhero by my standards.

Usually the one asking in interviews, I’ve fielded a lot of questions about what fatherhood is like for me. The best answer I’ve come up with in these early days is understanding.

PROSPECT REVIEW: CAYDEN WALLACE

Age on opening day 2025: 22

How acquired: Traded with Competitive Balance A pick (Caleb Lomavita) from Royals for Hunter Harvey in July 2024; originally drafted in second round by Royals in 2022 from Arkansas

Ranking: No. 11 per MLB Pipeline, No. 10 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: CALEB LOMAVITA

Age on opening day 2025: 22

How acquired: Drafted in Competitive Balance A round in 2024 from University of California, Berkeley; pick acquired via trade along with Cayden Wallace from Royals for Hunter Harvey in July 2024

Ranking: No. 10 per MLB Pipeline, No. 9 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2027
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: LUKE DICKERSON

Age on opening day 2025: 19

How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2024 from Morris Knolls High School in Rockaway, N.J.

Ranking: No. 7 per MLB Pipeline, No. 16 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2028
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: SEAVER KING

Age on opening day 2025: 21

How acquired: Drafted No. 10 overall in 2024 from Wake Forest

Ranking: No. 5 per MLB Pipeline, No. 8 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2027
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: ANDREW PINCKNEY

Age on opening day 2025: 24

How acquired: Drafted in fourth round in 2023 from University of Alabama

Ranking: No. 28 per MLB Pipeline, No. 21 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2026
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: CRISTHIAN VAQUERO

Age on opening day 2025: 20

How acquired: Signed as international free agent, January 2022

Ranking: No. 23 per MLB Pipeline, No. 12 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2027
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: YOHANDY MORALES

Age on opening day 2025: 23

How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2023 from the University of Miami (Fla.)

Ranking: No. 9 per MLB Pipeline, No. 7 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: DAYLEN LILE

Age on opening day 2025: 22

How acquired: Drafted in second round in 2021 from Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky.

Ranking: No. 12 per MLB Pipeline, No. 17 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2025
* Projected by MLB Pipeline

PROSPECT REVIEW: ELIJAH GREEN

Age on opening day 2025: 21

How acquired: Drafted No. 5 overall in 2022 from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Ranking: No. 21 per MLB Pipeline, No. 19 per Baseball America

MLB ETA: 2026
* Projected by MLB Pipeline