After late additions in 2024, will 2025 feature big splash?

It’s officially 2025 now, and that means a fresh start and raised expectations for a Nationals club that made strides in 2024 but still hasn’t climbed all the way out of the franchise rebuild they first embarked on in July 2021.

This is the year, everyone hopes, when the Nats end their streak of five consecutive losing seasons. This is the year, everyone hopes, when they return to contention for the first time since 2019. This is the year, everyone hopes, when their new core of young players realizes its full potential and leads the club to heights not experienced since the last star-studded core did it over an eight-season run of success.

And this is the year, everyone hopes, when the Nationals start adding established big leaguers via free agency and/or trade to bolster that promising young core.

Alas, that didn’t happen during the final two months of 2024. The Nats made very little news through all of November and the majority of December, but the final two weeks finally saw a flurry of activity with the acquisitions of four major league players.

It began with the signing of Michael Soroka to a one-year, $9 million contract, giving the pitching staff a former All-Star and Rookie of the Year runner-up whose career in Atlanta was sidetracked by freak injuries but may have been rejuvenated late last season in the White Sox bullpen.

It continued with the trade for Nathaniel Lowe, giving this lineup a desperately needed first baseman with some pop and an excellent glove. Lowe may not be the proven slugger everyone desired, but he’s won a Silver Slugger Award, a Gold Glove Award and a World Series ring in the last 50 months. He’s only 29, under club control for two years and should fill an important role on his new team.

After a short Christmas break, Mike Rizzo was back to work over the weekend with back-to-back signings of players with previous ties to the Nationals.

Josh Bell returns 2 1/2 years after he was packaged with Juan Soto in one of the biggest trades in major league history, agreeing to a one-year, $6 million deal. With Lowe already here, Bell figures to be the Nats’ primary DH this time around, hoping to recapture the slugging form he displayed during the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022 and provide some desperately needed power to this lineup.

And Trevor Williams returns only months after making what looked like his final start for the Nationals, testing free agency but ultimately coming back on another two-year deal, this one for a slight raise up to $14 million, $1 million more than his last contract guaranteed. If the veteran right-hander pitches like he did last season – and stays healthy this time – he’ll be a welcome addition (re-addition?) to a rotation otherwise lacking in experienced arms.

None of these moves qualified as the big splash so many have been hoping for this winter, but these weren’t bottom-of-the-barrel moves, either. The four players combined will make about $33 million this season, with Lowe and Williams combining to make an additional $22 million or so in 2026. According to MLB Trade Rumors calculations, the Nats actually rank 15th out of 30 clubs in guaranteed salaries added so far this winter.

For an organization that has shied away from significant financial commitments to free agents the last three winters, this feels like a modest step forward. Now, the next question: What else is still to come before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach in six weeks?

If nothing else, the Nationals need to add relievers, several of them. They have yet to address the departures of Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Dylan Floro, Tanner Rainey and Jacob Barnes, not to mention the trade of Robert Garcia. Experienced relievers abound in the open market, and Mike Rizzo is all but certain to address that obvious need in the coming weeks.

Is there a really big move still to come? Could Rizzo acquire a prominent third baseman, giving prospect Brady House more time to develop and giving José Tena an opportunity to serve in a more appropriate utility role? Could he acquire another starting pitcher, someone guaranteed to throw the 175 innings Patrick Corbin used to throw (while performing at a much higher level than the now-departed lefty)?

Or is there some other surprise up Rizzo’s sleeve before it’s all said and done?

The 2024 portion of the offseason began with silence but ended with some action. Will the 2025 portion of the Hot Stove League feature the big news everyone has been hoping for, setting the stage for year filled with more legitimate promise than has been common around here in a while?