Will Paul Toboni’s first offseason running the Nationals end with his first arbitration hearing against a player? If the club and Cade Cavalli can’t settle on their own in the next few weeks, they will indeed have to let a three-judge panel decide the right-hander’s 2026 salary.

Cavalli was the only one of the Nats’ seven arbitration-eligible players who did not agree to terms with the team prior to Thursday night’s leaguewide deadline. The two sides were required to file arbitration figures, with Cavalli asking for $900,000 and the club countering at $825,000, according to USA Today.

The $75,000 difference represents the smallest gap between any of the 18 major leaguers who filed for arbitration this year, paled in comparison to the record-setting $13 million gap between Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and the Tigers ($32 million vs. $19 million).

Given the relatively modest difference, there’s reason to believe Cavalli and the Nationals will be able to continue negotiations and possibly settle on their own before a trial actually takes place prior to the start of spring training. But given the lack of any track record from Toboni and his front office, it’s hard to say how the new president of baseball operations will approach these cases, whether he follows the lead of some other executives who refuse to extend negotiations once they’ve already filed for arbitration.

Cavalli’s case is an unusual one, because the 27-year-old has far less experience than most players who reach this stage of their careers, having made only 11 MLB starts.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of baseball news coming out of South Capitol Street the last few weeks, but we will have some news today.

It’s arbitration deadline day across the major leagues, with teams and players who have more than three years but fewer than six years of service time required to either agree to terms on their salary for the 2026 season or officially file competing arbitration figures.

It’s hardly the most exciting day of the year, and really all we’re talking about here is how much money these guys will make this season. Nobody’s in danger of losing his job.

But it’s a necessary step in the often complicated arbitration process. And with a new front office now running the show, it may give us some clues about how this group approaches things differently than the previous one did (if at all).

The Nats had seven arbitration-eligible players when the offseason began, but they already agreed to terms with two of them on 2026 contracts. Right-hander Josiah Gray, who is finally ready to return from his 2024 Tommy John surgery, agreed to the same $1.35 million salary he earned last season. Catcher Riley Adams, who faces an uncertain future with Keibert Ruiz already locked up and top prospect Harry Ford acquired from the Mariners last month, agreed to a $1 million deal (up from $850,000 last year).

While making a point to say every hitter on his roster will have his own strengths and weaknesses and individualized game plans, Matt Borgschulte does believe in an overarching philosophy as the Nationals’ new hitting coach. And it really gets to the entire point of the game of baseball.

“The goal of the offense is to score runs,” he said. “And we’re going to value every aspect of hitting that we can to maximize that run scoring potential of the offense. Whether that’s hitting the ball over the fence, in the gap and driving for extra bases, or whether that’s taking a good at-bat, taking our walks and really owning the zone.”

Officially hired last month, Borgschulte fits the basic profile of manager Blake Butera’s new coaching staff. Like so many others he’s now working with in the big leagues, he never actually played in the big leagues. And at 35, he’s still extremely young, potentially younger than one or more of his players if the Nats end up signing a veteran or two free agents before spring training.

But Borgschulte does have something Butera and many others on the staff do not have: Actual MLB coaching experience. He spent 2022-24 as the Orioles’ co-hitting coach with Ryan Fuller. Then he spent the 2025 season as the Twins’ hitting coach, losing that job after manager Rocco Baldelli was fired.

In Baltimore, he oversaw an incredibly young but talented lineup that included Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday, one that ranked among the most productive units in baseball while winning 101 games in 2023 and 91 games in 2024.

The Nationals have hired Jason Sinnarajah as president of business operations, adding a new position to the organization that lines up with previously hired president of baseball operations Paul Toboni.

Sinnarajah, who spent the last two years as senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Royals, will oversee all business-related aspects of the franchise, reporting directly to ownership.

“Jason is a transformative leader with a proven track record of using data and innovation to enhance the fan experience and drive organizational excellence,” managing principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “By creating the president of business operations role, we are ensuring that our business strategy is as modern and forward-thinking as our baseball strategy. We believe Jason is the ideal person to lead the Nationals into a bright future.”

The Nationals haven’t employed someone with the title of president on the business side of the organization since Stan Kasten, who was part of the Lerner family’s original ownership group and was team president (overseeing both business and baseball) from 2006-10.

Unlike Kasten, Sinnarajah won’t have any input on baseball operations, with Toboni hired in September to assume that role three months after the firing of longtime president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo.

The Nationals’ first acquisition of the new year added a speedy outfielder to a position group already filled with several others who fit the same profile.

The Nats claimed Joey Wiemer off waivers from the Giants, bringing aboard a 26-year-old with modest pop, good speed and a strong defensive reputation.

Wiemer was designated for assignment by San Francisco last month, only four weeks after he was acquired from the Marlins for cash considerations following another DFA transaction. He immediately goes on the Nationals’ 40-man roster, which is now full. And because he’s out of options, he would have to clear waivers before the club could demote him to the minors.

Originally a fourth round pick of the Brewers in 2020 out of the University of Cincinnati, Wiemer made a name for himself as a rookie in 2023, hitting 13 homers with 19 doubles, 42 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 132 big league games. He hasn’t been able to recapture that form since, limited to only 48 MLB games the last two seasons.

Wiemer has endured through a nomadic journey, traded three times since 2024. The Brewers dealt him along with right-hander Jakob Junis to the Reds for righty Frankie Montas at the 2024 trade deadline. He played in only two games with Cincinnati before getting traded that fall with infielder Jonathan India to the Royals for right-hander Brady Singer.

As the holiday break officially ends and everyone gets back to work, the Nationals’ front office will reconvene and confront perhaps the team’s most pressing question at the moment: Who’s on first?

That question has loomed since season’s end. While every other position around the diamond arguably already has a potential long-term solution in place, there’s nothing of the sort at first base.

In fact, there’s only one true first baseman on the 40-man roster right now, and that’s Andres Chaparro, who played in only 34 big league games last season and has never really been viewed as a long-term solution. The 26-year-old maybe could serve as the right-handed portion of a position platoon, but that option has never seemed like anyone’s first choice.

What about Luis Garcia Jr.? That possibility has not been ruled out, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 25-year-old get some reps at first base this spring. But nobody in an official role has suggested a full-time position switch for Garcia, who has played 508 of his 580 career MLB games at second base (and may or may not be a better defender at the corner position).

The Nationals have signed two moderately experienced first basemen to minor league deals in recent weeks in the form of Matt Mervis and Warming Bernabel. Mervis, a D.C. native, owns a paltry .165/.238/.322 slash line over 261 career MLB plate appearances, though it’s worth noting he’s homered in two of his six career plate appearances against his hometown team. Bernabel, 23, slashed .252/.288/.410 over 146 plate appearances with the Rockies last season.

The Nationals haven’t been too competitive on the field since winning the World Series in 2019. Over the last six seasons, they’ve finished last in the National League East five times and fourth once.

The new front office is tasked with changing that. And although it may take some time, the new people in charge are using their own competitive drive to get the Nats back to the top of the baseball world.

President of baseball operations Paul Toboni has said when the Nationals get to where he wants them to be on all fronts – major league team, player development, drafting and scouting – they will be “the envy of all sports.” A highly competitive approach is needed to accomplish that.

The Nats may not always like what they see on the actual and metaphorical scoreboards, but they aren’t going to ignore it so they know where they need to improve in order to win on and off the field.

“We're going to try as hard as we can to create a scoreboard,” Toboni said to a huddle of local media after his introductory press conference in October. “So if I'm working in player development, we want to know how much better or worse we are at developing players than other organizations. And that's tricky at times to really come up with a scoreboard, but that's the mindset that we want to have.”

This week’s news that Anthony Rendon will no longer play for the Angels (or, in reality, anyone) was sad for anyone associated with the Nationals who was sorry to see his once-brilliant career come apart the way it did once he left D.C. for Anaheim.

While most everyone else in the baseball world will bemoan that the Angels wound up paying Rendon $245 million to play only 257 games while hitting only 22 homers with 125 RBIs – totals he surpassed in 2019 alone – everyone here still recognizes how great he was when healthy. And how the Nats would not have won the World Series without him.

It’s, of course, impossible not to make comparisons to Stephen Strasburg. Both were homegrown, first-round picks who became stars in Washington. Both rose to the occasion on the biggest stage. Both became free agents days after the World Series. Both wound up signing seven-year, $245 million contracts. Both never came close to living up to those deals, done in by career-ending injuries that forced them into early retirement and financial settlements with their clubs.

What’s also striking about the Rendon news, though, is the fact he becomes the latest member of that 2019 team to exit the playing stage.

That was admittedly an old roster, filled with veterans who had already enjoyed long and productive careers but were now united in their quest to win their first rings. But there were plenty of 20-something players on the team, too, including some of the best players in the sport. And only six years later, many of them have retired.

Happy New Year! Hope everyone out there had a wonderful holiday season and is now looking forward to what's in store in 2026.

We're only 5 1/2 weeks away, believe it or not, from pitchers and catchers. There's still a lot for the Nationals to do between now and then, but we're slowly but surely getting a sense of what this team will look like under new management.

You've got questions. I've (hopefully) got answers. You know the drill by now: Submit your inquiries in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

The Nationals entered 2025 with visions of taking a long-awaited step forward, turning the fourth season of their rebuild into their first winning season since 2019. That, of course, didn’t happen.

So as they now enter 2026, what visions exactly do this franchise have for the new year?

It’s not an easily answered question. Because of the massive changes that have taken place throughout the organization, it’s probably safe to say the goal no longer is to complete the rebuild that was kickstarted by the previous regime. The goal now, for better or worse, is to kickstart a new rebuild under new management.

That’s not going to sit well with a large segment of a fan base that already feels like its patience has been tested enough over the last four seasons. Most bought into the original plan orchestrated by Mike Rizzo, painful as that plan was to accept at the time, and were willing to see this thing through to conclusion, believing better days were coming soon.

But when ownership decided to fire Rizzo (and manager Davey Martinez) in July, then go outside the organization this fall to hire the likes of Paul Toboni, Anirudh Kilambi and Blake Butera, the reset button clearly was hit. With force.

We've reached the final week of the year, so it's time to look back at the Nationals' most significant stories of 2025. We conclude the series today with the decision to fire both Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez in early July ...

A Nationals franchise that experienced seemingly constant change through its first decade-plus in the District had become one of the most stable organizations in baseball during its second decade in town. After swapping one manager for another every two or three years, the Nats finally stuck with Davey Martinez for more than seven years. After a chaotic run under Jim Bowden, they promoted Mike Rizzo to general manager in 2009 and kept him at the helm for more than 16 years.

That’s what made the events of July 6 so stunning. Not because pressure wasn’t already building on Rizzo and Martinez in Year Four of a rebuild that hadn’t come close to producing a winning record. But because the all-important question always lingered over the whole enterprise: Would ownership actually make those kind of major decisions on two loyal, longtime employees who brought the city its first World Series title in 95 years?

Ownership not only did make those decisions. It made them in season, and in conjunction.

After the Nationals took a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox on July 6 to complete an uninspired weekend sweep, managing principal owner Mark Lerner and Lerner Sports Group COO Alan Gottlieb informed both Rizzo and Martinez they were being fired, then stood in the home clubhouse at Nationals Park and informed the rest of the team what had just taken place.

We've reached the final week of the year, so it's time to look back at the Nationals' most significant stories of 2025. We continue the series today with the hirings of Paul Toboni as president of baseball operations, Anirudh Kilambi as general manager and Blake Butera as manager ...

It had been a long time since the Nationals found themselves searching for a new manager, longer still since they found themselves searching for a new general manager. And never before had they found themselves searching for both at the same time.

But when members of the Lerner family decided to fire both Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez on the same Sunday afternoon in early-July, this was the situation they created for themselves. They were going to finish out the season with interim replacements. Then they were going to have to decide who should get both jobs on a permanent basis.

First up, the GM position. The Nats could have opted to retain Mike DeBartolo, Rizzo’s longtime No. 2 in the front office who admirably took over during a time of turmoil and earned praise for navigating the franchise through the MLB Draft and trade deadline. In the end, ownership chose to go completely outside the organization and start fresh with one of the sport’s up-and-comers.

Paul Toboni was only 35, but he had spent the last decade climbing the ladder in the Red Sox organization and seemingly was in line to become their GM underneath chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. Until the Nationals lured him away with an offer of an even loftier title (president of baseball operations) and the keys to the entire front office.

We've reached the final week of the year, so it's time to look back at the Nationals' most significant stories of 2025. We continue the series today with the selection of Eli Willits as the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft ...

There’s an inherent pressure that comes with the No. 1 pick in any draft, especially when there’s no clear consensus choice. Under normal circumstances, the Nationals would’ve felt that pressure as mid-July approached and they had to decide which amateur player to snag from a pool of several viable candidate.

And then the situation became anything but normal when ownership fired longtime general manager Mike Rizzo seven days before 2025 MLB Draft.

Though the club’s scouting department – led at the time by Danny Haas, Brad Ciolek and Reed Dunn – remained intact, the man who had the final say on the pick – interim GM Mike DeBartolo – suddenly changed.

And when the Nats proceeded to take 17-year-old shortstop Eli Willits over the more-often-touted Ethan Holliday and Kade Anderson, there was immediate speculation wondering if the club’s choice had changed during that dramatic week. The club’s decision makers immediately shot down that theory, insisting the decision was “unanimous.”

We've reached the final week of the year, so it's time to look back at the Nationals' most significant stories of 2025. We continue the series today with a breakout season by a former top prospect that was long promised …

James Wood’s major league debut on July 1, 2024, of course, was highly anticipated. At the time, he was the top prospect in baseball with a lot of expectations surrounding him. Not only was he one of the five prospects the Nationals got in return from the Padres for Juan Soto and Josh Bell in 2022, but the Rockville, Md., native had returned to play for his hometown team.

Sure enough, he impressed over his first three months in the majors, hitting nine home runs, 13 doubles and four triples with 41 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, a .264 average and .781 OPS in 79 games.

That set expectations sky high for him entering 2025, his first full big league season. And he delivered in the first half.

In his first 87 games through July 3, Wood slashed .294/.395/.563 with 23 homers, 19 doubles, 67 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He posted a .958 OPS that ranked among the league leaders, while he was on pace for more than 40 homers, 120 RBIs and 100 walks for the season.

We've reached the final week of the year, so it's time to look back at the Nationals' most significant stories of 2025. We begin the series today by looking back at an active trade deadline for the Nats, who had an interim general manager in charge of making deals …

Mike DeBartolo had an unexpectedly busy summer. When Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez were relieved of their duties on July 6, the longtime assistant general manager was elevated to the interim GM role in place of Rizzo.

A week later, DeBartolo guided the Nats’ shaken-up front office through the MLB Draft, in which they used the No. 1 overall pick to select high school shortstop Eli Willits.

Then two weeks later, the interim GM had to navigate the trade deadline, one in which the Nats were expected to be very active.

But DeBartolo handled those challenges admirably. He did not shy away from drafting Willits, who some considered the best all-around player in the draft even at 17 years old, for underslot value to load up on other highly-touted prospects in subsequent rounds.

Foster Griffin’s baseball journey is not done yet. After only seven major league appearances across the 2020 and 2022 seasons with the Royals and Blue Jays and Tommy John surgery that knocked him out of the 2021 season, the former first-round pick took a chance at playing in Japan.

Signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball in 2023, the left-hander thrived overseas. He went 6-5 with a 2.75 ERA and 1.074 WHIP in 20 starts during his first season in Japan. He then followed that up with a 7-6 record and 2.93 ERA in 24 starts in his second season abroad.

Griffin’s third campaign in Tokyo was his best. He finished 6-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.966 WHIP in 17 starts, earning a selection to the NPB Central League All-Star Game. And perhaps most impressively, he allowed only one homer over 89 innings.

Across three seasons in Japan, he went 18-10 with a 2.57 ERA, 1.033 WHIP, 9.1 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine innings in 54 games.

That earned him the opportunity to return to the major leagues on a $5.5 million deal, plus incentives, with the Nationals that was made official on Monday. And with that new contract, comes the opportunity to be a starter again, this time in the bigs.

Merry Christmas to all and to all happy holidays!

As we wake up this morning to see what new things from our personal wish lists Santa left under the tree, there are still plenty of things on the Nationals’ wish list that need to be checked off before the start of the next season.

To be sure, it has been a busy offseason for the Nats. Paul Toboni was hired as the new president of baseball operations at the end of the regular season. He has made numerous hires to fill out his restructured front office, including Anirudh Kilambi as the general manager to work directly below him.

Blake Butera was named the eighth full-time manager in club history. And at the ripe age of 33, he’s by far the youngest. He’s been working to fill out his coaching staff, which we know includes the return of Sean Doolittle.

Toboni has made some of his first roster moves since taking over the Nats as well. He traded left-hander Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for top catching prospect Harry Ford and right-hander Isaac Lyon.

Santa Claus isn’t the only one who is busy on this Christmas Eve. The Nationals made a move to add depth to the roster after checking their offseason wish list twice.

The Nats have signed first baseman Matt Mervis to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training, per a source, adding depth to a position of need. The New York Post was first to report the signing.

Mervis, 27, was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Potomac, Md. He played high school baseball at Georgetown Prep, with the Nats originally drafting him in the 39th round in the 2016 MLB Draft. But he didn’t sign with the team and instead decided to play collegiately at Duke.

He went undrafted in the five-round 2020 MLB Draft, shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and signed with the Cubs as a free agent.

After making his major league debut on May 5, 2023, he went on to play 27 games with the North Siders, hitting .167 with a .531 OPS, three home runs and 11 RBIs.

Foster Griffin went to Japan three years ago not because he envisioned it would get him back to the major leagues eventually, but because at the time it was the only place that offered him a chance to be a starting pitcher.

Having bounced back and forth between Triple-A, Kansas City and Toronto while making seven MLB appearances in relief from 2020-22, the left-hander saw an appealing opportunity with the Yomiuri Giants. And once he got the blessing from his then-pregnant wife, he made the move across the Pacific and hoped for the best.

Three highly successful years later, Griffin found himself Tuesday talking about his latest opportunity: Becoming a member of the Nationals’ 2026 rotation after signing a one-year, $5.5 million contract. It’s an opportunity he couldn’t have realistically foreseen when he first left for Japan.

“It’s tough so far to wrap my head around it, to be honest with you,” he said in a Zoom session with reporters. “You hear about some guys going to Japan and coming back and getting deals. But to be honest with you, that was never at the front of my mind when I left. I just wanted to go out there and re-establish myself as a starter. I kind of feel like I got this second chance at baseball in my career, by getting the opportunity to go to Japan.”

In their quest to add some much needed experience to an otherwise young rotation, the Nationals turned their sights to Tokyo. Not for a native Japanese pitcher, but for an American-born, former first round pick who indeed resurrected his career in unexpected fashion.

The Nationals’ one-year contract with Foster Griffin has been finalized, and the 30-year-old left-hander’s signing is now official.

Griffin and the Nats had agreed to terms last Tuesday on a $5.5 million deal, plus incentives, but the contract wasn’t finalized until he passed a physical.

With that matter now resolved, the former first round pick of the Royals turns his sights toward his official return to major leagues after a highly successful, three-year stint pitching in Japan.

Griffin joined the Yomiuri Giants in 2023 after failing to stick in the big leagues and enjoyed immediate success. He went 6-5 with a 2.75 ERA and 1.074 WHIP in 20 starts during his first season abroad, then returned the following season to go 7-6 with a 2.93 ERA in 24 starts.

Griffin’s third season in Tokyo was his best; he went 6-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.966 WHIP in 17 starts, earning a selection to the NPB Central League All-Star Game. He allowed only one homer over 89 innings.