Does it feel like this offseason has gone by really quickly to anyone else, or is it just me? It seems like only yesterday we were watching an epic Game 7 of the World Series between the Blue Jays and the eventual champion Dodgers. And now here we are, less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to West Palm Beach.

Don’t get me wrong, the upcoming start of a new baseball season is exciting. It just seems that every offseason moves quicker and quicker as the years go on.

But I digress …

Though it may not seem like it, the Nationals have been pretty busy this offseason. Yes, I know a lot of fans wish there were more moves made to the major league roster, but new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has been hard at work rebuilding the whole organization the way he wants. Unfortunately for fans, a lot of that work can’t be seen right now.

The Nats did bring back right-hander Trevor Gott on a minor league deal yesterday, per multiple reports. The 33-year-old pitched in Washington during the 2016-18 seasons after being acquired from the Angels in a trade for infielder Yunel Escobar.

As the vast majority of the Nationals’ front office and coaching staffs were overhauled this fall and winter, one corner of the organization remained intact.

The club’s international scouting department is still under previous management, namely Victor Rodriguez, who was hired in 2023 and for the last two years has been director international operations. Rodriguez was hired by Mike Rizzo, but he continues to serve in the same role under Paul Toboni.

What helped his cause? The fact his first job was with the Red Sox, who employed both Toboni and Justin Horowitz. And the fact his next job was with the Rays, who employed Anirudh Kilambi. Those three men now hold some of the top titles in the Nats front office, with Rodriguez a welcome face running one of baseball operations’ most important departments.

“It’s always good to come and see somebody that you’ve worked with in the past, because that learning curve and that trust gets expedited a little bit better,” Rodriguez said. “It’s really exciting for me to be able to work alongside all these guys again.”

Rodriguez spoke with reporters Thursday, when Major League Baseball’s international signing period officially opened. The Nationals added 15 new players from three Latin American countries, a group headlined by two highly ranked Dominican outfielders: Samil Serrano and Isaias Suarez.

While there’s been plenty of discussion around here about the Nationals’ Opening Day roster and what holes still need to be filled between now and then, there’s been less discussion about some of the organization’s most intriguing young players who aren’t part of the immediate plan but certainly are part of the long term plan.

The Nats’ farm system has experienced some real ups and downs in recent years. What had been one of the sport’s worst systems was reinvigorated with the Juan Soto trade in 2022 and began showing up in the top-10 rankings of several major publications one year later.

The “graduations” of James Wood, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile, Cade Cavalli and others, though, in the last year-plus have left the organization back towards the bottom of the pile. New 2026 preseason rankings haven’t been published yet, but Baseball America had the Nats at No. 21 last summer and MLB Pipeline had them at No. 23.

We know one of Paul Toboni’s primary goals as president of baseball operations is to build a consistent player development machine that pumps out quality big leaguers year in and year out. That takes time, but the cupboard he inherited isn’t entirely bare, either.

The Nationals have four top-100 prospects in the game, according to MLB Pipeline’s most recent rankings: Eli Willits (15), Harry Ford (42), Travis Sykora (49) and Jarlin Susana (87). The rest of the organization’s current top-10: Luis Perales, Luke Dickerson, Alex Clemmey, Landon Harmon, Seaver King and Ethan Petry.

The Nationals announced today they will begin producing and broadcasting games directly through Major League Baseball this season, ending a 21-year relationship with MASN.

Nationals.tv, as it is being branded, will broadcast all locally televised games in 2026, available through cable and satellite providers in the region as well as through MLB’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform.

The arrangement mirrors those of six other franchises (Padres, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Rockies, Twins, Guardians) who in recent years have left their regional sports networks and partnered directly with MLB to broadcast their games.

“Today’s announcement represents a new chapter for Washington Nationals baseball,” managing principal owner Mark Lerner said in a statement. “We are excited to have already begun work with the talented team at MLB, and the collaboration is off to a strong start as we work together to elevate the viewing experience with world-class broadcasts across television and streaming.

“Partnering with MLB offers us several new opportunities that will greatly improve the on-air product, including technological enhancements, the ability to work more closely with our broadcasters, and create added opportunities for our valued corporate partners. We’re thrilled to be able to offer the kind of presentation that our dedicated fans across the entire Mid-Atlantic region deserve.”

Though most of the moves they’ve made to date haven’t warranted major headlines, the Nationals have made a good number of moves since season’s end 3 1/2 months ago.

Twelve players who ended the 2025 season on the club’s 40-man roster no longer reside there: Jorge Alfaro, Josh Bell, Zach Brzykcy, Paul DeJong, Jose A. Ferrer, Sauryn Lao, Trey Lipscomb, Ryan Loutos, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Eduardo Salazar, CJ Stubbs, Mason Thompson.

Which means 12 new players have since been added to the 40-man roster: Riley Cornelio, Harry Ford, Christian Franklin, Foster Griffin, Griff McGarry, Luis Perales, Paxton Schultz and Joey Wiemer, plus four guys who were reinstated from the 60-day injured list (Josiah Gray, DJ Herz, Drew Millas, Trevor Williams).

That’s a healthy amount of turnover for an organization, though probably not unexpected considering the turnover that’s also occurred in the front office and coaching staff.

But it can be hard to keep up with all the transactions. So let’s take a moment this morning to run through the entire 40-man roster as currently constructed, understanding there can and will be more changes to come before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach in a mere four weeks.

The Nationals’ most notable participant in this year’s World Baseball Classic might just be one of the stars of one of the tournament’s biggest underdogs.

Harry Ford has officially been named to Great Britain’s roster for this spring’s international event, the second time the young catcher will represent the birthplace of his parents, the first time he’ll do so as member of the Nats organization and as a big leaguer.

Ford was born and raised outside Atlanta, but both of his parents were born in England, giving him dual citizenship. He has spent a good portion of this offseason with his father, who has returned to live in his home country.

The Brits made their WBC debut three years ago and became one of the tournament’s darlings after scoring an upset victory over Colombia before ultimately losing in group play to the United States and Mexico. And Ford, only 20 at the time and with no experience higher than the Mariners’ Single-A affiliate, was one of the breakout stars of the team, batting .308 with two homers, a double, four RBIs and a 1.246 OPS in four games.

He emerged from the experience with an even stronger desire to return and try to lift his adopted home country to new heights the next time around.

The Nationals’ most glaring need as we reach the four-week mark before pitchers and catchers report to spring training? It’s easy to look at the vacuum currently at first base and declare that position as priority No. 1.

But let’s not sleep on the bullpen. Or, more accurately, let’s hope the Nats aren’t sleeping on the bullpen. Because there’s a whole lot of work that still needs to be done there.

A group that already was thin on experience when the 2025 season ended no longer has its most experienced arm. Burgeoning closer Jose A. Ferrer was traded to the Mariners last month to acquire potential long-term catching solution Harry Ford.

That leaves an awfully thin relief corps now headlined by young right-handers Cole Henry and Clayton Beeter, who collectively have accrued 1 year, 129 days of major league service time.

And it’s not like the guys behind them on the depth chart have been around long themselves: left-handers Konnor Pilkington (152 days) and PJ Poulin (55 days), right-handers Jackson Rutledge (1 year, 25 days), Orlando Ribalta (1 year, 13 days), Julian Fernandez (2 years, 42 days but only 10 MLB appearances) and the just-acquired Paxton Schultz (78 days).

In taking the job as the Nationals’ new hitting coach under first-year manager Blake Butera, Matt Borgschulte finds himself back in a familiar situation.

When Borgschulte was named the Orioles’ co-hitting coach with Ryan Fuller ahead of the 2022 season, he was tasked with getting the most out of a lot of highly touted, yet still developing young hitters on an up-and-coming team.

Now, after a stop as the sole hitting coach with the Twins last year, the 35-year-old is again tasked with the development of some young hitters who still possess immense potential.

“The youth of the group is awesome. And then the potential,” Borgschulte said earlier this week on a Zoom call with reporters. “We have a lot of different types of players, but ultimately, the desire, the competitiveness that these guys have to want to continue to improve, I think, is a really, really big benefit. Because sometimes guys think they get to the major leagues and then, OK, they've made it, let's just play and have fun. And obviously it's a game. We want to continue to play and have fun. But the growth never stops. And the moment that that does stop, then we start to see some guys kind of fall back. So having the desire for them to continue to try to reach higher and higher and continue to improve is something that I'm truly excited about.”

The Orioles had a top farm system in baseball in 2022, their long rebuild starting to pay dividends. Yes, Borgschulte inherited a lot of talented players when he went to Baltimore, but he had to make sure their presumed potential was reached at the major league level.

The Nationals are bringing in another controllable reliever, one with a track record for pitching multiple innings out of the bullpen.

The club claimed Paxton Schultz off waivers from the Blue Jays on Friday, picking up the 28-year-old right-hander five days after he was designated for assignment when Toronto needed to clear a 40-man roster spot to sign Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto.

Schultz has 13 games of major league experience, all of them coming last season when he posted a 4.38 ERA and 1.419 WHIP. He made two starts, but both were abbreviated outings in which he was held to 40-45 pitches.

A starter through most of his minor league career, Schultz moved to the bullpen in 2024 and earned his way to the big leagues the following year with his ability to throw multiple innings in relief. He totaled two or more innings in six of his 13 outings and threw 40 or more pitches in seven of them, including an April 20 debut against the Mariners in which he tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out eight.

Schultz wound up striking out 28 batters in 24 2/3 MLB innings, walking only eight. Those numbers were better than he showed in 25 games with Triple-A Buffalo during the season, when he delivered a 3.31 ERA and 1.102 WHIP but struck out fewer batters (46) than innings pitched (49) while walking 17.

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.