Answers coming this week at the Winter Meetings

As the baseball world comes together in Orlando this week for the annual Winter Meetings, so many questions will swirl around the industry.

Which free agents will sign? What big names will be traded? Which teams will appear to be going all-in for 2026?

Unfortunately, sometimes the Winter Meetings leave a lot of questions unanswered. On the other hand, sometimes we get an eventful week where a lot of questions are answered, leading to more intriguing follow-up ones for the upcoming season.

For the Nationals, there are a number of questions revolving around them and new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni this week. One of them was answered last night with the Nats trading left-hander Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners for two prospects: catcher Harry Ford (Mariners' No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline and No. 6 per Baseball America; No. 3 catching prospect in baseball per Pipeline) and right-hander Isaac Lyon (2025 10th-round pick out of Grand Canyon University).

We might not get the answers to the rest of them, but here are some other questions we should get answers to …

* MacKenzie Gore’s (and maybe CJ Abrams’) trade market
Gore has already been a hot topic leading up to the meetings. He’s considered by some around the industry to be the biggest trade chip of the offseason.

Of course, the bigger question is: Will the Nationals trade their young ace, who has two years left of club control? More rumors about that have already begun to spread widely in the week leading up to the meetings.

While we may not get that answer in the coming days, we will likely get a better idea of what it could cost to acquire him.

Sonny Gray was already the first big starter to be traded this offseason, as the Cardinals acquired two minor leaguers and a player to be named later from the Red Sox in exchange for the 36-year-old right-hander a couple of weeks ago.

Gore should have a higher price tag than that.

A more comparable trade would probably be that of Garrett Crochet, also to the Red Sox, who netted the White Sox four players in return at last year’s Winter Meetings. Crochet was of similar age and major league experience as Gore is now.

So when trying to figure out if the Nats will trade their ace, don’t just look at rumors surrounding him. Look at other news coming out of Orlando about other starters and what their price tags could be. That should give us a good idea of Gore’s market.

To a lesser extent, this also applies to Abrams, who has been linked to Gore in trade rumors leading up to this week.

* Who will fill out Blake Butera’s coaching staff
We already know some of the pieces of the 33-year-old skipper’s staff and we’ve heard reports on others. But it is still not officially set.

Toboni will talk on a daily basis Monday through Wednesday. Butera will address the media one of those days as well. It would be surprising if they didn’t officially confirm some of those hires so we can take a deeper look at the new coaching staff as a whole.

* Where the Nats will select in the first round of the 2026 MLB Draft
Despite finishing with the third-worst record in the major leagues this season, the Nats cannot receive a lottery pick (top six) in 2026 after selecting prep shortstop Eli Willits with the No. 1 overall pick in July, a result of them winning the Draft Lottery at the 2024 meetings.

Odds are the Nats will select at No. 11 overall, but who knows? Maybe their previous Draft Lottery luck will continue and they might move up a couple of spots.

* How Toboni views the Rule 5 Draft
An underrated part of the Winter Meetings is the Rule 5 Draft, which concludes the week on Wednesday. It allows teams that do not have a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man players from other organizations, giving big league opportunities to players that have not had a chance with their current teams.

The Nats have roster space, and after over a decade of not utilizing this tool they have selected players in each of the previous three years under former manager Mike Rizzo.

Does Toboni view the Rule 5 Draft as a viable resource for roster construction? He’ll let us know by Wednesday at the latest.

Also, keep in mind the Nats could lose some players themselves in the draft. Notable names left unprotected include infielders Cayden Wallace, Kevin Made and Armando Cruz; outfielders Jared McKenzie and T.J. White; and right-handers Tyler Stuart (coming off Tommy John surgery) and Marquis Grissom Jr.

The catch: If the Nats do select someone with the No. 3 overall pick they will have to pay $100,000 to the team from which the player was selected and keep that player on their 26-man roster (or injured list) for the entirety of next season or else risk losing him. The reverse is true if they lose someone in the draft.

All of this should sum up to an eventful week in Orlando!