More important offseason dates coming up

We will finally hear from new Nationals manager Blake Butera tomorrow afternoon, with his introductory press conference at Nats Park scheduled for 1:30 p.m. It will air in its entirety on MASN, and be sure to check back on the site and on the MASN Nationals social channels for more coverage.

This has been the most highly anticipated day on the Nats’ offseason calendar since Butera was hired over two weeks ago, the delay in the presser being due to his wife giving birth to the couple’s first child on the day he accepted his first managing job in the major leagues.

Of course, there will be plenty to dissect from what Butera and new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni say tomorrow. But the new leadership duo will have to get straight to work because there are important offseason dates coming up …

* Tuesday, Nov. 18 – Qualifying offer acceptance deadline at 4 p.m.
Toboni and Butera will have all day Monday to celebrate the new skipper’s official introduction. But the very next day, they have to get down to work.

Though this deadline does not directly affect the Nationals, who did not extend the $22.025 million qualifying offer to any players, Toboni and Co. will know after this deadline passes which free agents will cost them a draft pick if they chose to pursue and sign any of them.

Thirteen players were extended the qualifying offer 10 days ago: Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen, Shota Imanaga, Michael King, Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres and Brandon Woodruff.

Any player that declines the offer becomes a free agent. And if he signs with a different team, the team that signs him will be subject to losing one or more draft picks.

While it is unlikely the Nationals, who are prioritizing rebuilding the farm system, will pursue any of these players in free agency and risk losing draft picks, it is important to keep in mind which players will have picks attached to them as Toboni looks to add to the major league roster this offseason.

* Tuesday, Nov. 18 – 40-man roster deadline at 6 p.m.
The deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft is also Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The Nats’ 40-man only has 34 players currently on it, so they have plenty of room to protect some prospects if they so chose. They have three prospects in their top 30, per MLB Pipeline, eligible for this year’s Rule 5 Draft: left-hander Jake Bennet (No. 10), outfielder Christian Franklin (No. 12) and right-hander Tyler Stuart (No. 28).

Bennet is two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the 2024 season and pitched to a 2.27 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) across three levels in 2025 before making five more appearances (four starts) with a 4.50 ERA in the Arizona Fall League.

Franklin, who will turn 26 at the end of the month, came to the Nats system in a deal with the Cubs for Michael Soroka at the trade deadline. He hit .290 with an .809 OPS in 31 games at Triple-A Rochester after the trade.

Stuart, who came over in the 2024 deadline deal with the Mets for Jesse Winker, battled elbow issues all season, making only 10 appearances (nine starts) across three levels before finally undergoing Tommy John surgery that will likely knock him out for all of the 2026 season.

* Friday, Nov. 21 – Non-tender deadline at 8 p.m.
The next possible cutdown of the 40-man roster comes later this week with Friday’s non-tender deadline.

When a team non-tenders a player, it declines to give him a contract for the next season, making him a free agent. This usually happens when the player’s projected salary raise in the arbitration process is higher than what the club sees as his on-field value. It’s also a way to clear more space on the 40-man roster.

The Nationals’ two likeliest candidates to be non-tendered are catcher Riley Adams and second baseman Luis García Jr.

Adams is a 29-year-old backup catcher, who actually performed admirably while getting extensive playing time later in the year due to Keibert Ruiz’s concussion issues. Ruiz’s health concerns might actually be Adams’ best bet to stay on the roster, in an odd and unfortunate way. If Ruiz is still deemed uncertain to return to baseball activity in 2026, the Nats may choose to hold onto Adams for another year. But if Ruiz is expected back and the club feels better about Drew Millas and top prospect Caleb Lomavita, it may choose not to pay Adams his projected $1.5 million salary next year.

García has shown glimpses of promise over the past two seasons, but not enough consistency. Although he’s still only 25, the Nats may decide his projected $7 million salary isn’t worth it for their long-term plans, leading them to figure out their infield another way.

CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Josiah Gray and Cade Cavalli are the Nats' other five arbitration-eligible (and therefore non-tender-eligible) players, but they are all likely to be tendered contracts for 2026.

* Sunday, Dec. 7 - Wednesday, Dec. 10 – Winter Meetings
After this past week’s General Manager Meetings in Las Vegas, Toboni and his new front office will head to Orlando next month for the baseball offseason’s biggest show: the Winter Meetings.

The Nationals hope Toboni was able to lay some groundwork in Vegas and came away with an idea of how he wants to go about constructing the roster for 2026. The Winter Meetings will be his next chance to follow up on some of those avenues.

But don’t expect the Nats to be too aggressive. They still have longer-term goals in mind and will likely leave the big signings and trades to other teams.

That doesn’t mean they won’t break for the holidays with nothing, which leads us to …

* Tuesday, Dec. 9 – MLB Draft Lottery
The Nationals have fared well during the first three editions of Major League Baseball’s new Draft Lottery to determine the order of the top picks in the following draft.

They landed the second-overall pick in the very first Draft Lottery in 2023, selecting LSU outfielder Dylan Crews. And although they weren’t eligible to keep it, they actually won the top pick in the 2024 lottery. But since they are a “payor club” – a team that gives rather than receives revenue-sharing dollars – they cannot receive a lottery pick in consecutive years. So they settled for the No. 10 pick in that draft and selected Wake Forest shortstop Seaver King.

No matter, because last year the Nationals hit the jackpot, landing the No. 1 overall pick despite entering the lottery with just 10.2 percent odds to do so. They selected high school shortstop Eli Willits, who is now the top prospect in their system and the No. 18 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline.

Alas, that means they cannot receive a lottery pick (top six) this year despite finishing with the third-worst record in the major leagues. So we’ll have to wait and see where Toboni and his new amateur scouting department will be selecting in the first round of the 2026 MLB Draft.

* Wednesday, Dec. 10 – Rule 5 Draft
The Winter Meetings conclude with the Rule 5 Draft and we do not yet know how the Nats’ new leadership views this roster tool.

The Rule 5 Draft allows teams that do not have a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man players from other organizations. Basically, it’s a way for teams to identify and give big league opportunities to players that have not been given a chance elsewhere.

Players signed at age 18 or younger must be added to their club’s 40-man roster within five seasons or else become eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Players signed at 19 or older must be protected within four seasons.

As of now, the Nats have six open spots on the 40-man roster, but as explained above, that could change between now and Dec. 10. If they do select someone in the Rule 5 Draft - in which they hold the No. 3 overall pick, as it’s held in reverse order of standings from the previous season - the Nats 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 the following season or else risk losing him.

For the longest time under former general manager Mike Rizzo, the Nationals did not utilize the Rule 5 Draft. That philosophy changed recently as the Nats made selections for the first time since 2010 in the last three drafts: right-hander Thaddeus Ward from the Red Sox in 2022 (he spent last season with the Orioles and is now a free agent), infielder Nasim Nuñez from the Marlins in 2023 and right-hander Even Reifert from the Rays in 2024 (the Nats returned him to Tampa Bay in spring training).

Will Toboni find the Rule 5 Draft a useful way to build the roster? He might let us know tomorrow. Or we’ll have to wait a month to find out.