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ORLANDO, Fla. – Though most mentions of the Nationals at these Winter Meetings have focused on the players they may be willing to trade, for the record they are in fact also looking to add players via free agency.
“Absolutely, and those conversations have been going for some days, weeks now,” president of baseball operations Paul Toboni said Tuesday evening. “But you know how it is: Once the Winter Meetings get rolling, especially day two, some of these deals start to come through. I will say it’s moving a little bit slower, for whatever reason. But we’ll see how these next couple days go.”
Tuesday saw major free agent news involving two other teams in the National League East. The Phillies re-signed Kyle Schwarber for five years and $150 million, locking the slugger up through his age-38 season. The Mets lost longtime closer Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers, who were willing to pay the soon-to-be 32-year-old $69 million over three seasons. And shortly before midnight, old pal Kyle Finnegan re-signed with the Tigers for two years and $19 million.
Whether those deals open the floodgates for others remains to be seen. The meetings conclude this afternoon with the Rule 5 Draft, so time is running out for teams to finalize deals before leaving town. Then again, the meetings often serve merely as a forum for executives and agents to meet in person and lay the groundwork for agreements that come later in the offseason.
Toboni and his new-look front office have met with several agents and discussed several free agents while here. They aren’t expected to get involved in long-term, high-dollar sweepstakes, but they acknowledge there are specific areas of need they intend to address via the open market.
“Where my head goes first is pitching,” Toboni said. “Starting pitching and relief pitching. That’s not to say that’s the only positions we’re going to tether ourselves to. But I think that’s probably the most realistic avenue.”
The Nationals rotation as currently constructed is led by MacKenzie Gore (assuming he’s not traded) and Cade Cavalli, two promising young arms with ace-like potential. Behind them are two starters who showed potential in 2024 but significantly regressed in 2025: Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker. There’s also Brad Lord, who impressed as a rookie both as a starter and reliever and now waits to learn what role this front office and coaching staff intends for him.
“We want to have conversations with the staff, so I don’t want to rush to judgment,” Toboni said of Lord. “But I think the really good thing about Brad is he’s proven he can do it as a starter. We obviously want him to reach another level as a starter. But that versatility is good. And he’s not the only guy on the roster; there are others as well that kind of fit that mold.”
Toboni later added he considers Parker (who finished the season in the bullpen) another pitcher who could either start or relieve.
Beyond those five are three starters returning from elbow surgeries, all of them expected to contribute sometime during the 2026 season. Toboni didn’t put any timelines on the eventual readiness of Josiah Gray, DJ Herz and Trevor Williams, but he did say Gray is the likeliest of that group to be “full-go” for the start of spring training.
There are several other starting options on the 40-man roster in the form of left-handers Andrew Alvarez, Jake Bennett and Jake Eder, plus right-hander Riley Cornelio. Toboni stressed the need for “optionable” pitchers who can go up and down from Triple-A when their services are needed.
“We have decent depth. Now what it’s about is hopefully finding creative ways to upgrade that depth,” he said. “That’s the name of the game. You see some of these teams when a starter goes down to injury, they’re able to backfill with not just a starter, but a good starter. I think that pays dividends throughout a long, 162-game season.”
