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.

It may be for the best in the long run, with a new front office and new coaching staff implementing a new way of running a franchise. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be pretty in the short term.

There are still 5 1/2 weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report to West Palm Beach, so there’s still much Toboni and his team could do to alter the roster. But based on the moves the new president of baseball operations has made so far, it doesn’t appear any major splashes are forthcoming.

The Nats have acquired four major league players so far this winter. (Or, technically speaking, four players on the 40-man roster.) They traded for Mariners catcher Harry Ford. They signed left-hander Foster Griffin from the Yomiuri Giants in Japan. They traded for Red Sox right-hand prospect Luis Perales. And they selected Phillies right-hander Griff McGarry in the Rule 5 Draft.

Each of those moves had a purpose. Ford suddenly becomes the organization’s long-term catching hope, supplanting the disappointing Keibert Ruiz. Griffin becomes one of the veteran members of the rotation, despite his lack of actual MLB experience. Perales becomes one of the club’s more intriguing prospects, one who could debut sometime this season. And McGarry becomes the team’s latest low-risk lottery ticket, a pitcher with great stuff who hasn’t yet proven he can throw strikes.

But none of them are likely to be real difference makers in 2026. And while they still need to find at least one more proven bat (preferably a first baseman) and several more experienced relievers, the Nationals have offered few hints they intend to go big with any of those moves.

So, what exactly does success for this organization in 2026 look like?

“That’s a really good question,” Butera said last month at the Winter Meetings. “I’ve been asked this a lot. The more I think about it, hearing a group that is hungry to be developed a little bit more, creating a culture where these guys are out on the field early. You come out to Nationals Park and we have a 7 o’clock game, and you see guys out there at 2:30, 3 o’clock working on their game. The more the season goes on, the more you see of that, the more I feel like our culture is moving in the right direction.

“If these guys continue to improve with how young they are right now, the snowball effect is just going to continue. We’re building up the minor league system as well with the people we’ve brought in to where – once we create the culture of the work ethic and everybody buying in and honestly everybody loving one another – it sounds like this group is tight already.

“Just seeing these guys pull for each other, having each other’s backs, I think, when we get to the end of 2026, regardless of how many wins we have, if the early work is really good, these guys are developing their individual skills, I think that sets us up for 2027 being awesome.”

That was a well-stated but long-winded way of saying what many have suspected for a while: The Nationals aren’t thinking big things in 2026. They still believe they need at least another year to grow before potentially “going for it” in 2027.

It’s of course the new regime’s right to take that approach. It would be an awful lot to ask a completely overhauled organization to put a contender on the field in year one. They’re playing the long game, and they probably should.

In the meantime, focus on small successes here in 2026. Then hope they’re a precursor to much bigger ones next year and beyond.