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ORLANDO, Fla. – Since his hiring two months ago to take over a Nationals organization that had become stagnant, perhaps the most intriguing question Paul Toboni had to face concerned a potential timeline for this organization to return to the prominent perch it once held.
The young president of baseball operations has been careful not to answer that question with any specifics, simultaneously referring to the talent already in place here and the need to think long-term. But his words and actions over the last week have seemed to tilt more in one direction than the other.
With Jose A. Ferrer traded to the Mariners for Harry Ford, with MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams very much drawing interest from other clubs, with little indication they intend to pursue top-tier free agents right now, the Nationals still appear to be prioritizing the long-term over the short-term.
“Building a team that becomes the envy of sport is an ambitious goal,” Toboni wrote in a letter to fans published by the team Monday. “Some days it will feel as if we’re moving quickly; others might feel like we’ve hit rush-hour traffic on the Beltway. There will be pockets of frustration. It will certainly take time, measured in years.”
Put another way: Toboni doesn’t seem to view his job as completing the rebuild former general manager Mike Rizzo began in July 2021. He seems to view his job as starting his own rebuild in December 2025.
That’s why he was willing to trade Ferrer, a promising late-inning lefty with four years of club control remaining, to Seattle for 22-year-old catcher Harry Ford, who will have a chance to overtake Keibert Ruiz as the organization’s long-term answer behind the plate.
“I think it’s one of those rare moves that I think we’re going to look up 4-5 years down the line,” Toboni said, “and say this was really a great trade for both teams.”
It’s why he’s now showing a willingness to trade Gore and/or Abrams, who have no shortage of potential suitors. One is a 26-year-old All-Star lefty who at one point this season led the majors in strikeouts, is projected to make less than $5 million and is under club control through 2027. The other is a 25-year-old All-Star shortstop who has averaged 31 doubles, 19 homers and 36 stolen bases each of the last three seasons, is projected to make less than $6 million and is under club control through 2028.
“It’s tricky because we’re sitting here thinking to ourselves: Gosh, it’s going to be really fun to see a player achieve X, Y and Z once we put them in this environment to develop,” Toboni said. “At the same time … we do have to be open-minded when other teams come our way and give strong offers. I think it’s all an individual case as we talk with these players. We just put our heads together and think what a reasonable return would be, and then we stay disciplined.”
It would be one thing if Gore and Abrams were homegrown players who weren’t ever supposed to be part of a contending roster. But these are two of the five prospects the Nats acquired from the Padres only three years ago in one of the most consequential trades in baseball history. Rizzo sold everyone on the idea of losing Juan Soto more than two years before he could become a free agent because of the unprecedented return he was getting from San Diego.
Three of those five prospects (Gore, Abrams, James Wood) have already blossomed into All-Stars. Two more (Jarlin Susana, Robert Hassell III) still have plenty of time to develop into quality big leaguers themselves.
And now, the Nationals might trade two of those young building blocks away only three years later, without having won anything on the field in between? How do you sell that to a weary fanbase?
“I think we’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Toboni said. “Obviously, I haven’t been part of the organization decision-making over time. To me, I can’t really worry about it. We have to do what’s best for the Nationals organization. Whatever that ends up looking like, who knows. But that’s how I think of it. And then I can communicate that honestly to the fans, because I’m coming from a place of genuine honesty. This is what we’re looking to build here.”
It's why Toboni said he wanted to write that letter to fans this week, an unconventional direct line of communication between a team’s top baseball executive and the people who pay to watch it play 162 times a season. Most of those fans were patient during the Rizzo-led rebuild, believing the organization would be better off in the long run. Are they willing to display that kind of patience all over again, with a new guy in charge who perhaps doesn’t see as much ready-to-win talent on the roster as everyone hoped there was?
“The things I can talk about, I want to be really open and honest about,” Toboni said. “Because what we’re looking to do is create a dynamic where Nationals fans can hop on with us and enjoy this ride with us. The last thing we want to do is tell them we’re doing something we have no inclination actually to do it, and they’re left there sitting and wondering: ‘Why did we do this?’ The more honest we can be with them about what it’s going to look like going forward, the better. Hopefully, they can feel a part of it, because they are.”
The Nationals’ 2026 roster is far from set. The Winter Meetings just began Monday. Pitchers and catchers don’t report for two months. Opening Day is 3 1/2 months away. There’s plenty of time for Toboni and his front office to add to and subtract from the roster. Maybe Gore and Abrams will still be wearing curly W caps on March 26 at Wrigley Field.
But when you consider what the club has done so far this winter, what the club says it’s willing to do next and read between the lines a little, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that the Nats’ focus remains on the future over the present.
