Not long after Mike Rizzo was fired but long before Paul Toboni took over baseball operations, the Nationals made a flurry of significant transactions this summer. When it came time for baseball’s annual trade deadline, it was Mike DeBartolo calling the shots as interim general manager, entrusted to make several moves of consequence only weeks after being put in charge of the organization during a time of unexpected upheaval.

DeBartolo wound up making five deals before the July 31 deadline. Those included the departures of six veterans and the acquisitions of 10 prospects. Only one of those returning players has appeared in a Nats uniform in the big leagues so far, but a number of the others could move into the picture soon enough.

It’ll be up to Toboni to decide who gets a shot, and when they’ll get that shot. But for now, it’s worth revisiting the trades DeBartolo made and evaluating what the Nationals emerged with from those deals. …

AMED ROSARIO TO YANKEES FOR CLAYTON BEETER, BROWM MARTINEZ
DeBartolo’s first trade came five days before the deadline, with the veteran infielder dealt to the Bronx for one big-league-ready reliever and one 19-year-old outfielder who has a long way to go. Rosario batted .303 (10-for-33) with a .788 OPS in 16 games for the Yankees. Beeter went to Triple-A Rochester for a week before getting called up to D.C., where he quickly ascended into a prime role in the bullpen. With a devastating slider, he delivered a 2.49 ERA, 1.015 WHIP and 32 strikeouts in only 21 2/3 innings. The only downside: He walked 14 batters, unable to command his fastball enough. Martinez, meanwhile, is still waiting to make his organizational debut, whether in the Dominican Republic (where he played the last two seasons with the Yankees) or in West Palm Beach with the Florida Complex League rookie squad.

ANDREW CHAFIN, LUIS GARCIA TO ANGELS FOR SAM BROWN, JAKE EDER
DeBartolo packaged two veteran relievers picked up midseason to an Angels team that was barely on the fringes of a pennant race and came away with a 24-year-old corner outfielder/first baseman and a 27-year-old lefty with a little bit of MLB experience. Chafin and Garcia were both good but were far from enough to lift the Angels out of last place in the AL West. Brown, meanwhile, slashed a solid .307/.384/.472 with 13 extra-base hits and 17 RBIs in 35 games with Double-A Harrisburg. Eder, who made eight relief appearances for Los Angeles this season, started one game for Harrisburg (two scoreless innings) and two games for Rochester (seven runs in five innings) following the trade. He’s currently on the 40-man roster, will be in big league camp and could work his way into the mix with a decent start to his 2026 campaign at Triple-A.

The Nationals added left-hander Jake Bennett, outfielder Christian Franklin and right-hander Riley Cornelio to their 40-man roster this afternoon, protecting all three prospects from being lost in next month’s Rule 5 Draft and signaling the new front office’s interest in them as potential parts of the club’s long-term plans.

Faced with a 6 p.m. EST deadline to purchase the contracts of any minor leaguers who are Rule 5-eligible this winter, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and his assistants chose to add Bennett, Franklin and Cornelio. None is likely to make the Nats’ Opening Day roster, but all three could find their way to the majors sometime during the 2026 season.

Bennett is the organization’s sixth-best prospect, according to Baseball America. The 24-year-old lefty, a second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Oklahoma, made 18 starts (plus one relief appearance) for three minor league affiliates this season, finishing with a 2.27 ERA and 1.075 WHIP for Double-A Harrisburg, High-A Wilmington and Single-A Fredericksburg. He went on to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 4.50 ERA, with a league-high 25 strikeouts and only five walks in 20 innings.

This was Bennett’s first season back from Tommy John surgery, and he was limited to a total of 95 1/3 innings across all of his stops. It remains to be seen if he’ll open 2026 back at Harrisburg or at Triple-A Rochester, but as a new member of the 40-man roster, he’ll be in big league camp next spring regardless.

Franklin, 25, was one of two prospects the Nationals acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline for right-hander Michael Soroka and quickly made a name for himself with a strong 31-game stint at Rochester to close out the season. Combined with the 86 games he played for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, he finished the year with a .272/.390/.427 slash line, 23 doubles, five triples, 12 homers, 64 RBIs and 19 stolen bases.

The Nationals continued their sell-off this evening by sending right-hander Michael Soroka to the Cubs, a source confirmed to MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman.

In return, the Nats are getting 18-year-old infielder Ronny Cruz and 25-year-old outfielder Christian Franklin.

Soroka, signed to a one-year, $9 million contract in December, finishes his time with the Nats with a 3-8 record, 4.87 ERA, 1.131 WHIP and 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings over 16 starts.

Though his last start was his shortest with Washington both in terms of innings (3 ⅓) and pitches (74), he only surrendered two runs on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. That helped make Soroka’s underlying numbers – 3.32 xERA and 4.12 FIP – more desirable than his traditional stats.

Soroka is also good in short spurts. Going back to his success as a reliever last year with the White Sox, he posted a 2.75 ERA and 1.222 WHIP in 16 appearances out of the bullpen. Through the first three innings this year, Soroka had a 3.00 ERA. The deeper in the game he got, the worse he got: In innings four through six, he had a 7.66 ERA.