On the day he traded Juan Soto, Mike Rizzo acknowledged the raw emotions everyone was feeling at the time but insisted it ultimately would leave the Nationals in a better position to win long-term.

“I think it accelerates the process,” the former general manager said. “I think that you lose a generational talent like that, but you put in five key elements of your future championship roster.”

Not even 3 1/2 years later, the man who replaced Rizzo running baseball operations tried to explain how trading away one of those “key elements of your future championship roster” for five more prospects – long before this franchise has come anywhere close to winning again – will put the Nats in a better position to win long-term, a message that is increasingly difficult for a weary fanbase to accept.

“I hear it, and I empathize with it,” Paul Toboni said Thursday night after trading MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers. “There would be part of me – I think back to my 15-year-old self; I was a Giants fan at the time – bummed to see a player of this caliber leaving, and a leader on the team and that sort of thing.

“But I would paint a much more optimistic picture. I think the excitement that comes with these players we’re getting in return exceeds the disappointment of seeing MacKenzie go. That’s just me talking as the head of baseball operations now. I’m really excited about the package we’ve gotten in return. And I hope fans see it in the same way.”

The Nationals have agreed to trade left-hander MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for a package of five prospects, including Texas’ first-round pick from last summer’s draft, in Paul Toboni’s first blockbuster deal since becoming the club’s president of baseball operations.

The trade, which was officially announced late this afternoon, sends Gore to Texas with two years of club control remaining and makes the 26-year-old burgeoning ace the first player acquired in the Juan Soto megadeal of 2022 to be dealt away.

As was the case in the Soto deal, the Nats receive five prospects in return for Gore, though this package does not include as many highly rated players.

The return from the Rangers features shortstop Gavin Fien (a 2025 first round pick), right-hander Alejandro Rosario (formerly a top-50 prospect who is expected to miss the entire 2026 season following Tommy John surgery), infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald (drafted in 2024 out of high school), outfielder Yeremy Cabrera (20-year-old signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2022) and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz (23-year-old who posted a .953 OPS in 41 games at Triple-A last season).

Those five players’ most recent rankings among the Rangers’ top prospects, per MLB Pipeline: Fien (No. 2), Rosario (No. 6), Fitz-Gerald (No. 12), Cabrera (No. 16) and Ortiz (No. 18). None made Pipeline’s overall Top-100 list, though that organization has yet to update its rankings for 2026.