While there’s been plenty of discussion around here about the Nationals’ Opening Day roster and what holes still need to be filled between now and then, there’s been less discussion about some of the organization’s most intriguing young players who aren’t part of the immediate plan but certainly are part of the long term plan.

The Nats’ farm system has experienced some real ups and downs in recent years. What had been one of the sport’s worst systems was reinvigorated with the Juan Soto trade in 2022 and began showing up in the top-10 rankings of several major publications one year later.

The “graduations” of James Wood, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile, Cade Cavalli and others, though, in the last year-plus have left the organization back towards the bottom of the pile. New 2026 preseason rankings haven’t been published yet, but Baseball America had the Nats at No. 21 last summer and MLB Pipeline had them at No. 23.

We know one of Paul Toboni’s primary goals as president of baseball operations is to build a consistent player development machine that pumps out quality big leaguers year in and year out. That takes time, but the cupboard he inherited isn’t entirely bare, either.

The Nationals have four top-100 prospects in the game, according to MLB Pipeline’s most recent rankings: Eli Willits (15), Harry Ford (42), Travis Sykora (49) and Jarlin Susana (87). The rest of the organization’s current top-10: Luis Perales, Luke Dickerson, Alex Clemmey, Landon Harmon, Seaver King and Ethan Petry.

Friday’s joint Zoom meeting with new Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni and new general manager Anirudh Kilambi of course gave us insight into how the new dynamic at the top of the front office will work. And we’ll have much more on that to come.

But it also gave us the first chance to ask Toboni about a recent roster move he’s made since leaving the Winter Meetings in Orlando.

The 35-year-old executive could not comment on the reported signing of left-hander Foster Griffin to a one-year, $5.5 million deal, as that has not been made official yet. But he could discuss a trade he made with his former organization in a swapping of minor league pitchers.

On Monday, Toboni made his second trade since taking over the Nationals front office by sending left-hander Jake Bennett to the Red Sox in exchange for right-hander Luis Perales. Both pitchers have a lot of upside, but both are recently returning from Tommy John surgery. And of course, Toboni knows Perales well from his time overseeing Boston’s player development department.

“On the Perales-Bennett trade, a great opportunity to trade for a great talent in Luis,” Toboni said on the Zoom press conference Friday afternoon. “He's got swing-and-miss stuff. He's still coming back from the injury, but he should be ready to roll in spring training and ready for the start of the season. He's got a really exciting fastball, exciting secondary. And then just having been around him a good amount in Boston, he's a stud competitor. I think a number of us were just really drawn to that and kind of what he can achieve as a pitcher going forward for us. So really excited about the add.”

We’ll never know if there was a realistic chance of Josh Bell returning to the Nationals for another season, whether the new front office valued him the same way the previous front office did. Regardless, it’s too late now after the big slugger chose a new home for the 2026 season.

Bell agreed to a one-year, $7 million contract with the Twins, according to multiple reports Monday, taking his big bat and popular persona to Minnesota. The 33-year-old is expected to see time both at first base and designated hitter, bolstering a lineup that saw only one player hit more than his 22 homers this season.

The Twins become Bell’s seventh different club in seven seasons, a nomadic career he never desired but has been forced to accept due to a combination of trades and short-term contracts. Originally drafted by the Pirates in 2011, he spent his first five seasons in Pittsburgh, making an All-Star team, before he was traded to the Nationals on Christmas Eve 2020 for pitchers Wil Crowe and Eddy Yean (who recently returned to the Nats on a minor league deal).

Bell quickly embraced D.C. and expressed a desire to stay here long-term. But when the organization opted to tear down the remnants of its World Series roster and rebuild with younger players, Bell wound up on the trading block. He was paired up with star outfielder Juan Soto in the August 2022 blockbuster that brought five prospects to the Nationals, with Bell’s inclusion in the deal necessary to acquire pitching prospect Jarlin Susana.

Bell spent only two months in San Diego before becoming a free agent, and he proceeded to sign a two-year, $33 million deal with Cleveland … only to be traded to Miami during that first year. He was then traded to Arizona at the 2024 deadline before again reaching free agency last winter.