Today was a big roster purge day for the Washington Nationals as they pared their strategic 40-man roster this afternoon to 34-players. They actually DFA’d three players and added back four injured players per the rules for those on the 60-day IL.

In fact, two of the DFA’d players, pitchers Zach Brzykcy and Ryan Loutos, were claimed by other teams. And the third DFA’d player, infielder Trey Lipscomb, was outrighted to Triple-A. For now, Josiah Gray, DJ Herz, Drew Millas and Trevor Williams are all back on the roster — but expect Herz and Williams could go back on the 60-day IL before the start of Opening Day on March 26, 2026.

In discussions within the TalkNats.com comments’ section, there were several other names bandied about who could be DFA’s in the future — if the Nats need more spots. Certainly Andres Chaparro was a name that was on the hot seat. Maybe the team wants to make sure they have first base covered before deciding on Chaparro’s fate.

Prior to those three DFA’s this afternoon, Toboni dropped five other players from the 40-man roster over the past two weeks that included RHP Eduardo Salazar, RHP Mason Thompson, and catcher Jorge Alfaro who all left the organization, plus two more players that stayed as LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara and catcher CJ Stubbs were both outrighted to Triple-A Rochester. The Nats had three players leave via free agency with Josh Bell, Paul DeJong and Derek Law off the roster. Some believe that Bell wants to come back. The Athletic projected a 1-year deal at $8 million for Bell.

It has been a busy week for President of Baseball Operations (PoBO) Paul Toboni and his front office staff to make these roster moves as they are simultaneously trying to assemble a full coaching staff.

Keep in mind on the Nats’ calendar that we published a few days ago, that Toboni and his front office will be in Las Vegas next week for the GM Meetings. In 12-days on Nov. 18 is the next big roster decision date as the team must add players to the 40-man roster who they want to protect from the Rule-5 draft. The one lock is LHP Jake Bennett who the team will protect. Beyond him, we will see what Toboni and his staff decide. That will be covered extensively in a future article.

With full free agency opening this afternoon, will the Nats be an early-bird on getting the jump on other teams for signing free agents or will this linger past the Winter Meetings that begin on Dec. 7 in Orlando, Florida?

STARTING PITCHERS (11): Andrew Alvarez, Cade Cavalli, Jake Eder, MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray, DJ Herz, Jake Irvin, Andry Lara, Brad Lord, Mitchell Parker, and Trevor Williams

RELIEF PITCHERS (9): Clayton Beeter, Julian Fernandez, Jose A. Ferrer, Cole Henry, Sauryn Lao, Konnor Pilkington, PJ Poulin, Orlando Ribalta, and Jackson Rutledge

CATCHERS (3): Riley Adams, Drew Millas, and Keibert Ruiz

INFIELDERS (6): CJ Abrams, Andrés Chaparro, Luis García Jr., Brady House, Nasim Nuñez, and José Tena

OUTFIELDERS (5): Dylan Crews, Robert Hassell III, Daylen Lile, James Wood, and Jacob Young

Of note, 13 free agent players were tagged with qualifying offers (Q.O.) this afternoon. None were Washington Nationals players. The full list is here. The Q.O. allows teams to try to keep their own players on one year deals set by averaging the top 125 salaries in Major League Baseball. This year that salary is set at $22.025 million. If the Q.O. player signs with another team, the departing team will receive a compensatory draft pick, and the new team will receive penalties in draft pick(s). Some teams also lose international signing money as an additional penalty.