After Paul Toboni went through his first non-tender deadline, he retained every player. All of the tendered players have at least two more years team control — and chose to keep every one of them. By keeping catcher Riley Adams, the roster now has three catchers, and this is after Toboni identified the catching position as a need to add talent this offseason.

Adding at the catcher position makes sense, especially since the Washington Nationals ranked last in team defense at the catcher position with only Drew Millas in positive numbers. Actually, Millas was the only catcher with positive WAR (+0.6) in only 55 plate appearances. Extrapolate that out for 330 PAs and that is a +3.6 WAR and elite for a catcher. Could Millas do that for a full season? His season ended on a broken bone in his hand after a catcher’s interference and that has to be a concern.

Primary catcher Keibert Ruiz had a -1.0 WAR in about half the season after he suffered another concussion in 2025. Adams had a few more plate appearances and a -0.6 WAR. Does Toboni think his staff can fix Ruiz or Adams?

Also consider that Ruiz has a guaranteed contract that will pay him through the 2030 season with $36,875,000 that the Nats are still on the hook for. His Opening Day of 2025 started with a bang as he clobbered an Opening Day homer, but once again, his manager played him too much and got diminishing returns. Martinez was asked about why he was playing Ruiz so much, and he responded that Ruiz was “adamant” about playing. Sometimes the manager has to say “no” and Martinez didn’t say that enough unless he was diverting criticism off of himself or his coaching staff. So maybe Ruiz would be better if he played less.

The team probably needs a legitimate primary catcher and you hope that Ruiz can regain that title under this new leadership and coaching — and the only one available via free agency is J.T. Realmuto. The most likely choice will be Ruiz with Millas or Adams as his backup.

Because a team carries 13 pitchers on the roster with five starters and eight relievers, Toboni decided to keep Jake Irvin who was tendered a contract as a Super-Two player and a $3.3 million estimate for his 2026 salary. Will Toboni trade starter MacKenzie Gore who he admitted that he would be “dumb” not to listen to offers for a desirable asset like Gore. You have to consider it if the plan is to add free agent starting pitcher upgrades or trade for more pitchers.

Toboni also said, ❝I don’t think you can ever have enough pitching.❞ Adding a good starter and a fireman reliever and hi lev reliever with closing experience would be wise. When asked about spending, this is what Toboni had to say:

So far, Toboni has avoided all talk about payroll and spending. He talked about building the foundation the right way, and that might indicate that he is going to take it real slow in 2026. While it sounds like he will address pitching, it also sounds like he wouldn’t mind beefing up his farm system at the same time. You do that by trading off players like Gore who MLB Trade Rumors said in a recent chat should bring back two Top-100 players.

Toboni’s plan will come into sharper focus with each passing week and month. This Thanksgiving week might be slow. He still has to build out the rest of his coaching staff at the MLB and minor league level. Officially, TBone just has a manager and two coaches assigned with titles on the MLB staff. The minor league coaches he retained from the previous administration have no assigned titles or levels. Rumors are swirling with other hires — but again, nothing official beyond Blake Butera as manager, Michael Johns as bench coach, and Simon Mathews as pitching coach. We’ve heard that Sean Doolittle, Matt LeCroy, Brian Daubach, and Delino DeShields will all be back in some capacity.

The Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida get started in just two weeks. Toboni has a plan. Will it work? With former GM Mike Rizzo’s failed rebuild that has taken a step back, it seems the only way to go is up.