Only read this if your stomach can handle it. Today’s lesson is about the pitching staff. There are plenty of pitchers on the Washington Nationals roster as of today. A lot of names. Where’s the BEEF WAR? And the best projected pitcher of the bunch, MacKenzie Gore, is tied to several trade rumors. The Nationals did add Foster Griffin officially to the team yesterday. But overall, what is the plan?

The plan starts with better coaching. That is some very welcomed news. The Nats hired Simon Mathews from the Reds as their pitching coach, and brought back Sean Doolittle as his assistant pitching coach. In addition, Dustin Glant will be an assistant pitching/bullpen coach. He was previously a pitching coach at Indiana University. 

With the hire of Ani Kilambi as the GM, he has experience as a strategic analytical mind who spent years working directly with the Phillies pitching staff. Another area of expertise for Kilambi is biomechanics in workloads, stress, and rest for pitchers.

A source told us that the Nats hired Dan Mahoney as the Rehab Pitching Coordinator coach in the West Palm Beach facility. He replaces Joel Hanrahan who held that position in 2024 and 2025. Mahoney is known as the “Rehab Pitching Guy,” a specialist in helping injured baseball pitchers recover. Previously, he was the Rehab Pitching Coordinator for the Cleveland Guardians, focusing on personalized plans, data-driven approaches, and guiding players through rehab to return stronger, as well as avoiding career-ending outcomes after his own Tommy John surgery experience. Mahoney founded the Player Development Lab in Ashburn, Virginia.

With Griffin on the roster, the Nationals signed a cost-effective piece at $5.5 million, whether Gore is traded or not. Griffin’s one-year deal is somewhat of a stopgap for the Nationals’ braintrust to figure out what they have, especially as they assess their Top-3 pitching prospects, Travis Sykora, Jarlin Susana, and Luis Perales, in the future.

Sykora is recovering from TJ surgery and might not pitch in a game in 2026. And Susana is recovering from lat surgery. Susana and Perales have to show whether they are starters or relievers. Also, Perales has to prove he can command and control the strike zone.

With the trade to acquire Perales, the Nats’ minor league starting pitcher depth on the 40-man roster is now Perales, Riley Cornelio, Jake Eder, and Andry Lara.

The Major League starting pitcher depth for Opening Day is Gore, Cade Cavalli, Griffin, Brad Lord, Andrew Alvarez, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, and Josiah Gray. Obviously only five of those eight pitchers will make the starting rotation to begin the season with Gore’s trade status still looming over this team. Some of those pitchers could start in the bullpen, or even Triple-A.

Additionally, the season will probably open with both Trevor Williams and DJ Herz on the IL, and most likely the 60-day IL as both work back from their own TJ surgeries.

While depth is good on one hand, quality counts for a lot also. If we compile the Top-5 in WAR off the list (below), they add up to +9.1. If you remove Gore from the equation along with his +2.9 WAR, and redistribute his innings, the Nats probably take a 2.0 win hit. That’s taking a giant step backwards, unless President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, has a plan to replace Gore with a good starter.

Here’s the most current FanGraphs chart of the Nats’ pitching staff:

On top of that, Sauryn Lao is rumored to have signed a 2-year contract in Japan with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters per Mike Deportes on X. com. This is an interesting development as Lao was supposed to compete for a bullpen job in 2026, and as of now, is still listed on the Nats 40-man roster.

“Where my head goes first [for new acquisitions] is pitching — starting pitching and relief pitching. That’s not to say that’s the only positions we’re going to tether ourselves to — but I think that’s probably the most realistic avenue.”

— Toboni said at the Winter Meetings

If Gore stays, the obvious area of concern is the bullpen. The team traded away closer Jose A. Ferrer and has not replaced his production on the roster, unless Toboni’s plan is to use the newly acquired Perales, who is currently listed as a starting pitcher. The other choice which has been debated is converting Susana to a closer’s role. While most think that won’t happen now, what is the plan?

Let’s face it, the Nats bullpen in 2025 was worse than awful, and last in the Majors in several categories including ERA at a 5.59. With a good conscience, Toboni cannot look away from the mess he inherited.

In 2025, the horrific Nats’ bullpen might have been a contributing factor in taking the starting rotation down. Ex-manager Dave Martinez seemingly pushed harder and harder on some of his starters, especially Irvin and Parker, and by the second half, the whole starting rotation seemed to implode.

On April 27, the team was 30-days into the season, and the starting rotation was looking like a strength. They had a combined ERA of 3.44 which was 5th best in MLB at that point in time, and that was with Michael Soroka carrying a 7.20 ERA and Williams at 5.11 at that juncture. It was only downhill from there for the rotation as a whole — even with Gore’s great first half (3.03 ERA) that earned him an All-Star selection.

During this offseason, the only reliever the team has acquired so far on the MLB roster, is Griff McGarry who has zero MLB games to his name. He was picked up via the Rule-5 draft. Risky if the Nats are counting on a pitcher who has struggled with command and control. McGarry should have to earn a spot in Spring Training — not be handed one.

Maybe the only names to pencil in the bullpen right now are Clayton Beeter, Julian Fernandez, Cole Henry, PJ Poulin, and Jackson Rutledge. Expect one or two pitchers who don’t make the starting rotation to backfill the bullpen. But where are the proven arms at the back of the bullpen for hi lev spots?

To go into the 2026 season without a legitimate closer seems like a crime. At least the 2025 team had former closer Kyle Finnegan as one of the bright spots of the season, and Ferrer replaced Finnegan after he was traded. Now they are both gone. There weren’t many good pitchers in the bullpen before, and right now Beeter might be the top candidate for that closer spot. By the way, Beeter has one career save.

Does Toboni and his front office staff believe in the mantra that relievers are fungible? That tends to trivialize the value of bullpen arms as being easily replaced. Obviously that is not the case, but many front office executives believe you shift the innings burden as much as you can from your expensive star starting pitchers onto the inexpensive arms in the bullpen. Still, you need competence within your relievers as well as depth.

If Toboni has a plan for the pitching staff, he has not fully articulated what that plan is beyond stating the obvious at the Winter Meetings that he was looking to add pitching. While Griffin is a start, where do you go from here?