Photo by Marideth Sandler/Nats.Talk
As you wake up this morning, the Washington Nationals are in sole possession of 2nd Place in the NL East, 1.0 game from the Wild Card, and the team finally has a positive run differential albeit a scant +1 run. April showers bring May flowers, and the Nats clubhouse is full of roses.
If we told you that Zack Littell would have a 5-0 record with a 2.35 ERA in May after an 0-4 record in April with a 7.85 ERA — would you believe it? What about extrapolating Keibert Ruiz‘s WAR value to 250 plate appearances and telling you his value is almost identical to CJ Abrams. Yes, if we valued Ruiz, who plays half the time at catcher, to a full-time player, his value is +2.2 WAR.
On the evening of April 28, someone said to me, “I remember you had Zack Littell at the top of your free agent wish list.” Yes, he was one of my top names in what I considered second-tier starting pitchers. Maybe the issue with Littell was signing him in mid-March when Spring Training was two weeks from wrapping up.
Now that the Nats starting rotation is humming, the focus is more on other areas of need. Could you imagine if Paul Toboni did his shopping from my wish list?
What would this team look like if they had Robert Suarez anchoring the bullpen? He led baseball with 40 saves last year. For the 2026 season, he now has an 0.71 ERA with an 0.829 WHIP. And if the Nats had Kyle Schwarber at the DH, the lineup would be unstoppable. If. If only.
Schwarber signed for $30 million a year for five years. Suarez signed for $15 million a year for three years. Littell signed for $7 million plus incentives to get him to $9.5 million. In total, that adds up to $54.5 million. Again, if only. The team still needed a pitcher like Foster Griffin too. And they certainly weren’t going to commit to that type of money in long-term deals — but a year prior, Toboni’s predecessor did spend over $50 million on player acquisitions. Toboni spent about $22 million.
The Nationals are not making any secrets of their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for making winning a constant. There was some bulletin board material posted by Padres’ shortstop Xander Bogaerts about the Nats before the series began.
A week ago, Jacob Young was interviewed on 106.7 the Fan radio to talk about the Nats as potential contenders, and the team’s belief of ❝Why not us.❞ Why not. Crazier things have happened in sports.
“October is on our mind. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we play ball.”
— Cade Cavalli said in the pregame on Friday in an exclusive interview with Alex Flum of DCNewsNow
Whether you believe or not in the Nats quest to be a true contender, the players believe that they are now in contention. The trade deadline is August 3rd. The Nats have holes they need to fill now. Brady House is available to be recalled from Triple-A on Wednesday. But should they also bring up Seaver King to set-up an infield with Abrams, Curtis Mead, and Luis Garcia Jr.? What about Yohandy Morales as the right-handed compliment to Garcia and the DH spot?
The bigger quandary for Toboni is whether he would weaken his farm system to trade for short-term rentals at the trade deadline. No, the Nats won’t be trading for Tarik Skubal and didn’t make the Top-7 suitors for him in an article in The Athletic. But the Nats need to be looking at salary dumps for their upgrades much the same way as when the team acquired Daniel Hudson and didn’t give up a Top-20 prospect in the trade.
For now, manager Blake Butera has to make the most from the roster he has been given. And credit Butera for looking smart most of the time. He has to get a little better at pulling his starting pitchers, but besides that, even his bizarre lineups seem to work.
The team has a big series starting tonight with the Marlins. The Mets just swept them over the weekend.
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