Photo by Intrepid/Nats.Talk

There will be some who believe that Washington Nationals President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, wanted an excuse to sell — and with a 5-game losing streak to crawl to the trade deadline today at 6 pm, he had an easy decision. After yesterday’s defeat, Luis Garcia Jr. was traded to the Yankees. Two of the team’s four best hitters are now gone with Curtis Mead and Garcia both traded in separate deals to AL East teams.

And Toboni might not be done. It seems almost a surety that starting pitcher Foster Griffin could be dealt in the next 12 hours. This season began with little promise, then the Nationals started winning to give hope to a fanbase that had not seen a winning season since 2019. Hope faded in Atlanta over the weekend. Sure, it’s still possible to get back to winning. But this really feels like the white flag was waved on the 2026 season.

Since July of 2021 when most agree the Nats went into rebuild mode, we have been waiting for a signal that the team was coming out of the losing mentality. And since the team made that $440 million offer to Juan Soto in 2022 that was rejected, there has been no clear signs of an ownership group willing to spend. Sure, the team reportedly made an extension offer to Griffin. But all we hear about is that they are trying. Yes, it takes two to tango. After a while, you can understand the skepticism. So close to being a contender or what many are now calling a pretender.

Where do we go from here? Who plays first? What about the starting rotation? Those are fair questions.

With the Garcia trade, Toboni might think he cracked the code on his future bullpens. He built a poor bullpen in the offseason, and much of that was not his fault. He inherited a system with little farm depth in relievers. The MLB bullpen has been a carousel. Sure, Toboni traded away the team’s presumptive closer, Jose A. Ferrer for catcher Harry Ford early in the offseason. That left a larger void. And now Toboni is trying to fix it.

Through the draft and signing non-drafted free agents, Toboni has added several relievers into the system. This Garcia trade added three more relievers of which two have MLB experience and the newly acquired Yovanny Cruz will be part of the bullpen today as Riley Cornelio was optioned back to Triple-A.

From a weakness, Toboni is trying to turn that into a strength. Easier said than done. You have to keep an internal pipeline of bullpen arms and build from within. That had been an issue of the Nats organization for nearly 15 years. Ferrer was one of the rare internal options with some success as a reliever.

In the past, the successful bullpen arms were acquired via trades and free agent signings. That’s a fact. Look at today’s bullpen sans Cornelio, only Orlando Ribalta is a homegrown talent. Eddy Yean was a Nats original acquisition and was traded away and re-acquired as a free agent. And it’s too early to call either a success.

For the first time since 2011 when Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard became the duo known as “Clip and Save,” the Nats will have a Stanford closer, Trevor Moore, in the minor league system along with these new Yankees acquisitions. It’s a start.

From a start, we don’t know where this will finish. Rosters are always in perpetual motion. Ever changing and evolving.

The clearest need for the future is a true top of the rotation starting pitcher. That won’t get solved at this trade deadline. Even if Toboni got an extension done with Griffin, he is not the classic ace. But in the near-term that gets you a step closer. But an extension would seem to be far from a reality. And we try to deal with facts and not fantasy here.

You could cobble together with internal arms, and hope DJ Herz can quickly return to health to form a future rotation with Cade Cavalli and Connelly Early. Maybe even Jake Irvin as a 5ᵗʰ starter could work. Some hope that Jackson Kent can emerge or even Luis Perales from within the system. There are others further back in the system.

If the Lerner ownership group wants to put a positive jolt into their fanbase, do the extension for Griffin. That is your golden opportunity to show a financial commitment.

From a year ago until now, there should be optimism. We have seen progress. Yes, this past week has been tough to watch. And all of this might not get easier today with the trade deadline hours away. We will have more clarity soon on tomorrow’s roster … and next year and beyond too.