#washington-nationals

#washington-nationals

Paul Toboni speaks and acts like a modern president of baseball operations, with a first-day swagger and commitment to building a " scouting and player development monster." He said everything he should have said Wednesday morning, when he was introduced as just the third head of baseball in Washington Nationals history. Take him at his word, and it's easy to fall in line behind him and believe he'll update the front office and develop a thoughtful, organized, clear structure

The Washington Nationals' tumultuous 2025 season will finally draw to a close this afternoon, and for many of us fans who have endured the hardships of this season, it's a huge relief. It should be an emotional afternoon, as the Nationals have a chance to send longtime legendary announcer Bob Carpenter into the sunset on a high note, but now another layer has been added to the game.

The Nationals announced today that left-hander MacKenzie Gore has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right ankle impingement.

It's been a disappointing season for the Nats for a few reasons. The expectation was for this team to take a step in the direction of competing in the National League, but it has instead struggled to win 60 games. The roster has struggled in all facets of the game, and a few players are making their final appearances in a Nats uniform this week.

" It's so inefficient. When there's that many people in the room, it's hard to come to decisions in an orderly fashion," said one source.

It looked like the Braves may get something going in the third. Ozuna and Alvarez had back-to-back singles to start, but the momentum was killed with a Profar GIDP and an Olson long pop up to SS. Waldrep picked up right where he left off. He struck out the first two hitters he faced in the inning and induced another ground ball. In these two strikeouts he did what seems to be successful, which is to pitch a bunch of splitters and then fool the hitter with a curveball as the out pitch.

"It takes two to tango but [the Lerners] aren't ready to sell," he said at CNBC Sport and Boardroom's "Game Plan" event on Tuesday, maintaining he still has a good relationship with the Lerner family, owners of the Nationals.

Murakami is a star for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. Throughout eight seasons in Japan, he has a .945 on-base plus slugging percentage and 262 home runs. Murakami has also become prominent thanks to his performance in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Murakami, notably, hit a two-run walk-off double against Mexico to send the Japanese team to the finals.

As alluded to, the Nationals made their choices for September call-ups last weekend, and brought up lefty Andrew Alvarez and infielder Nasim Nuñez, who combined to make a huge impact on the sweep of the Marlins. Alvarez joined catcher CJ Stubbs as the second Nationals battery in team history to make their MLB debuts simultaneously, and accomplished some team history in the process.

The Nationals announced Friday that infielder/outfielder Darren Baker, whom they had designated for assignment earlier in the week, went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. He'll remain with the organization but will no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old Baker made his major league debut with Washington last September and went 7-for-14 with two doubles and five singles.

It is no secret that the Nationals are in a rebuild. Luckily for them, a head start is already underway with many young prospects already with the major league team. Some are already established, while others came up more recently. Three of them, in fact, are thriving as of recent, and they are not named James Wood. The key to the final two months was to see success in the youth, and it is happening.

Alfaro, a CAA client, is signing a major league contract, Golden adds. The 32-year-old Alfaro hasn't appeared in the majors since 2023. He appeared in 82 games and tallied 326 plate appearances with the Brewers' Nashville affiliate in 2025, hitting .244/.285/.430 with 15 home runs and a dozen steals. Alfaro walked in only 3.4% of his plate appearances with Milwaukee's Triple-A club and also fanned at an alarming 36.5% clip.

In four games, Willits is hitting .429/.529/.958 with three RBIs and two walks. In 14 at-bats, the switch-hitting shortstop has struck out just once. In the field, Eli has shown range with a diving play to his left and a strong arm, throwing a batter out after fielding a ball deep to his right. His left-handed swing is very smooth, while his right-handed swing is more compact and to the point.

On the bright side, the Nationals' bullpen turned in another phenomenal performance, putting up a load of zeroes after start Jake Irvin failed to make it through the third inning. Irvin has seen the wheels completely fall off in the second half of this season, as he now owns a 5.40 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, and it's pretty hard to argue that him and fellow struggling starter Mitchell Parker give this team any sort of chance to win every fifth day.

I'm excited and ready to get to work,

There are two general strategies Washington could employ. The first is to continue the process of rebuilding; the second would be to make a concerted effort to start winning again for the first time in years. They don't necessarily have to sell out for one strategy or the other, but they should at least have an idea of what the general direction of their organization is.

Chaparro should have a great opportunity to soak up a lot of the vacated playing time after Nathaniel Lowe was DFA'd last week.