One MLB expert explains why MacKenzie Gore has yet to be moved, whether James Wood would ever be moved and reviews the Nationals' outlook next season.
2026 has started a lot like the end of 2025 for the Washington Nationals: quiet.
As the front office continues to finalize its coaching staff through its minor league system with three more joining the organization earlier this week, tangible questions remain about what the final makeup of the 2026 roster looks like.
Of course, that involves the status of starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore, who found himself the subject of trade discussions at the start of December ahead of Winter Meetings with a growing belief the young piece would be on the move in the matter of days. While that didn't come to fruition, Mark Polishuk of MLBTradeRumors.com admitted why he's "not terribly surprised" that the Nationals have yet to pull the trigger on an offer.
"This is another case where the Nationals don’t have to make a move right now, since Gore is controlled through 2028," he wrote in a fan chat on Saturday. "If another team stepped up with a huge offer, the Nats wouldn’t hesitate to deal Gore, but only in that circumstance. And Gore has more than enough value on his own that he wouldn’t need to be linked to another big trade chip."
How the starting pitching market evolves through the final months of the offseason remains a big question mark after Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai became the latest domino to officially drop on Friday, narrowing the field of potential trade candidates with president of baseball operations Paul Toboni previously noting the organization would keep the door open to assess new offers.
“I think it would just be kind of negligent to not entertain it," he said at the start of Winter Meetings.
Polishuk also noted left fielder James Wood, a key piece of the organization's core, "isn’t going anywhere" as he looks to bounce back from an inconsistent season after starting hot and ending 2025 on a cold streak.
Wood also landed second overall in a recent re-draft of the 2021 MLB Draft, one of three Nationals included in Baseball America's picks last week.
"Wood strikes out way too much, and his bat really cooled off in the second half.He also has a 125 wRC+ and 40 homers in his first 1025 PA in the majors," Polishuk noted. "Wood isn’t going anywhere, and is still a huge building block for Washington."
The question is, how soon will the Nationals turn around the on-field results? Opening odds point to 69.5 wins as the projected win total in 2026, which would barely eclipse last season's win total of 66. Polishuk, meanwhile, pointed to the organization being likely two years away from being able to compete after a letdown 2025 season.
"I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Nationals had been borderline contenders in 2025, yet things obviously went in the exact opposite direction.Seems like it’ll be at least two more seasons in the wilderness, though stranger things have happened in terms of unexpected turn-arounds."
The Nationals will enter the 2026 season with one of the youngest core of executives with Toboni, general manager Ani Kilambi and manager Blake Butera all 35 or younger.