The Nationals’ biggest obstacle this offseason isn’t a roster hole or a lack of young talent. It’s whether ownership is finally willing to spend.
Washington has spent the past few years operating far below the level it once did, and that shift has been at the center of the club’s slide. During the 2010s, the Nationals were regularly a top-10 payroll team and a fixture near the top of the National League East.
That era is long gone. After staying in the top 10 through the 2021 season, the team dropped to 22nd by 2023 and has remained in the bottom third of MLB spending since.
A big reason for that squeeze has been the money tied up in Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. Strasburg’s seven-year, $285 million deal, signed after the 2019 World Series run, was fully guaranteed, and the Nationals wound up paying the entire contract even though he pitched only about 30 innings over its life before retiring.
Corbin’s six-year, $140 million contract was another expensive anchor. Over the final four years of that deal, he was worth -4.0 WAR while earning roughly $22.5 million per season.
That kind of dead money has faded, and with it comes a new reality for Washington. The club is no longer carrying those massive obligations, and the financial picture is much cleaner than it has been in years. The question now is whether the Lerners will take advantage of it.
According to Spotrac, the Nationals are projected to rank 22nd in payroll again next season. They have just one player officially on the books for more than $10 million: Cade Cavalli, after signing his four-year extension.
CJ Abrams is also projected to cross that mark in 2027 as he moves through arbitration, and he remains a possible extension candidate. Keibert Ruiz is set to make about $6 million next year.
Beyond that, the payroll is extremely light.
That’s because so many of the club’s core pieces are still cheap. James Wood and Daylen Lile are both in their pre-arbitration years, which keeps their salaries low, and Wood is in his final season of pre-arbitration before a major jump after this year.
The numbers leave Washington with plenty of room to maneuver. Spotrac projects the Nationals to be $143 million below the competitive balance tax threshold, which is $30 million more than their projected cash payroll of $113 million. In plain terms, they’re expected to spend less than half of what they’re allowed to spend before facing any tax penalty.
There are no Strasburg or Corbin contracts weighing this team down anymore. There’s room to build.
There’s room to add. And after a season that showed how close this young group can get, the next step now depends on whether ownership is willing to put real money behind it.
In Other News...
Nationals Enter A Defining Offseason With One Huge CJ Abrams Question
The Nationals 2026 season ended at 77-85, an 11-win jump from the year before, and now the organization heads into its first offseason with Blake Butera, Paul Toboni and Ani Kilambi having completed a full year together. That matters because this winter is less about patchwork fixes and more about defining what kind of club they want to be, from how aggressively they shop in free agency to which young players are ready to take on bigger leadership roles.
One of the biggest decisions sits in the middle of that larger picture: what to do with All-Star CJ Abrams. His position, long-term fit and overall role remain central to the Nationals plans, and the club is expected to revisit everything again in Spring Training. The same uncertainty hangs over the pitching staff, where Washington has already extended Cade Cavalli but still has major rotation questions to sort out before 2027 comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Are Quietly Turning The Page On A Troubling Bullpen Mess
Washingtons bullpen reset is continuing in small but telling ways, with two familiar arms now moving on after difficult 2026 seasons. Justin Lawrence and Max Kranick, both former Nationals relievers, have elected minor league free agency and will be looking for new minor league contracts for 2027 after being outrighted off the 40-man roster.
The departures fit the larger picture of a relief group that never really settled last season, and both pitchers were part of the churn that forced the club to keep searching for answers. Lawrence struggled badly in his time with Washington, and Kranick never got much traction after coming back from injury, leaving the Nationals with another pair of vacancies to sort through as the offseason keeps unfolding. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Free Agency Case Gets Tricky With One Intriguing Arm
The Nationals are expected to shop for pitching this offseason, and Tyler Mahle has emerged as the kind of arm that could fit the search. The 32-year-old right-hander made a strong impression after being traded to the Atlanta Braves, settling in quickly enough to help himself in both the regular season and the postseason while reminding teams what he can look like when healthy.
For Washington, though, this is the sort of free-agent case that invites caution as much as interest. Mahles talent is not really in question, but his injury history and uneven track record have made consistency hard to bank on, leaving the Nationals to weigh upside against the risk that comes with any pitcher whose recent workload has been limited. [Read more 🡒]