Paul Toboni’s words about the Washington Nationals’ payroll situation point to a winter that could look very different from the last few years.
For a fanbase that has watched the club sit near the bottom of baseball’s spending charts since tearing down after the 2019 World Series title, the biggest question has been whether ownership would finally open things back up as the team moves back up. Mark Lerner has said in the past that he would be willing to spend again when the time is right, and now that some major contracts are set to come off the books, that promise is going to be under the microscope.
Toboni, the president of baseball operations, sounded like someone with room to work. “Generally speaking, future payroll flexibility is a really good thing,” said Toboni, per MLB.com.
"... What I would say is that there are creative ways to actually use that payroll, whether it's actually going out and signing free agents or extensions or whatever it might be.
What we want to do is -- regardless of how we're going to use the payroll -- do it in a way that sets us up, hopefully, to be a much better team next year, but then be a really good team into the future."
That matters because both avenues he mentioned - free agency and extensions - are exactly where Nationals fans want to see action. Washington hasn’t signed a marquee free agent to a multi-year deal in a long time, and the club also hadn’t done much on the extension front until it finalized a deal with Cade Cavalli toward the end of the 2026 season. That contract keeps the rising ace in Washington through 2030 and includes a team option for 2031.
This winter could give the Nationals a chance to attack both fronts. The free-agent market has enough talent to let them make a move that helps right away in 2026, while more extensions would keep homegrown pieces in place for the long haul. For a team trying to build something sturdier, that combination would be a major step.
The money question, though, still hangs over everything. Washington is projected at $70.8 million in payroll next year, which would rank last in the majors.
That figure sits roughly $21 million behind the Miami Marlins, $33 million behind the Colorado Rockies and $36 million behind the Cleveland Guardians. That’s simply too low for a team with this much room to grow, so that number figures to rise before Opening Day.
If the Nationals combine internal extensions with outside additions, it would say plenty about where ownership stands and give Toboni more to work with as the rebuild keeps pushing forward. The exact size of the budget is still unclear, but this offseason has the chance to be a meaningful one in Washington.
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 Face A Big Offseason Question As Young Core Emerges
The Nationals have spent years watching their payroll slide from the heights of the 2010s, and the result has been a roster built less for headline spending than for patience. After the club was still in the wild card conversation near the trade deadline, the front office shifted even more firmly toward development, leaning into a younger core while keeping one eye on a future in which money might again matter more in Washington.
Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin remain the clearest reminders of how expensive missteps can linger, but the bigger question now is whether the Nationals will finally have the flexibility to change course once the offseason opens. There is a sense around the organization that spending could move in a different direction, though any real shift will have to be weighed against the uncertainty hanging over collective bargaining talks and the broader shape of what comes next. [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 🡒]