The Washington Nationals are entering a new era. That means trading away some of the top players from the old days.
The Nationals have traded All-Star starting pitcher Mackenzie Gore to the Texas Rangers in their first major move under new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, according to multiple reports. In return, they will receive five rookies, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
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Gore brings a talented team to his new team, with a five-pitch package that includes a mid-90s fastball and a nice curveball. However, he often struggled to keep the ball in the zone and had the sixth-highest walk rate among MLB qualified pitchers.
This trade makes a lot of sense for the Nationals given their recent history. Along with All-Stars James Wood and C.J. Abrams, Gore was one of the core pieces Washington returned in the Juan Soto trade, which signaled the team’s previous competitive window had completely closed.
A complete rebuild ensued, and Gore aimed to be one of the top starters on the Nationals’ next playoff team. Control issues kept him from becoming a true ace in his first four MLB seasons, but he was good enough to strike out at least 180 in back-to-back seasons. In 2025, he was named an All-Star for the first time.
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However, the Nationals didn’t even rank among league average. With a completely broken player development pipeline, the team has yet to win more than 71 games since its World Series title in 2019. The dysfunction led to general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez both being fired during the 2025 season, with Toboni later taking over the front office and hiring 33-year-old Blake Butera as manager.
Trading Gore essentially means the Nationals’ post-Soto rebuild has failed, if that wasn’t enough evidence to fire their general manager.
You wouldn’t trade away a pitcher like Gore if you thought you were close to the playoffs, and that’s certainly not the case with the Nationals. Some young talent has become bona fide MLB players, like the Soto trade trio of Gore, Wood and Abrams, but many others — perhaps most notably 2023 No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews — haven’t yet. That reflects Washington’s attempts to address structural issues under new management, but that’s a long-term process.
Therefore, the team traded Gore for some players, hoping that these players can help the team under the leadership of Toboni and Butera.
