The Amato Report - Nationals
- Jim Santora
- Mar 13
- 3 min read
The champs. The big dogs. The Goats of 2026. The Nats. NATITUDE.
Jeff wound up starting out high, hovering around 1st and 2nd place all season long, then got no-hit later that season and then there was talk about potentially missing the postseason as innings and at bats were drying out. At the end of it, they wound up getting in the playoffs, running on fumes at the very end, yet somehow managed to finish the job. Big congrats to Jeff on an impeccable job managing this team. Though it should be nullified due to Profar's PED suspension...jk.
The champs headed into the offseason with a formidable squad...honestly I feel like not much changed with this team aside from having major depth at SP. This is one of the first teams I've seen that has a legit chance to go back-to-back due to the nature of strong cards, depth, and keeping the majority of their picks.
NOTABLE OFFSEASON TRANSACTIONS
Acquired: Ryan Pepiot, Sean Manaea, Jeff McNeil, Sal Frelick, Justin Steele
Departed: Carlos Estevez, Victor Robles, Jared Triolo, Jesus Luzardo, Robbie Ray, 1st and 2nd rounders.
Jeff banked on having 100 pitchers on his roster and it paid off well in the offseason, using depth at the position for needs elsewhere.
STRENGTHS
The offense, easily. The average OPS on this team is well over .800, so yeah good luck against them. They're balanced on both sides and have a solid blend of power and speed. Defense should be above average with PCA, Chappy, and Sal all being 1's at their position and all the OF arms are really good.
OPPORTUNITIES
The relief pitching needs addressing, but Jeff knows that. Throwing Mlodzinksi in the pen with Santillan, Junis and Romero is a good move to provide solid depth heading into the draft. Seeing how Jeff has most of his picks, you can bet he's grabbing RP early and often.
I also think they could use another formidable, top of the rotation guy as there's a bit of a gap from Cristopher Sanchez to Nick Lodolo/Ryan Pepiot. If only there was a guy from the Padres available in this draft he could take...
Top picks in the upcoming draft:
Dbacks #1 (#4 overall)
Rockies #3 ((#33 overall)
The champs have 1st and 3rd rounds to play around with and this is even after giving up a bounty for Sal Frck...NOT GREAT, BOB.
Projected lineup (as of now vs RHP)
C - Carson Kelly / Tyler Stephenson
1B - Michael Busch
2B - Jeff McNeil
3B - Matt Chapman
SS - CJ Abrams
LF - Jurickson Profar
CF - PCA
RF - Sal Frelick
DH - Seiya Suzuki / Max Muncy
Max Muncy as a bench piece is not fair.
Projected rotation
Cristopher Sanchez
Nick Lodolo
Dylan Cease
Ryan Pepiot
Tylor Megill
Grant Holmes
Keep an eye on these players in 2026 (in real life)
Cristopher Sanchez and PCA - can they repeat their breakouts from last year? Does PCA understand that walks are possible?
Jurickson Profar - will be curious h... nevermind he's out for the year because he can't stop juicing.
Dylan Cease - honestly not a great card this year and in a hitter's park in TOR now. How will he rebound? Also in a very tough division.
2026 projection based on Ed's power rankings: 2nd place (nearly a full point behind 1st place).
You know the team will be good. I know they will be good. Jeff probably thinks he's going to miss the playoffs, but whatever lol
Jeff is one of the more knowledgeable managers in this league and simply knows how to form a squad. There's no real weaknesses here. Sure, there will be teams that have better pitching to start, but I can smell Jeff doing what he did last year and targeting pitching in the draft and at the deadline. The Dodgers on paper are the 'team to beat,' but I think the Nats are going to take offense to that and show the league who the champs really are. Will they repeat? We get to find out starting this month!
See you all on Tuesday. 🫡
