The offseason continues to roll on for the Washington Nationals. But despite making some moves that should help the team next year, it’s been a quiet one for new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni.
That’s because MacKenzie Gore is still on this roster despite speculation that he would be traded. Expectations are still high that he’ll be dealt before the start of spring training, but things seem to have slowed down compared it feeling like something was about to break at any moment.
In the meantime, Nationals fans would probably like to see this bullpen get addressed before the upcoming season begins, especially now that Jose A. Ferrer is no longer part of that unit following the deal that sent him to the Seattle Mariners.
Nationals Miss Chance to Sign Hunter Harvey
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Washington had a golden opportunity to reunite with an exciting relief arm in Hunter Harvey. After having an injury-plagued tenure with the Kansas City Royals following a deadline deal with the Nationals that sent him there in 2024, it would have been wise for this regime to swoop back in and take a low-risk flyer on the 31-year-old.
Unfortunately, he is now off the board. As first reported by Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, the Chicago Cubs agreed to a deal with the right-hander. Jesse Rogers of ESPN later added that it is a one-year deal for $6 million.
Pretty good market for Hunter Harvey as evidenced by the terms in here. https://t.co/eTLXIkkAWo
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) December 28, 2025
Harvey was exceptional for Washington in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He posted a 2.52 ERA across 38 appearances and 39 1/3 innings pitched during the former, and he had a 2.82 ERA across 57 appearances and 60 2/3 innings during the latter. He struggled a bit in the 2024 campaign compared to what he had done previously, but it was enough to still interest the Royals in making a deal.
Even during this last campaign when he was limited to just 12 outings with Kansas City, he still had underlying metrics that jumped off the chart with his fastball velocity, strikeout rate, whiff rate, chase rate, limiting walks and missing barrels all being well above the league average.
A look into Hunter Harvey’s pitch mix pic.twitter.com/BNTBeCjKJZ
— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) December 27, 2025
Harvey seemed like he would have been a perfect buy-low candidate for Toboni to bring into the fold. But unfortunately, they no longer have that opportunity even if they did have interest in reuniting with the right-hander.
How the Nationals go about building this bullpen now is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they are comfortable moving Jake Irvin and Mitchell Parker in there now that they signed Foster Griffin to be a rotation piece for them. That would allow them to focus on one or two signings to bolster the unit instead of overhauling the majority of it.
Still, not signing Harvey feels like a missed opportunity, especially for $6 million.
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