Nationals New Leadership Faces Manageable Projected Arbitration Bill in 2026

The Washington Nationals’ new president of baseball operations, Paul Toboni, will have to set a course for salary arbitration soon.

Washington Nationals second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. (left) celebrates with shortstop Nasim Nunez (right) after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the second inning at loanDepot Park. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Paul Toboni’s entire career in Major League Baseball has been with the Boston Red Sox. Now with Washington, the dollars and cents may change.

The Nationals hired Toboni to be their president of baseball operations at the end of the season. He has spent the first two weeks since he was hired gutting the organization of its scouting apparatus. At some point, he will have to hire a new manager and, quite possibly, a coaching staff. Then, it’s on to evaluating players and determining costs for 2026.

Among those decisions will be arbitration. That’s an area where Toboni doesn’t face many costly decisions, if the projections at MLB Trade Rumors are any indication.

Washington Nationals’ Potential 2026 Arbitration Bill

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

MLB Trade Rumors provides salary arbitration projections each October. Those projections are based on an algorithm developed by staffer Matt Swartz that tends to do an accurate job of projecting those potential costs.

Players that receive arbitration consideration are those that have at least three years of service time. Players cannot be free agents until they have six years of service time. But arbitration projections tend to do up the more experience a player has. Other factors like success on the field are also considered.

Per the site, the Nationals are projected to have an arbitration bill of approximately $26.75 million, led by second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. at $7 million.

Garcia has four years of service time and has performed well statistically, with a .266/.299/.410 career slash that includes 58 home runs and 269 RBI. He did some cross-training at first base under former general manager Mike Rizzo. So, it’s not immediately clear if he will remain at second base in 2026.

Next is shortstop CJ Abrams’ projected $5.6 million. The former All-Star shortstop was considered a cornerstone of the franchise’s future under Rizzo. With new leadership, anything is possible. Less than $6 million is reasonable for a young shortstop who still has upside. Plus, he has two more years of team control beyond 2026.

Last season’s ace, left-hander MacKenzie Gore, is projected to get $4.7 million. He was an All-Star in 2025 and finished the season with 185 strikeouts. He has four years of service time. He is the only other player projected to get more than $3 million. The other is another pitcher, Jake Irvin, who is projected to get $3.3 million.

The other players up for arbitration are catcher Jorge Alfaro at $1 million, pitcher Josiah Gray at $1.35 million, pitcher Mason Thompson at $1 million, catcher Riley Adams at $1.5 million and pitcher Cade Cavilli at $1.3 million. Teams have until mid-January to settle on a deal before 2026 to avoid arbitration.