Nationals Sign Former Mets Reliever As Bullpen Rebuild Continues

The Washington Nationals continue to add pieces to their bullpen.

Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Things continue to be busy for the Washington Nationals when it comes to roster building.

After a winter where the front office was not very active on the player acquisition front, the past two months has seen the Nationals attack the waiver wire and the lower levels of the free agency market to bolster their pitching staff.

And even with pitchers and catchers in camp for spring training, president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has not stopped adding players to give new manager Blake Butera options to choose from when it's time to finalize the Opening Day roster.

Washington's most recent addition, as first reported by SNY's Michelle Margaux, is Drew Smith. The longtime New York Mets reliever signed a minor league deal and will earn $1.75 million if he makes the MLB roster.

Former Met reliever Drew Smith stays in the NL East agreeing to a minor league deal with the Nats. $1.75M if he makes the team, with $1.25M in performance bonuses, according to sources

— Michelle Margaux (@mmargaux8) February 16, 2026

Smith is coming off Tommy John surgery, a procedure he underwent in July of 2024 that caused him to make only 19 appearances that year and miss all of the 2025 season. However, the expectation is that he'll be ready to go right away to begin this campaign, so there's a chance he could be a factor for the Nationals immediately.

The 32-year-old was a former third-round pick of the Detroit Tigers back in 2015. But after he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays in April of 2017 and eventually the Mets later that season, he didn't make his major league debut until the summer of 2018.

What Nationals Could Be Getting in Drew Smith

Drew Smith of the New York Mets | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Since debuting, he owns a 3.48 ERA and ERA+ of 115 across 191 career appearances (one start). He's struck out 202 batters in 196 1/3 innings pitched while walking 77. He's been effective at inducing swing and miss, and he's also been elite at stranding runners with a left on-base percentage at almost 80%.

It's unclear what version of the right-hander Washington will be getting since Smith's latest Tommy John surgery was the second of his career. However, if he's able to return to some semblance of his past form, then the Nationals could have added a true weapon to their bullpen.

Spring training will be important to see what Smith can bring to the table. After such a long time on the shelf, he'll have to prove he can get big league hitters out consistently if he's going to make their MLB roster.

But the hope is the veteran can still be an effective bullpen arm. And if that's the case, then Washington will have added a guy with swing-and-miss stuff to bolster their relief staff.