Some MLB Execs Think Nationals Might Have Gotten Fleeced in MacKenzie Gore Trade

The Washington Nationals pulled off a blockbuster deal by shipping their ace out of town, but some other executives believe it might not have enough of a return.

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The Hot Stove was in full effect on Thursday, and this time, it did involve the Washington Nationals.

After months of speculation throughout the offseason about whether or not they were going to trade their ace MacKenzie Gore, new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni put his biggest stamp on the franchise to date by shipping the lefty to the Texas Rangers.

It was a five-for-one trade where the Nationals got prospects back in return. While none of them cracked top 100 lists -- which might make some fans and evaluators skeptical if the team was on the right end of this deal -- there is still some major upside coming to the nation's capital.

MLB Executives Weigh in on MacKenzie Gore Trade

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Well, the skeptics of this return package for Washington don't only include fans and evaluators. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic (subscription required), spoke with some MLB executives and got their thoughts on this deal as a whole.

"It's a big win for the Rangers, in my opinion," one official stated. "They got the best player in the deal by a wide margin and they didn't give up (Sebastian) Walcott or any significant 40-man piece."

Sebastian Walcott is the Rangers' top-ranked prospect in their farm system and No. 6 overall in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. So holding onto him in a deal of this magnitude is a huge positive. However, Texas did give up their second-ranked prospect in Gavin Fien and shipped out three top 30 guys overall, so they didn't give up nothing to get this done.

Great Oak 3B Gavin Fien putting on a show in front of a full house at the Desert Challenge Tourney tonight.

Fien ranks No. 38 overall on my current Top 250 for the 2025 Draft. pic.twitter.com/aiDtTwSaat

— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) December 13, 2024

Still, another executive weighed in and gave this thoughts on Gore as the headliner, Fien as the key return piece and how Rangers' president of baseball operations Chris Young plays a factor into how he views this trade, which was a much more bullish view at what Texas accomplished.

"Gore is good not great but has big upside with some health concerns from last year. Fien is a really good bat but probably a first baseman. The other guys are talented," the exec said about the two biggest names in the deal. "The bottom line is that I like it for the Rangers just because I think Chris Young is really good at evaluating his own players. He whiffed on one deal — (Cole) Ragans (for Aroldis Chapman). Otherwise all the other deals he's made he has never given anything up."

Has Baseball Overrated MacKenzie Gore?

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There's no doubting the upside of the left-hander at the age of 26 and based on his past prospect pedigree. But is there a chance the baseball world continues to look at Gore in a glowing light instead of the reality he's shown in Major League Baseball?

Sure, Gore has electric stuff for a lefty. His career 25.6% strikeout rate is well above the league average. And when he bumped that up to 27.2% this past year, he was in the 80th percentile across the sport and made the All-Star Game. Similarly, his 29.7% whiff rate in 2025 was in the 80th percentile and his chase rate of 29.9% was in the 70th percentile.

MacKenzie Gore collects his 10th strikeout of the day 😤 pic.twitter.com/hVomMMH04I

— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2025

But he has given up a lot of hard contact in his career while his walk rate of 9.7% across 532 1/3 innings in the majors is well above the league average mark of 8.3%. And that's not even getting into his abysmal second halves, where's gone from being a 3.87 ERA starter across 387 1/3 innings with 433 strikeouts to a 4.91 ERA starter across 165 innings pitched with 156 strikeouts.

All of that is to say, it might not be so cut-and-dry that the Rangers acquired the No. 1 rotation arm of their future in this deal with the Nationals. In 2026, they don't need him to be that since Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi are the top guys But at some point, to make these comments made by the executives correct, then Gore will need to finally reach his ceiling and be the true ace on a championship-contending team that everyone expects him to be.

if that doesn't happen, then it will be hard not to look back upon this deal and view Washington as the clear winners of this trade, especially if Fien turns into a star and the others they acquired are also key contributors on the big league roster in the future.