OPINION:
The Washington Nationals’ biggest addition this winter wasn’t a free agent. It’s not some hot rookie prospect.
No, the exciting new piece for the Nationals, who begin a new season on Thursday in Chicago facing the Cubs, is 4 feet deep, 6 feet wide and weighs about 1,500 pounds.
I can’t wait to see it in a Nationals uniform.
The Trajekt Arc pitching machine has drawn much of the Nationals’ media attention going into the 2026 season — a symbol of sorts, I guess, for the new era under the direction of Paul Toboni, president of baseball operations.
The news that the team had purchased two of these high-tech machines, at a cost of about $250,000 each, has come to represent change in the way the team operates, supposedly led out of the dark ages of former president Mike Rizzo — even though Rizzo had tried to purchase the machines, only to be denied by the now-seemingly invisible force that has contributed more than any machine or player to six straight losing seasons, with a seventh about to start.
“For the hitters, there is a new Trajekt device, a pitching machine that simulates pitchers’ deliveries and release points. Most teams have had this for at least two seasons” — the Athletic, March 13.
“[CJ] Abrams, meanwhile, said he arrived at camp early this year specifically because the organization added Trajekt machines in the cages at West Palm Beach. Before this year, the Nationals were one of just a few organizations left in baseball without the high-tech pitching machines, which replicate the movement and motion of the arms they see in games” — The Athletic, March 17.
“The Nationals finally have a high-tech pitching machine. What are they getting out of it?” — headline in The Athletic, March 19.
Are you sensing a pattern here?
There is no doubt the Nationals have dramatically changed their baseball operations, diving full bore into the age of analytics and technology, under the direction of Toboni, 36, who was hired from the Boston Red Sox, where he was senior vice president and assistant general manager. He hired 33-year-old Blake Butera, with no major league experience, as his manager and surrounded him with young coaches and instructors who are well-versed in all the latest baseball tools.
This is the narrative that has made the Nationals the darlings of the baseball media.
Yet the most important factor in the demise of this franchise from World Series champions in 2019 to bottom feeders has been ignored in nearly every media report about the club — the Lerner family remains owners.
Nowhere in these stories is there a mention that the family refused, year after year since 2020, to give Rizzo the payroll he sought to compete, and then lied to the fan base about it. Maybe everyone has grown tired of it — after all, you can fire the manager and general manager and get rid of players, but you can’t fire the owner. But with all the new faces and machines, the penny-pinching Lerners remain, unlikely to change how they have done business their whole lives.
“I can’t tell you when or how it’s going to happen, but I feel supported,” Toboni said after he was hired, when asked about the Lerners destructive business practices.
What an insulting answer, dismissing the neglect Nationals fans have witnessed for themselves with “I feel supported.”
The insults continued this spring, when new general manager Ani Kilambi was asked about the lack of free agent spending in an interview on 106.7 The Fan, the team’s flagship radio station.
Question: “How purposeful was the lack of free agency money spent on veterans to keep spots open for guys to play and for these young guys to try to figure out … you guys wanna know what guys are. If you go spend on veteran players, there are fewer spots and fewer at-bats and fewer innings. How much a part of the decision-making was that this offseason?
Kilambi: “I think our idea of how the roster should be constructed is really driven by a lot of excitement for all of the young players that we have in camp and the opportunity to see James Wood get another full season under his belt, Daylen Lile get another full season under his belt, Dylan Crews get a full season under his belt. Those are really important markers for us to hit and to do so we want to give them every opportunity that we can to see their potential.
The notion that adding free agents to make the team competitive would somehow diminish the playing time for Wood or Lile is absurd.
Wood, coming off a 31-home run season, would be in the lineup every day regardless of free agents, one year closer to free agency. So would Lile, coming off a strong .299 batting average and an .845 OPS, finishing fifth in voting for the National League Rookie of the Year award. Crews? Demoted to Class AAA. I guess they’ll be looking at his potential in Rochester.
There will be the continued development of Wood and Lile and perhaps others like Brady House. Opening day starter Cade Cavalli, finally back from Tommy John surgery and other arm problems, has the stuff to be an ace, if he can stay healthy. But projections are that Washington, with a bottom-feeding payroll, will be another basement-dwelling team this year — between 64 and 68 wins.
But, ah, those Trajekt pitching machines — maybe they’ll wheel them out in between innings like the Racing Presidents.
• Catch Thom Loverro on “The Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.